i was perusing glamour magazine the other night. i had just finished some wine (a little more than i'd intended to have) so eventually i gave up on reading. but before i gave up, i learned about
purity balls.


dads take their daughters to the dress-up affair. after a fancy dinner, the little girls pledge to their daddies that they will remain sexually pure.
I pledge to remain sexually pure...until the day I give myself as a wedding gift to my husband. ... I know that God requires this of me.. that he loves me. and that he will reward me for my faithfulness.

and then dad says, I, (daughter’s name)’s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come.


creepiest idea ever. my dad should stay far, far away from my sex life--even when i'm seven and even before i know what sex is. even at seven, i am my own little entity and do not need to be shackled by such insulting paternalism from dad and pastor and god.
and i hate the idea that this will happen to little girls. they will belong to their fathers (belong in the sense of property) until they are "handed over" to their husbands AS A WEDDING GIFT--like some plasma screen from best buy or something....
what this says is that it is not really the girls' choice when or with whom to DO ITTTT.
and the worst thing is that the purity ball is probably one of the few (or only) times when girls in such families will ever talk about anything remotely related to sex. they'll never get to have a positive conversation about it.

i don't even need to ask why we don't see mother-son purity soirees--a boy's mother is not his "authority in the area of purity." oh right. men don't have those. lol.

this is wrong in all the same ways that abstinence-only sex ed is wrong, and this even goes a step or two (or three or four) further. anyone else getting creepy weirdo-ritualistic virginal sacrificey vibes? priests? prayers? virgins? white dresses?

wehrjsa4ehsbd. in a word, GROSS.

thumbs up:
mom and dad for respecting my intelligence and autonomy (sexual or otherwise) and realizing that i am my own person. weeeeeeeee!