WASHINGTON: It has all the trappings of a wedding: the proud tuxedo-clad father, the frosted white cake, the limousines and an exchange of vows. But there is no groom and the girl in the long gown is no bride. She's daddy's little girl, taking a vow of chastity.
In what is becoming a trend among conservative Christians in the United States, girls as young as nine are pledging to their fathers to remain virgins until they wed, in elaborate ceremonies dubbed Purity Balls.
Many fathers at the ceremonies slip "purity rings" around the finger of their misty-eyed daughters or offer them "chastity bracelets" and other jewelry that the girls can entrust to their husbands on their wedding night.
This being an article on the DNA network website
now isn’t this funny? This new chastity fad hits the states and everyone starts talking about it. Suddenly everyone seems to be aware and talking about the need for ‘self preservation’ and ‘abstinence’. Bite me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this exactly what our older generations have been telling us about, asking us for!? When they say that having multiple partners or indulging in pre marital sex is not right, we boo boo them, thinking them to be old fashioned, outdated, hypocritical and orthodox.
But now that suddenly America is preaching abstinence, it becomes uber cool! :
Talk to a few people around about it, and they go like, “oh, but there is a difference you see… Indians preach chastity only for moral reasons, whereas people in the US are all for it for the medical problems that can occur… to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. Indians on the other hand are least concerned about this aspect!” :O
Point taken. But it certainly isn’t as simple as this. This is simply a manner of putting same information in a new avatar just to make it palatable and acceptable to the present generation. Here, we are willing to give it a chance just because US believes in it. What people don’t realize is that in the US itself this concept is mainly prevalent in the central states where the population is largely religious and conservative. Also, like everything else in the States, this too is just a passing fad. What else can explain the bizarre concepts of walking down the aisle with your father in a ceremony akin to the wedding ceremony, the only differences being absence of the groom and taking of celibacy vows instead of marriage vows. Or wearing chastity rings. OR (if these weren’t ridiculous enough!) going in for surgery to regain your so called virginity. I mean… how funny can it get!? :O if this clearly doesn’t smack of hypocrisy, what does? Well…to each his own, and hey! If it makes people feel good about themselves then why not go for it? But what I don’t understand is WHY does this sound so believable and acceptable to us? Why doesn’t the concept of virginity sound right to us on its own accord?
The funny thing is that the media that was all for sexual freedom of any and every kind as a symbol of a liberated society is now holding special talk shows, discussions etc on it, asking questions like “Now that the chastity fad has taken the US by storm, do you think you are going to follow suit?” So much for liberation :
Hey… I’m all for the concept of chastity, preservation till sure and stayinf faithful to our partners. But what is the guarantee that he/she has been equally faithful? How can we be sure that the problems we have been trying to safeguard ourselves from wont occur after marriage? If you abstain till marriage for moral, emotional and safety reasons, what is the guarantee that the person you marry has done so too and is…to say…a ‘safe’ bet? And WHY do people generally take chastity to mean abstinence on the part of women only?
i dunno much about these things but what iv always felt is Life doesn’t come with any guarantees. At the end of the day it all boils down to the choices we are willing to make and the gambles we are willing to take. Following a certain precedence set by others is not going to get us anywhere if we ourself are not sure about the reasons of making our choices... (to end on a peachy preachy note! :>)
In what is becoming a trend among conservative Christians in the United States, girls as young as nine are pledging to their fathers to remain virgins until they wed, in elaborate ceremonies dubbed Purity Balls.
Many fathers at the ceremonies slip "purity rings" around the finger of their misty-eyed daughters or offer them "chastity bracelets" and other jewelry that the girls can entrust to their husbands on their wedding night.
This being an article on the DNA network website
now isn’t this funny? This new chastity fad hits the states and everyone starts talking about it. Suddenly everyone seems to be aware and talking about the need for ‘self preservation’ and ‘abstinence’. Bite me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this exactly what our older generations have been telling us about, asking us for!? When they say that having multiple partners or indulging in pre marital sex is not right, we boo boo them, thinking them to be old fashioned, outdated, hypocritical and orthodox.
But now that suddenly America is preaching abstinence, it becomes uber cool! :
Talk to a few people around about it, and they go like, “oh, but there is a difference you see… Indians preach chastity only for moral reasons, whereas people in the US are all for it for the medical problems that can occur… to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. Indians on the other hand are least concerned about this aspect!” :O
Point taken. But it certainly isn’t as simple as this. This is simply a manner of putting same information in a new avatar just to make it palatable and acceptable to the present generation. Here, we are willing to give it a chance just because US believes in it. What people don’t realize is that in the US itself this concept is mainly prevalent in the central states where the population is largely religious and conservative. Also, like everything else in the States, this too is just a passing fad. What else can explain the bizarre concepts of walking down the aisle with your father in a ceremony akin to the wedding ceremony, the only differences being absence of the groom and taking of celibacy vows instead of marriage vows. Or wearing chastity rings. OR (if these weren’t ridiculous enough!) going in for surgery to regain your so called virginity. I mean… how funny can it get!? :O if this clearly doesn’t smack of hypocrisy, what does? Well…to each his own, and hey! If it makes people feel good about themselves then why not go for it? But what I don’t understand is WHY does this sound so believable and acceptable to us? Why doesn’t the concept of virginity sound right to us on its own accord?
The funny thing is that the media that was all for sexual freedom of any and every kind as a symbol of a liberated society is now holding special talk shows, discussions etc on it, asking questions like “Now that the chastity fad has taken the US by storm, do you think you are going to follow suit?” So much for liberation :
Hey… I’m all for the concept of chastity, preservation till sure and stayinf faithful to our partners. But what is the guarantee that he/she has been equally faithful? How can we be sure that the problems we have been trying to safeguard ourselves from wont occur after marriage? If you abstain till marriage for moral, emotional and safety reasons, what is the guarantee that the person you marry has done so too and is…to say…a ‘safe’ bet? And WHY do people generally take chastity to mean abstinence on the part of women only?
i dunno much about these things but what iv always felt is Life doesn’t come with any guarantees. At the end of the day it all boils down to the choices we are willing to make and the gambles we are willing to take. Following a certain precedence set by others is not going to get us anywhere if we ourself are not sure about the reasons of making our choices... (to end on a peachy preachy note! :>)
6 comments:
I need one clarification. Does the wearing of the chastity belt/ chastity ring actually ensure celibacy? I mean is there some kind of a chip/alarm fitted or some device that goes off whenever the sexual desires of the girl become too overpowering ?
And i am assuming that there is nothing of that sort.. so all this is nothing but a farcical exercise.
But what is shocking is that even in a country like the US of A, they practise such idiotic double standards when it comes down to the boys and girls.
Though, honestly, would love to see statistics and more statistics about the success of this exercise or otherwise :D
i knw...wdnt i love to get my hands on them as well! n they call us old fashioned :|
that is what i had wondered too (abt the desires becoming overpowerin)... do you simply take the ring off for a while?
n the funny thing is people in india, who had been running around all this while shouting that we are hypocrites trying to put a purdah on basic human desires are ready to follow suit just because US is supporting this facade :| n we were supposedly sovereign!
They turn into us and we turn into them =P
OFF with the american head!! =P
i so agree! sorta role reversal huh? =P
umm morality?? how many tyms hav u been told not to do smthn n yet u do it? its part of our nature ... the old sages werent dumbheads..they said that the peeapl has ghosts on it coz its the only tree dat produces oxygen in the nyt..therefore to prevent it frm being cut they used dis superstition... wen was da last tym u saw sm1 cuttin a peepal tree??
same way they said premarital sex is immroal god will gt angry n stuff coz they new bout STD..its mentioned in ol' texts in Vedas...
btw east luks west n west luks east...when we were busy lukn hippies n goin flower power west was goin "hare rama hare krishna"
the west goes to tanning salons n we go 4 skin whitening...
i so agree wit you!
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