Study: Virginity Pledges Don’t Work

education is what is needed. An educated youth will make better choices. Whether we want to admit it or not teens are having sex what will make a difference is educating them about protecting themselves and the consequences of un protected sex. Education is power.

Personally i am 19 years old. Haven't had sex, and i have avoided all situations mostly. I believe its is not about education but how high the morals are of a individualare . I have 2 friends who have become whores. And to me that makes me feel like crap. I don't want to have sex with 100 people in my life time. I only want one girl. Yet, the thought of all these girls having been with all these other people. Sickens me to the point i find those girls unattractive. I can understand doing it with someone you love but……over 20 in one year! Its so horrible, I don't even go looking for girls. Sadly my vision of women has begun to turn into hate. And hate for the guys who pressure them. Yet its them giving into it. Which is why i say someone who has high morals doesn't need to make a pledge to show the world that they will remain a virgin. Because thats what i have done. I will not be with a whore, or a slut. I will either find a girl who is like me. OR i will not find one atall. I am sick of my generation has screwed itself up. When I seem to be the misfit among them. I am not addicted to anything. I don't drink, I don't do drugs. Yet I am the one feeling like I have no place in society. Because “this is just how the world is now.” i know there are people out there like me but…..they are so few and misplaced. You don't have a radar to find them. And some of them fall…………

LOL wow glad somebody finally figured that out…Sex-Ed is a joke at school. And the teachers practically makes you write it anyway- almost nobody is paying attention to the meaning of it. And then half the students are laughing because they already had sex…
And Leif, you are right. The girl can always say no. I'm also 19 and chose to not have sex, and my boyfriend and I are going on 3 1/2 years now ( I wont lie- he wasn't thrilled about my views lol).

I would completely disagree. I guess just making a pledge may not be effective. Parents have to back this up with setting limits about dating, and teaching their kids. One thing is for sure, just telling your kids to just use a condom doesn't work. All forms of birth control fail, and young people are not very good at using them. I have raised four children who managed to wait until marriage, and know many, many young adults who are waiting for marriage. I think it just depends on your level of committment. People just buy into the mind set that young people cannot wait, which is completely untrue.

i agree..its seems ur the odd one out if ur not having sex…nd if ur dating its realy difivult 2 actualy avoid the dituation of getting in2 it..im 22..n im a virgin..but with every passing day…n new people cuming in2 ur lfe…im really finding it hard to stop maself from the thought…not that u had low morals…its about times ur week n vulnerable n u fall…n another thing iv noticed id that guys always think that sex is the only way of proving that they love the girll..its only form of expression they have…n its dificult 2 get out of tht one..like seriously…

This study seems biased. It seems they took two groups that were actually identical and then used them to say a virginity pledge does not work.

The study says that the teens in both groups had similar attitudes about sex. But if the teenagers who were taking the virginity pledge had similar attitudes towards sex, then they were not taking the pledge in good faith!

If I take 20 oranges and then label half of them as apples, why would I be surprised when I find that all 20 still taste like oranges! They intentional compared two groups of teenager who had the same attitude towards sex and then acted surprised when it turned out they had the same attitude towards sex!

Obviously this was “science” with an agenda! If the teenagers had the same attitude towards sex, then they were never intending to follow through with a virginity pledge in the first place!

Your logic is flawed, but I think you've put your finger on the point. The students often take the pledge as part of a sex-ed program, often abstinence-only, but it is not taken in good faith. If that is the case, what is the value of the pledge as part of a sex-ed policy?

If the reality is that the vast majority of teenagers are going to have premarital sex, whether they've participated in an abstinence-only program or not, then it makes sense to employ a reality-based policy that teaches kids how to be safe if and when they choose to become sexually active.

Denying them education about condoms and birth control only increases the likelihood that they will contract a disease or seek an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy.

I would completely disagree. I guess just making a pledge may not be effective. Parents have to back this up with setting limits about dating, and teaching their kids. One thing is for sure, just telling your kids to just use a condom doesn't work. All forms of birth control fail, and young people are not very good at using them. I have raised four children who managed to wait until marriage, and know many, many young adults who are waiting for marriage. I think it just depends on your level of committment. People just buy into the mind set that young people cannot wait, which is completely untrue.

[...] Matthew DeLong at the Washington Independent (who points out that honest pro-lifers ought to see this data as an opportunity to change their policy preferences and support measures that actually reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and STDs, like comprehensive sex education) [...]

i agree..its seems ur the odd one out if ur not having sex…nd if ur dating its realy difivult 2 actualy avoid the dituation of getting in2 it..im 22..n im a virgin..but with every passing day…n new people cuming in2 ur lfe…im really finding it hard to stop maself from the thought…not that u had low morals…its about times ur week n vulnerable n u fall…n another thing iv noticed id that guys always think that sex is the only way of proving that they love the girll..its only form of expression they have…n its dificult 2 get out of tht one..like seriously…

This study seems biased. It seems they took two groups that were actually identical and then used them to say a virginity pledge does not work.

The study says that the teens in both groups had similar attitudes about sex. But if the teenagers who were taking the virginity pledge had similar attitudes towards sex, then they were not taking the pledge in good faith!

If I take 20 oranges and then label half of them as apples, why would I be surprised when I find that all 20 still taste like oranges! They intentional compared two groups of teenager who had the same attitude towards sex and then acted surprised when it turned out they had the same attitude towards sex!

Obviously this was “science” with an agenda! If the teenagers had the same attitude towards sex, then they were never intending to follow through with a virginity pledge in the first place!

Your logic is flawed, but I think you've put your finger on the point. The students often take the pledge as part of a sex-ed program, often abstinence-only, but it is not taken in good faith. If that is the case, what is the value of the pledge as part of a sex-ed policy?

If the reality is that the vast majority of teenagers are going to have premarital sex, whether they've participated in an abstinence-only program or not, then it makes sense to employ a reality-based policy that teaches kids how to be safe if and when they choose to become sexually active.

Denying them education about condoms and birth control only increases the likelihood that they will contract a disease or seek an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy.

[...] other is another recent study that shows that teenagers who take “virginity vows” are sexually active in exactly the same proportion, at exactly the same age, and with exactly the [...]

What?? You just made the best case against abstinence pledges I have ever heard, thank you.

You are a very lost soul. Sexual exploration is the greatest expression of God and yet you hate your fellow man for doing something that is natural to every human being– even those who are doing it safely? On what moral high grounds do you stand?

I am sad to here you are angry at your friends for making their own choices. It has nothing to do with morals. If two people want to please each other and neither is being harmed than there is no problem with that morality.

If you are getting this from the bible you should be aware that the only reason it said to abstain from sex that isn't for reproduction is because back then they needed more people in their tribes…so telling people sex for pleasure was a sin was the most efficient way of bumping up the population.

I can't believe adults still think like you.

I think you are really mistaken here. Your kids have waited until marriage.. as far as you know. My parent's wanted the same from me. They restricted my dating and where I could go and all that, but I just ended up losing my virginity in a park at 14. Lol. It's not something I regret but I wish I had had the opportunity to be open about it. In fact, most kids I know lose their virginities around 14. Nothing wrong with that, nothing you can do to stop it either.

While it's true young people can wait, for what reason should they? They shouldn't have to, thats the thing. Teach them to be safe about it and the threat is virtually gone. Plus, restricting the sex drive is an unhealthy thing to do. I am sad to hear 4 children had their lives restricted so much.

You're right, this particular article was not very convincing. Let me send you to other's that covered this topic.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473509,00.html
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2006-releases/press05022006.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122801588.html
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2006/12/19/index.html

I think it's silly to assume science has an agenda on this one. It's actually kind of controversial and it's not gaining them money either. I think theyre just trying to show what smart people all ready know– we shouldn't be trying to so hard to restrict other people's sex drives, but educating them on it!

We hardly need a study for this. Abstinence only programs were a display of Christian morality leaking into our school systems. Even though young people can restrain themselves there is no point in doing so when you can do it safely. Out thoughts about sex as a society need to evolve if we ever want our kids to be safe.