Purity Balls

[McCulloch]

Dancing the Night Away, With a Higher Purpose, NY Times

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Isn't there something wrong with holding a big glitzy celebration to announce to the world that certain people plan to remain pure?

[Nilloc James]

One line made me laugh the most

The culture says you’re free to sleep with as many people as you want to

Yes it does. Once again religion banning fun things.
______

How many people wonder whether or not the daughters opinions where considered here, particulaily the young grade schoolers that where mentioned.

[Coyotero]

This thing is at best silly, and at worst, revolting.

[Miles]

Quotes are from the linked article in the OP.
Remarks are from the left side of my brain.

The girls, ages early grade school to college, had come with their fathers, stepfathers and future fathers-in-law last Friday night to the ninth annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball.

Think daddy had a sit-down with seven year-old Ashley and explained exactly what remaining a virgin consisted of? Probably with bated breath.

"Something I need from dad is affirmation, being told I’m beautiful,� said Jordyn Wilson, 19, another daughter of Randy and Lisa. “If we don’t get it from home, we will go out to the culture and get it from them.�

And what kind of dysfunctional dad (and mom) raises a daughter who "needs" to be told they're beautiful.

“Fathers, our daughters are waiting for us,� Mr. Wilson, 49, told the men. “They are desperately waiting for us in a culture that lures them into the murky waters of exploitation. They need to be rescued by you, their dad.�

This really borders on the perverse. "Hey guys, ain't it great that our daughters need us"---heavy breathing--- "more than they need what's out in the world?!

"If I’m holding them to such high standards, you can be sure I won’t be cheating on their mother.�

"In other words, if I couldn't insist my daughter remain a virgin until she marries I might cheat on my wife, because if my daughter had sex before that I would certainly stray. Makes perfect sense to me, but I can't until she marries *wink* *wink*."

“The culture says you’re free to sleep with as many people as you want to,� said Khrystian Wilson, 20, one of the Wilsons’ seven children, including five girls. “What does that get you but complete chaos?�

"And I would like to thank my evangelistic upbringing to be able to make such unreasonable generalizations and exaggerations."

The Abstinence Clearinghouse,an advocacy group, says . . . .

"The Abstinence Clearinghouse serves as an association for the abstinence community. The Clearinghouse is a non-profit educational organization that promotes the appreciation for and practice of sexual abstinence through distribution of age-appropriate, factual and medically-accurate materials. The Clearinghouse was founded to provide a central location where character, relationship and abstinence programs, curricula, speakers, and materials could be accessed. The Clearinghouse serves agencies and individuals on national, state and local level, as well as internationally."

source

Picture of their "PET YOUR DOG . . . NOT YOUR DATE" T-shirt HERE

[MikeH]

Dancing the Night Away, With a Higher Purpose, NY Times

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Isn't there something wrong with holding a big glitzy celebration to announce to the world that certain people plan to remain pure?

You are 100% correct in your assessment

[Coyotero]

It sickens me the value they place on virginity.

What is virginity? Aside from a primitive idea and a bit of flesh?

They make such a to-do about 'purity' as if losing one's virginity makes them marked as an impure and filthy person. Or that a girl's sexuality is a prize to be 'saved' for some future husband. They talk like having sexual experiences before marriage automatically turns women into sex-craved harlots that will immediately turn their bodies over to the ravages of the whole football team.

It's ignorant and degrading.

[elle]

To answer the OP, I think that it is morally wrong but I don't know if it goes against religious doctrine.

In response to the article, this whole report really turned my stomach. I went to a couple Father-Daughter dances when I was a very young Girl Scout and I thought those were fine. There are ways to have a nice event without going down this road. The way these people talk about the father-daughter relationship is creepy at best.

The worst part to me is that the evidence (briefly stated in this article) points to the fact that this overemphasis on abstinence leads to a less knowledgeable teenager who is MORE likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors and who will start having sex earlier than the educated teen whose parents actually arm her with the knowledge she'll need to make better choices. Wanting your kids to be abstinent until they are old enough that they're ready to have sex is perfectly sensible to me. Elevating virginity to some holy status and over-promoting the idea of abstinence at all costs just seems ridiculous to me.

As someone who did not have a say in her first sexual experience and as a girl raised to believe that virginity was extremely important until marriage, I suffered more confusing and distress than I should have coming out of that experience. I thought that it was my fault and that I was less of a child of god for what happened. To add insult to injury, I learned pretty much everything I knew about sex from having sexual experiences and by reading things on the internet. I was completely unprepared for later times when I would actually make the choice myself. Thankfully I only suffered mental and not physical damage but everyone knows that diseases and accidental pregnancies are realities. These girls deserve better than that.

[theheathen1978]

Jesus would probally say. "See that girl over by the punch bowl, I want to tap that."

[Kuan]

And what kind of dysfunctional dad (and mom) raises a daughter who "needs" to be told they're beautiful.

A lot of girls during there teenage years want to be told that because they are not secure about themselves. My question would rather be, What amazing girl doesn't need to be told she's beautiful?

[RDCH]

But studies have also shown that most teenagers who say they will remain abstinent, like those at the ball, end up having sex before marriage, and they are far less likely to use condoms than their peers.

Oh wait, the only American girl I ever met (personnally) online, was a Christian who swore she'd never have sex before marriage. 1 year later she was pregnant... I think she got really pushed to it by a boy (who doesn't value the 'no sex before marriage'), and at last she gave in. And no condom indeed...
Sad thing...

A lot of girls during there teenage years want to be told that because they are not secure about themselves. My question would rather be, What amazing girl doesn't need to be told she's beautiful?

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