OH SQUICK

[moonwise]

The Pursuit of Teen Girl Purity

When Kylie was 13, her parents took her on a hike in Lake Tahoe, Calif. "We discussed what it means to be a teenager in today's world," she says. They gave her a charm for her bracelet--a lock in the shape of a heart. Her father has the key. "On my wedding day, he'll give it to my husband," she explains.

That's not phallic at all.

1. Are we also having Teen Boy Purity parties? What kinds of charms are exchanged to represent these mother and son vows?

2. Why is so much of the onus for remaining pure placed on the girls? (rhetorical question, because there's no physical indication of whether a boy is a virgin.)

Comments

[dougras.livejournal.com]

Was your church "Evangelical" ? Either in name or in general practice? (Technically my church was Baptist, which doesn't have to fall under that banner, but mine did.) Because that's the subset that these sort of things usually fall into.

Did you ever go to a Youth Conference? Like, things for Christian Youth where you'd leave home for a weekend and Do Christian Things and Attend Seminars? I did.

At these things they have very popular panels about Men's Issues and Women's Issues. It's not something like the Purity Ball, but it is a separate activity, each under the same banner of 'issues mostly about sex.'

The best example of a men's group that runs along sort-of-similar-lines that I can come up with is the Wild at Heart Retreats that get staged (the link is to one of them, there are many) around the country. This tends to be for older guys, though. Mid-teens and up. It's about being Godly but also Damn Manly. People who go to these things do stuff like give each other claymores, because of Braveheart.

Yeah, that's right. Braveheart as Christian Ideal.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

People who go to these things do stuff like give each other claymores, because of Braveheart.

You have got to be joking.

[dougras.livejournal.com]

http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/sharlet/sexasaweapon/

And

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-1-2005_pg4_12

I've seen that second story floating around various places, but since it's an older story, a lot of news websites have taken it down or moved it around.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

A few years ago, I learned in an evangelical magazine what to do in such a situation: push your anger down and store it inside your heart, where Jesus will work it over it until it is ready to be "released," transformed into "white-hot brother love."

*chokes*

Oh my goodness.

[dougras.livejournal.com]

The slash practically writes itself, doesn't it?