Thought Theater

Virginity Pledges Not Effective genre: Hip-Gnosis & Six Degrees of Speculation & Uncivil Unions

A new study by the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that virginity pledges are not that effective and the ability to monitor the participants is fraught with difficulties. Todd Zeranski of the Bloomberg News Service reports the following.

Boston - Virginity pledges don't reflect the sexual practices of young people, as many renege and others take the oath after having had intercourse, according to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health.

A virginity oath is defined as a "public or written pledge to remain a virgin until marriage."

The results show the difficulty in accurately assessing the effects of the pledge on early sexual activity, Rosenbaum said.

Her study found that 52 percent of all adolescents who made the pledge in the 1995 survey denied making such a vow a year later. Nearly three-quarters of those who broke their pledge denied they had taken such an oath in the second survey.

Adolescents most likely to retract virginity pledges were those who were newly sexually active or who had renounced a previous identity as a born-again Christian, the study found.

Almost one-third of nonvirgins in the first survey who then took a virginity pledge disavowed their previous sexual experiences in the second survey. Teens who admitted having sex in the first survey and later made the pledge were four times as likely to deny a previous sexual experience as those who hadn't made a pledge in the second survey.

The study adds to the growing body of evidence that virginity pledges have limited effectiveness in delaying sexual intercourse among adolescents and that we need to continue to look for strategies that work, said Monica Rodriguez, a vice president at the nonprofit Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.

The federal government is spending $178 million in the fiscal 2006 year, and the states are allocating an additional $37.6 million for abstinence education, the council said.

What I find so confounding is the desire to prevent a natural and normal progression taken by virtually all humans. I would compare the efforts to promote abstinence to the never ending dieting people endure to avoid gaining weight. In other words, the notion that one simply needs to pledge they won't have sex is similar to the idea that if one can simply find the right diet, ones weight gaining propensity will be extinguished. In both cases the principle of denying a fundamental human activity is the primary focus. This myopic approach is not only ineffective; it seeks to overturn human nature.

From my perspective, life is a comprehensive endeavor that requires a balanced approach. Applying absolute constructs to a human nature that is at best unpredictable is foolish and runs the risk of creating insecurities and idiosyncrasies that may be difficult to overcome. Instead of demonizing our humanity, we should focus on an understanding of the underlying motivations with candor and positive reinforcements for thoughtful decisions.

Coercing a young child to pledge virginity before they can comprehend the meaning of the promise will only lead the child to reject the notion once the conflicting, yet wholly natural, instincts emerge. Placing children in such a trap will more frequently alienate them from the parents whereby open and honest communication is seen as impossible given that the parental expectations of the child are also seen as insurmountable. Silence and deceit necessarily ensue. Once sex has been demonized to this extent, the damage may be difficult to reverse.

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