A promise or purity ring is a symbol of a promise made between a person and God to remain “pure,” or celibate, until marriage.This is a bad idea for many reasons:
1) ”Pure” sends the message that sex is bad, wrong, or dirty, which encourages sexual shame. Sex is none of these things if it’s practiced responsibly, honesty, and safely. Parents need to teach this to their kids and set a reasonable example of it as well.
2) Purity rings encourage sexual suppression. Sexual suppression can lead to sexual perversion.
3) Purity rings encourage romantic illusions, such as “together forever” and “The ONE,” which usually just lead to unrealistic expectations and heartache, especially for teens and young adults.
4) Purity rings encourage people to get married too young. It’s wise to wait until at least 30 to commit to the legally-binding, life-long agreement called marriage and let’s face it, waiting to have sex until you’re 30 years old is just not realistic.
5) Would you agree not to test drive a car before buying it? Since a good sexual and physical connection is an important part of a strong relationship, and you need to have sex with a person to determine this, waiting to have sex until after signing a marriage contract is a bad idea.
6) Purity rings, unless they are accompanied by a chastity belt, don’t prepare teens or young adults for situations when they may fall off the wagon. Pretending that sex isn’t going to happen is naïve.
7) Purity rings are not life preservers. Condoms are; they protect dreams and goals and help to avoid STDs. Buy your teens condoms instead, and remind them often to use them.
8) Not surprisingly, a 2008 study cited in The Washington Post provided statistics stating that “…teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122801588.html
Copyright (c) 2010 Stephen Petullo
Any idea on the history of purity rings?
I completely disagree with this article. I believe that Purity rings are an expression of sincere love and positive feelings. I don’t know anything about the history of the purity rings, but for me they are awesome!!! Boo!! to this article!!!
Thank you for your help!
great post as usual!
I’ve been searching the Internet for exactly what you’ve posted.
I didn’t quite get the point this when I first read it. But when I checked it out a second time, it all started to make sense. Thanks for the idea. Absolutely something to think about.
Waugh. Great blog. Found it by accident when I search for life birth. But belive me, I´ll come back to this great blog
This article disgusts me!! I can’t believe you think parents should give their children condoms instead of a purity ring, this ring symbolizes the commitment between them and God, and well if they break their commitment then that’s their own buisness but I have a purity ring and I do commit to not have sex until I get married, and I strongly disagree with the statement “don’t make this commitment until you’re 30′!?!?!? What in the world, I have seen plenty of marriages last when the couple got married in their 20s and they were virgins when they got married. As long as God is first in their marriage then their marriage will make it through anything, and I think that if a couple don’t have sex or live together before they’re married that helps a marriage. And the statement, “You should have sex before marriage to make sure you like it.” I can’t believe anyone would say that!? If you love that person, sex shouldn’t matter, and plus if you haven’t ever had sex, how would you know that it’s bad!?