Virginity as a marketing ploy

[proteanmix]

Just read this article on msnbc.com.

OK, so this guy is saying that using virginity as a selling point is hypocritical when the person in question is bumping and grinding on stage or in movies.

I only have one thing to say about this: I remember when I was working at VS and I mentioned to my coworkers that I was abstinent. All of their heads whipped around. One of my coworkers asked me what was wrong with me and another asked if I thought I was better than them. I asked them how is having zero sex partners any different from them having seven. It's just a number right?

No, it wasn't just a number. I did that only a few more times before I realized it was best to keep my mouth shut about such matters. I remember one of the same coworkers pulled down her pants and showed me the bruises on her butt from how hard her boyfriend was smacking her ass while they were having sex. I just laughed and suggested she put an ice pack on it. I have no clue what people think is appropriate and what isn't.

All of this doesn't mean that teens who want to make a personal choice about not having sex shouldn't do so. But that has to do with, you know, personal choice. The celeb purity crowd seems to have mistaken the word "public" for "personal." And like my former co-worker, they're making their business my business. Maybe people involved in the purity racket might think to reread the parts of the bible where it admonishes those who make a show of their faith. Chastity begins at home, in other words.

I think the same thing that went on with me and my coworkers is what's this guy is reading into it. So I wonder if he prefers the blatantly sexual teenagers and young adults because they're keeping it real? They don't pretend to be anything other than what they are, yet he believes these young people are pretending to be something other than what they truly are. And maybe they are, who knows? Why does "selling chastity" upset him so much? I guess I don't view it as much different than anything else that's being packaged and sold.

And if these kids are abstinent maybe they're trying to let other young adults know that is an option for them as well and nothing to be ashamed of. When more and more people publicly acknowledge something it becomes more normal, accepted, and the stigma is removed. Stigmas and negative associations are barriers to education. And I do think there's a negative association with being a virgin especially the older you become. Maybe some people want to make their chastity public. I don't think it makes it any less real if it's real to them.

I think they're taking a "personal" choice and making it public. It's personal in the sense that it's a decision about how they will share their body. He has a problem with them using their lack of sex as sexy.

So is he saying that virginity should be asexual? I think virginity is one of the most sexually charged concepts imaginable. It puts sex in your face. Chastity and virginity are synonyms but I think someone can be chaste and be getting laid every night. Chastity is like purity. One can't be pure and sexual at the same time? That's close to thinking sex is dirty and sex is not dirty. Virginity is something that one literally is or isn't. Virginal and chaste are more similar I think.

OK I'm done.

 

[cafe]

I'd personally think it was great if people kept private things private in general, but it seems like this guy is saying that it's somehow worse to make your chastity public than it is to make your non-chastity public. It's a double standard. The media puts people's sexuality in our faces all the time. I don't know why chaste sexuality ought to be singled out as more inappropriate than the rest.

 

[FFF]

Today, you can buy condoms even at grocery stores, and the condoms help to prevent pregnancy and STDs. We also have other very effective methods for controlling pregnancy, and if you do get pregnant or get someone pregnant, there's also the options of abortion and adoption. Most STDs can be cured with antibiotics, although there are some that can't.

Some guy came up with the "no condom for the heart" phrase in response to how we may be able to prevent pregnancy and the spread of disease, but there's nothing that's going to protect us from the emotional effects of having sex with someone or ones that result because you had sex with someone. It's also possible that your sexual history can cause negative emotions in someone you're trying to be in a relationship with. I knew a girl who was fixing to get married to a guy last time I saw, and to be honest with him, she had to admit to having sex with almost 100 different guys. Ouch, huh? She didn't have any kids, and I don't think she ever got pregnant. I'm not sure what her disease situation was, but I didn't know of her having one.

If pregnancy does occur, people think that they can just get an abortion, and it won't be a big deal. Some of them think giving a kid up for adoption isn't a big deal either. Both of these things can have a lot of negative effects on the people doing them.