prudes treated rude when they marry air

[Algorem]

Silver rings a reminder of teens' pledge to purity

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — When Katie Chromik put a silver ring on her finger and promised at church to stay away from sex until marriage, her junior high friends giggled.

"Some people have made bets on me that I'm not going to make it," she said. "It just makes me more determined."

Pledging to purity may still draw snickers, but it's also gaining acceptance among teens, especially those who attend Christian schools and churches.

The silver rings aren't as trendy or flashy as the bright yellow "Livestrong" rubber bracelets popularized by Lance Armstrong. The rings are a subtle statement of a commitment to faith and virtue...

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1117215830114030.xml&storylist=penn

[cornermouse]

1. That's fine as far as it goes.

Unfortunately the reality is not all teens are going to do this. The fact is, not everyone remained "pure" even in the 1600s.

Do you think that they deserve what amounts to the death penalty for giving in to raging hormones?

[Algorem]

2. absurd.

[Warpy]

7. They were married off early in the 1600s

usually right after menarche, to the first available man who was looking for a maid and brood mare, and they didn't have a whole lot to say about the choice. To be single at 17 was to be an old maid.

It's really sobering to visit old New England churchyards, to see the graves of one man, four or five women, and a dozen or more tiny headstones from the babies who didn't make it.

This is what the religious nutballs want to return to, this golden age of marriage for few privileged men, women dead by the age of 30 from the complications of yearly childbirth and overwork, and enough infant and childhood mortality to keep the population acceptably low. Oh, and lest we forget, sex for women as a mildly disgusting wifely chore with no pleasure involved at all.

My only question is why they'd want to return to this horror. My only answer so far is that they hate children and loathe where they come from.

[cornermouse]

18. Well, apparently I am the descendant of a child

who was born on the wrong side of the blanket in the 1600s. Like I said, this did happen even back then.

[HawkerHurricane]

3. What's easier to break?

A promise or a condom?

OK, such a promise, if made with full knowledge and considered consent, can make a difference. But most such promises are made by children who do not know what they are promising, nor are they made freely... giving into pressure from the church, they make the promise without consideration... and what one group pressured you to promise, another can pressure you to break.

I used to tell young men assigned under me to plan ahead... plan what circumstances you'll get married, even if you don't have a girlfriend yet. If you have a plan (not until I've known her 6 months, not until I make a certain rank, not until *whatever*) you're much less likely to wake up in Las Vegas married to a girl you hadn't even met when you left base Friday afternoon. I would advise these young girls (if I could speak so freely to them without being accused of some crime) in much the same way. THINK about it. 'Under these circumstance, I will': (fill in the blank). Then, when the pressure comes, you can make the decision based on your preselected criteria, and not on 'well, in church they told us (blank)'. It is YOUR decision, not the church's or your parents, and if YOU make it you'll keep it... and if you are talked/forced into taking a pledge, you're more likely to break the pledge if you didn't make the decision yourself.

[Ian David]

4. When they made the "abstinence until marriage rule"

Most women were married around age 13 or 14. Anyone having sex with someone younger than that was pretty much a child molester.

So, right about the time kids BARELY started thinking about sex was when they were getting married!

That didn't stop Mohamed The Prophet from marrying a six year old girl and consummating the marriage when she was nine.

As soon as those horny puberty hormones started churning, they didn't really have to abstain- they got married and started having sex before they even had pubes.

Nobody made them struggle through their raging hormone years without sexual release back then.

On a related note, "'Til Death do us Part" was a whole lot easier when:
1) You worked hard in the fields all day and only saw your wife long enough to eat, sleep, and occasionally have sex.

2) The average lifespan was about 35 years old. You really didn't need to put up with one another very long.

3) If you married when you were 13-15, and died around age 35, that gave you only 20 years to make as many babies as you could churn out.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. People didn't really die at age 35

That was the average lifespan because so many died in childhood and adolescence. Most people who got through those rough spots still lived into their late fifties or early sixties.

[Ian David]

10. Thank you, I stand corrected.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

I need to look more carefully at the statistics I quote.

35% of all statistics are wrong.

[Warpy]

13. The women sure did

That yearly childbirth plus the incredibly heavy workload did them in.

Check out some of those old graveyards. Men may have outlasted 4 or 5 wives, but only the last one might have been lucky enough to outlast HIM.

[Ian David]

5. Bill Maher: Abstinence Pledges Suck

<snip>

MAHER: And finally, New Rule: Abstinence pledges make you horny. In a setback for the morals/values crowd, a new eight-year study just released reveals that American teenagers who take virginity pledges wind up with just as many STD's as the other kids. But that's not all. "Taking the pledge" also makes a teenage girl six times more likely to perform oral sex, and four times more likely to allow anal. Which leads me to an important question: where were these pledges when I was in high school?

So, seriously, when I was a teenager, the only kids having anal intercourse, were the ones who missed. My idea of lubrication was oiling my bike chain. If I had known I could have been getting porn-star sex the same year I took Algebra 2 - simply by joining up with the Christian right - I'd have been so down with Jesus, they would have had to pry me out of the pew.

And, let me tell you, there is a lot worse things than teenagers having sex. Namely, teenagers not having sex. Here is something you'll never hear: "That suicide bomber blew himself up because he was having too much sex. Sex, sex, sex, nonstop, all that crazy Arab ever had was sex, and look what happened." But among the puritans here of the 21st century, the less said to kids about sex, the better. Because people who talk about peepees are "potty-mouths."

And so, armed with limited knowledge and believing that regular, vaginal intercourse to be either immaculate or filthy dirty - these kids did with their pledge what everybody does with contracts. They found loopholes. Two of them, to be exact.

Is there any greater irony than the fact that the Christian right actually got their precious little adolescent daughters to say to their freshly-scrubbed boyfriends, "Please, I want to remain pure for my wedding night, so only in the ass... And then I'll blow you, I promise." Well, at least these kids are really thinking outside the box.


More:
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/20050401.html


Related note:

Repressed teens gathering in Milton, Mass. for Abstinence Hike

On the first Saturday in June, teens from throughout New England will gather in support of abstinence in the first ever event of its kind in the nation! Join other teens who are making healthy relationship choices by participating in the Doin’ it Right 3 Miles for Abstinence Hike. Hikers find people to sponsor their hike, providing essential resources to help teens and young moms.

This event is very important for the health of our nation. A teenage girl gets pregnant every 40 seconds in the United States, and each year 1 out of 4 sexually active teens gets an STD (sexually transmitted disease). And the impact is not just physical—2 out of 3 sexually experienced teens regret having sex and wish they had waited. Making the choice to wait to have sex is one of the most important things a teen can do.

Hiking with us on June 4th will not only strengthen your own commitment to abstinence but will help more teens hear about and be supported in making healthy relationship choices and provide young moms with support and services to help them through their pregnancies and into parenthood.

So get some friends together and sign up to hike today! We’ve got an exciting day planned you won’t want to miss!

Timeline of the Day:
10:30 am Registration opens
12:30 pm First hike begins (staggered hike starts)
3:30 pm Festival
6:00 pm Festival ends

Join us for the Doin’ it Right 3 Miles for Abstinence Hike on June 4th at the DCR Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, MA!

More:
http://hike.doinitright.org/

[Maine-ah]

8. nope, not all are going to manage to keep that promise.

I never made any kind of pledge, but I did manage to wait until I was 18. To me, sex wasn't something I was going to give to just anyone (it was very difficult though). I felt it was important to wait until I found somebody I loved. Even though I didn't marry him, we were still together for four years.

I think my parent's relationship had alot to do with it. They (even through their many problems) loved eachother very much,(my father died ten years ago) and had been together since highschool. I wanted the same for myself, I did end up marrying a man I had dated in highschool and we have actually known eachother since jr. highschool.

I know we'll never get through to all the kids (one of my friends was having sex in 7th grade) We need to combine safe sex education, with abstinance education, and parents need to participate more as well. So many find sex to be such a taboo subject, and don't even bother with talking to their kids about it. My own parents are a good example. Not once did either of them talk to me about sex (or having my period for that matter, good thing I had an older sister).

[Ian David]

11. Do you know about those little chemical dots they have on cellphones?

There are little plastic dots in cellphones and on their batteries that permanently change color if they get wet.

That way, the manufacturer knows if you've voided the warranty by getting the equipment wet.

We need to put something like that on children. Perhaps a little plastic disk installed inside little girls' privates that changes color when exposed to semen. Or maybe an RFID tag that can be scanned each time they pass through the school metal detectors.

I'm kidding!

[Fleshdancer]

9. I hear the divorce rate is pretty high for those who marry air

jeez people...even actual married couples have a 50/50 chance of staying married these days. Adding a silver ring to an abstinence pledge doesn't make it more effective. :eyes:

[Nobody]

12. Happy National Masturbation Month!

In case you're all thinking impure thoughts on this thread about sex, just keep in mind that National Masturbation Month reaches its climax today, May 28.

http://www.flashnews.com/news/wfn1050523J7930.html

There. That should keep people busy.

[Bigmack]

14. Motto for the Month....

Get a Grip!

[progressivebydesign]

15. Those pledges do not work...

Kids are actually more likely to get pregnant after taking one. This is inane.. are the boys wearing silver rings??

[MountainLaurel]

17. Why would the boys need to?

Don't you know it's the girls' job to keep their legs closed and not be attractive to teenage boys?

:sarcasm:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. "Chastity is it's own punishment." Bumper sticker I saw.