1 Boring Old Man

Patient Teenagers?
A Comparison of the Sexual Behavior of Virginity Pledgers and Matched Nonpledgers
Janet Elise Rosenbaum, PhD, AM

Health Policy PhD Program, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

OBJECTIVE. The US government spends more than $200 million annually on abstinence-promotion programs, including virginity pledges. This study compares the sexual activity of adolescent virginity pledgers with matched nonpledgers by using more robust methods than past research…

RESULTS. Five years after the pledge, 82% of pledgers denied having ever pledged. Pledgers and matched nonpledgers did not differ in premarital sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and anal and oral sex variables. Pledgers had 0.1 fewer past-year partners but did not differ in lifetime sexual partners and age of first sex. Fewer pledgers than matched nonpledgers used birth control and condoms in the past year and birth control at last sex.

CONCLUSIONS. The sexual behavior of virginity pledgers does not differ from that of closely matched nonpledgers, and pledgers are less likely to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease before marriage. Virginity pledges may not affect sexual behavior but may decrease the likelihood of taking precautions during sex. Clinicians should provide birth control information to all adolescents, especially virginity pledgers…

But I didn’t post this article just for the opportunity to make a sarcastic comment. This kind of insanity is what we’ve lived with for eight plus years. The point of sex-education programs should be three-fold. First, to protect young girls from becoming reluctantly pregnant and having to either get an abortion or prematurely become mothers. Neither option is good for young girls. Second, unprotected sex carries the possibility of transmitting diseases, some of which are fatal. Finally, all of our biggest problems – energy depletion, global warming, hunger, etc. – are caused by over-population. It is rational to suppose that having only "wanted" children will help with our desperate need for population control.