February 17, 2010
By: Sara Sultanik / NCC News
SYRACUSE -- Sex. A word that was once taboo now part of our everyday life.
Our media is flooded with sexual imagery from sex therapists having their own television shows, to vampires having sex, and of course, sensationalized teen sex and pregnancy with shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and MTV’s documentary series, Teen Mom.
And according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research institute devoted to learning about sexual and reproductive health, nearly half of all 15 to 19 year olds have had sex at least once.
But some teens choose to steer away from the temptation of having sex and choose an alternative route: abstinence.
While some teens delay from engaging in sexual activity for many different reasons, in Central New York, some teens have decided to a make a pledge. A pledge to remain virgins until marriage.
“If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it”
Sixteen-year-old Alexis Wilson of Jamesville made a purity pledge three years ago.
“It holds you accountable for certain situations. You can look down and say I have my purity ring on I can’t,” stated Alexis, whose father, gave her the purity ring on her thirteenth birthday.
Alexis claimed, however, that the purity ring, which has the words “True Love Waits”engraved into its silver setting, is not just about sex.
“For me, it includes drinking for me it includes sex, it includes things that are against gods will for me,” said Alexis.
Alexis, who is a devout Christian, stated purity pledges aren’t just about religion, it is a personal choice. But she did say that pledges are usually made by more spiritual people.
“God made me pure and I’m going to stay that way”
The purity pledge was more of a religious choice for seventeen-year-old Josh Knight who made the pledge when he was only twelve.
“God made our bodies pure so we shouldn’t be seeing anything that you shouldn’t be seeing because certain parts of the body are sacred. You shouldn’t be touching those places nothing like that,” stated Josh.
He does not pursue girls for fear that he will be tempted into sexual activity. He will wait until his wedding night.
“It’s going to create the strongest bond the first time so if you share that bond with your wife,” claimed Josh, “you have a strong emotional bond that’s going to last. It’s going to help your marriage.”
Do These Pledges Work?
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health released a study in 2008 which found that purity pledges do not work in the long term. In fact, over a five year span, 80 percent of those who took a purity pledge five years earlier, claimed they never made such a promise.
But Alexis and Josh think they’ll be the exception.
“I think I’ll be different because I want to be an example for my future family, maybe my kids, and I’ll be an example now for my friends,” stated Alexis.
And Josh said, although sometimes he is pressured by friends, his choice remains clear:
“I’m committed to my choice and I’m not going to make a bad choice that’ll make life worse for me just because somebody else pushed me to do it.”
These are only two faces representing the purity movement in Central New York, but it is estimated that there are many more purity pledgers in the area, at least within the Christian community.
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