Purity ball
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A purity ball (also known as a father-daughter purity ball[1] or purity wedding[2]) is a formal event attended by fathers and their daughters. Purity balls promote virginity until marriage for teenage girls, and are often closely associated with U.S. Christian churches, particularly fundamentalist churches.[citation needed] Typically, daughters who attend make a virginity pledge; a pledge to remain sexually abstinent until marriage. Fathers who attend pledge to protect what they view as their young daughters' purity of mind, body and soul. Proponents promote a strong father-daughter relationship as a means to affirm what they consider to constitute spiritual and physical purity.
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[edit] Criticism
Writer and feminist Eve Ensler criticizes purity balls for what she sees as the position of inferiority it puts the daughters in:
- "When you sign a pledge to your father to preserve your virginity, your sexuality is basically being taken away from you until you sign yet another contract, a marital one...It makes you feel like you’re the least important person in the whole equation. It makes you feel invisible."[1]
Purity balls have also drawn criticism from some Christians; in the Chicago Sun Times, Betsy Hart writes:
I'm an evangelical Christian who firmly believes that sex should be reserved for marriage. But I just can't imagine going about it this way with any of my four kids, son or daughters ... I can't help but wonder if a single-minded focus on virginity is an ironic, and unintended way, of sexualizing youth in a different way...[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Would you pledge your virginity to your father?; Glamour; January, 2007; Jennifer Baumgardner. See page 6.
- ^ Purity wedding for teenagers. Quote: "The graduates will have a wedding to celebrate their choice and desire to be chase."
- ^ Betsy Hart, Chicago Sun-Times (link defunct; see Google cache)
[edit] External links
- The Purity Ball: Time Magazine photo essay of a purity ball
- Dancing the Night Away, With a Higher Purpose, New York Times article and photo essay on purity balls
- The Pursuit of Teen Girl Purity; Time Magazine; July 17, 2008; Nancy Gibbs
