On The Perils Of Chastity Pledges

Children grow up with multiple influential models. Some children grow up in families where they never see violence of any kind. However, many children who enter the sex trafficking system have grown up around violence and 70 to 80 percent have been sexually abused (Clawson, Dutch, Solomon & Grace, 2009). Children learn from models within their environment and if their environments are dysfunctional, they learn and copy some of the dysfunctions that they see. In America, messages are sent to children that men must be masculine and that women must be sexy. Girls as early as three are putting toilet paper down their shirts in an effort to create breasts and will imitate much of that they see on the television or in their

In Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom by Leslie Bell we follow the stories of three women contradicting the environments they were raised in, as an act of rebellion and individuality. These three women are distraught and confused about their identities and individuality due to conflicting obligations between traditional family values and their own desires. The environment each woman was brought up in was a catalyst in producing a “reactive decision.” As a result, their reactive choices lead to a greater sense of self and individuality. These three women display how their inner convictions are revealed and explored, as a result of the faith and beliefs that surrounded them. The oppressive expectations of their environments

Here in the United States, progressive laws as well as equal rights movements have lead to far less extreme consequences for their actions, but that doesn’t mean that the epidemic of double standards against women doesn’t live strong in our society. As I grew up I began to realize the sacredness of a woman’s virginity in the eyes of my peers, and as I continued to grow, I watched the exact same peers frown upon the girls that had lost their virginity. Being towards the top of the social hierarchy at my school allowed me to talk to hundreds of boys and girls. I would sit and listen as boys would say “I don’t want her, she’s a (explicit)” or even go to as far as exploit the girls

In 1984, the women were to hold themselves back from sexual intercourse because “Chastity was as deeply ingrained in them as Party loyalty… the natural feeling had been driven out of them” (Orwell 67-68). Since childhood, the female Party members were brainwashed about the importance of chastity as a token of one’s

The idea of virginity dates back to the 1200s; the term virgin has derived from the Latin word “virgo” meaning maiden or sexually inexperienced young women. In the 1300s virgin was used to describe Mary who gave birth to Jesus. Although in present day english people of all genders can be referred to as a virgin, it is a term that is more commonly used to describe women. With strong associations to saints, virgin has become synonymous to words such as “pure” and “innocent.” The concept of virginity has been around for centuries, how does the social construct of virginity affect women in Canada and USA from 2000- 2015? Is virginity a necessary idea or an outdated one that just uselessly controls the actions and desires of women?

Instead of teaching men to not oversexualise a woman’s body, we as a society need to shame these women’s bodies. Any females who choose to violate this code will be subjected to public shaming and stoning and will be imprisoned. The policy will be subjected in all places, but mostly outside their homes because I don’t get why they’d be outside their houses anyway, they should be buying food to cook for their husbands and

In this patriarchal society, women find practicing sexual agency difficult because there is a double standard that exists in which being either “slutty” or chaste has negative consequences. Marilyn Frye (2004) explains this concept as the “double bind,” which Frye defines as “situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure or deprivation” (p. 184). Women cannot express their sexualities, wants, or needs in a legitimate and safe way because they will face punishment if they happen to be on either end of the continuum. Kristen Firminger (2006) suggests that women’s magazines define for

On the other hand, Valenti identifies another culture where “women’s virginity…is still assigned a value.” The virginity movement teaches society that women’s virginities are associated with morality. Valenti discusses how supporters of this movement believe that abstinence takes “strength and action” and therefore, abstinent women are the types of strong women other females

The society already depicts the right and wrong behaviors in which men and women should adhere to, thus this already constructed norms and values maps the right and wrongful practices of sexuality in different communities. The gender norms already prescribe the expectations of sexuality in the society. For example, female genital mutilation is a rite of passage that detects every girl should undergo so that they can be termed as a woman and hence eligible for marriage in the society. The circumcision practice is a gender belief or norm that is only aligned to womanhood, but it affects the sexuality of these women. Other gender practices such as early or polygamous marriages have been the cause of what is termed as unsafe sexuality in the society. It should be noted that gender and sexuality significantly affect the basis of any society. These gender norms have led to increasing in disease transmission and illiterate

In the film “Purity Myth” it discusses how society views the topic of sex. It talks about how society emphasizes that it is acceptable for men to have sex but women have to wait till marriage and if they do not they are seen as not pure. It also discusses that sex education programs in schools that scare kids about the idea of sex are shown not to be effective in helping prevent sex before marriage. Another topic covered in the movie, was the religious right in congress restricting things such as Plan B pills for women. It also briefly talked about the Bush administration and the republicans advocating for celibacy.

Oakland University sociologist and anthropologist Heidi Lyons explains the overwhelming proof that there is a sexual double standard. She reports that, “Teenage boys who gain considerable sexual experience do not run the same risk of being labeled deviant as do their female counterparts. More specifically, young women who had a high number of sex partners were socially reprimanded for their behaviors, and young men were rewarded.” (Lyons 3). The young women in this study are seen as socially inferior to the men and Lyons works to expose this fact.

Today’s society is filled with a lot of pressure among our young people. They’re a lot more bold, and liberal which causes a lot of influence and problems. For an example, it’s almost rare to go to middle school, and not be exposed to drugs, sex, and violence. Drugs are used to experiment, and in most cases, it becomes a bad habit as young as 15 years old. Kids are taught that it’s cool if you go against authority, and do the complete opposite. Tweens are more sexually active than before, that it’s almost abnormal to be a virgin at age 14. Most boys lose their virginity before 15 years old, and the percentage among young girls have increased over the years. It soon becomes “un-cool” to be a virgin, and they’re forced into peer pressure to have sex and lose their childhood. Young men usually lose it before young girls, so most of the time, it’s the young men who are pressuring the girls to conform. Most young boys don’t think of oral sex to be actual sex, they just write it off as “fooling around.” In that case, they feel it’s okay to do it, and girls are more prone to take part in it, because in their eyes, it’s not the real thing. I can remember as far back to 6th grade, my best friend was 11, and she was pregnant. Her family was actually proud that she was having a baby, while my family no longer allowed me to be friends with her. Families are a big factor when it comes to

In Quindlen’s essay she talks about when she was sitting in a clinic in the poorest neighborhood in New York City. She sat with a group of young teenagers who amazed her with their knowledge of sexuality. Quindlen talks about someone mentioning the thought that sex education in school would lower or prevent teen pregnancy, but students will do whatever they want to do. Even though it is good to teach young teenagers about sex and possible risk of the act, it could create confusion in students, wondering the class is teaching them about contraceptives or abstinence. The essay explains how half dozen young teenage girls show off that they are having sex, getting pregnant, and having babies.

My group chose to act out the scene of the women swearing an oath of abstinence to hopefully end the war. People watch plays to be entertained, and the plot is usually what captivates them. After a while, the set just becomes a background image people no longer focus on. Furthermore, during any play, the audience will usually pay the most attention towards the characters because it is necessary to understand the basic fundamentals in order to understand the deeper meanings of the play. As the show continues, the audience grows more attached to every character. In this scene of Bartels, the characters are the most crucial element.

Thesis: I am here today to persuade you all to practice chastity or sexual abstinence because it can reduce the risks of STDs as well as unwanted pregnancy and teenage marriage, all of which create a domino effect of harmful health, social, and economic problems.