This joke meme tweet about Christian marriage is amusing, but it sparked a sympathetic conversation about how messed up these situations can actually be for Christian youth:
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It is weird seeing “Christian” being used here to describe behaviours that don’t resemble those of any Christians I know. I am aware that there are some extremist groups in the USA that supposedly behave that way, but they are far from typical.
These Christians are not far from typical. They are a major force pulling the politics of the USA in a terrifying Christian nationalist direction. The percentage of teen girls who make a virginity pledge is estimated to be between 12-23%. It was not until 15 years ago that the majority of states in the USA did not require abstinence only education be provided in public schools. Despite the evidence that it does not work, 17 out of the 50 states still require abstinence only sexual education be taught in public schools, this means no discussion of barrier methods, hormonal birth control, IUD’s, etc, but also no discussion of practical STI prevention. Meaning that when these kids do sneak around and have sex they are much more like to get a sexually transmitted infection! Additionally in many states, these teenagers cannot get access to reproductive health services without their parents finding out about it, so they frequently forego any treatment when they do have an STI, and they certainly do not get any kind of regular screenings. 35 states in the USA *currently* require abstinence be emphasized in any public school sexual education. I grew up in one of the most liberal towns in the entire USA, in one of the most liberal states. I, a very outspoken proponent of safe sex education, still knew multiple people who were “saving themselves for marriage”. (Look, I was literally a kid in the ’90s handing out condoms at school. In my school district it was specifically prohibited for school staff to make contraceptives available on campus – in one of the most liberal places in the entire United States.)
Purity culture is out of control here and it is indelibly linked to the puritanical ideals this country was built on.
Hard disagree. Not sure where you live, but this mentality is extremely common throughout all of the Bible Belt, most of the Midwest, and some other pockets that are in rural areas which may be in coastal states but are still very insular.
I grew up as a catholic in Philadelphia and I still was taught that it was sinful to have sex before marriage, and all the rest of this bs… and the superchurch types are far more radical than Catholics!
This is a typical situation for evangelicals. Which are one of the largest groups of Christians in the nation. If this wasn’t your experience, then be grateful. But this belief system screwed up millions of kids and created immense misery. Don’t dismiss it as a fluke.