Purity rings for girls
ByThe question of religious conviction, or the symbols that represent these convictions, made the news in the UK recently. A sixteen year old girl took her fight for her right to wear a ‘purity ring’ to the High Court. Her school has determined that her chastity ring was jewelry and therefore under the normal school rules, not allowed. Her ring represented her wow to abstain from sex. One would imagine she would abstain until marriage. It doesn’t actually state in the newspaper report when the deadline of her abstinence would expire.
To some extent this young girl has some justification in making her request. There are other forms of apparel that are allowed, which show off religious allegiance. Of these a more obvious one is the head gear worn by muslim girls and women. These scarves are permitted in schools in the UK. What would one then say is the difference between a narrow ring, and a full-on head covering. If she were to wear a head scarf as an image of her wow, would that be allowed then?
One of her arguments has been that there have been several young girls at her school who have fallen pregnant and have had babies. She feels this ring represents a movement which could protect girls from unwanted pregnancy. The symbol, she feels, would assist girls in reminding them of the promise they have made, and possibly also act as a warning to young men that the girl would not wish to participate in sex. As one can imagine, the girl’s parents are fairly supportive.
Many years ago I taught at a Girls’ High School. At the end of the final year saw everybody having to write national examinations. Every year we had to set up a special room to accommodate the pregnant girls. The reason we separated them was because the rest of the girls would be more concerned with the well-being of these few expectant mothers, than with writing their examinations. One year, the girl who was to be awarded the top academic prize was pregnant. The issue of falling pregnant was therefore not in any way related to intelligence or the lack thereof.
What was even more amazing was the fact that during the time I was teaching, the school regularly received visits by female nurses who would spend several hours with the senior girls explaining the basic principles of ‘the facts of live’. With other words, it was explained in fairly explicit detail as to what sex was and what consequences unprotected sex could have. Besides this, birth control was part of these sessions. There was no excuse for these girls to fall pregnant. And yet they did, on average four of them, annually.
If knowledge and the intelligence to apply that knowledge, do not make any difference, one would roll ones eyes and say, what would work. Of course most people would not agree with me, when I say that a solution would be to put all girls onto birth control. They would be asking what sort of promiscuous behaviour would be encouraged then. That is a valid point if one still attaches morals to sex.
If one were then not to go the birth control route, what would work then. Instilling in young people some fervent belief that not having sex is a morally acceptable behaviour and in fact would lead to a virtuous existence and entrance into heaven in the after life. The Catholic church certainly supports this, and other faiths such as islam have similar beliefs. However, modern society does not truly support religious beliefs such as these. Society in the western developed world, does not frown on sexual activity and it is fairly common practice to have several sexual partners during ones life.
There is therefore a conflict between what the religion might dictate and what the norm is. Only a small number of people will buy into the religious mores and not being tempted to have sex. The gap, and this is where the true problem lies, is not being met by society though. If there is no support of a moral code towards sex, then society has to introduce strong support for birth control measures. What is in fact happening, is that young people are left to determine these issues for themselves. They watch TV, movies, DVDs, adult behaviour around them and they see adults readily involved in sex.
At the same time we are trying to bring up young people to have their own opinions, make their own decisions, be independent with other words. We tell them, don’t do as I do, do as I tell you to. Young people are no longer prepared to listen to that. They want honesty and some kind of ethical standards that they can follow. They are not interested in following guidelines set down by adults, which adults themselves are not prepared to abide by. I think young people, better than adults, are able to recognise double standards, and they are certainly not going to buy into them.
13 Comments
June 26th, 2007 at 12:10 am
[...] Link [...]
June 26th, 2007 at 12:39 am
The father and mother of the girl are part of the volunteer team which runs the UK branch of the Silver Ring Thing from their church in Horsham so they are quite likely to be supported.
She has also now left the school after graduating.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:16 am
The problem with the muslim comparison is that those girls are doing it because it is required by their religion, but I have never heard of any religions that require young women to wear “purity rings.” It is a choice made solely on the part of the young woman in question, and since it contradicts the school policy regarding jewelry, and because it is not a requirement of her religious beliefs, the school is well within it’s rights to ask her to remove it.
On a somewhat related note, girls in my middle school were given the option of not participating in sex-ed if they took an abstinence pledge and got a signed note from their parents. There were three girls in my class who did that. By the end of high school, two of them were pregnant. Abstinence-only education does not work at all. It is, in fact, counter productive. Humans are biologically wired to want to have sex at that age, and they will, regardless of whether or not they know how to do so safely. So for the sake of humanity, teach them to do it safely!
And, wait, religious people claim that abstinence is the only 100% effective form of birth control, but if Jesus was the son of a virgin mother, that can’t be true. It would have to be closer 99.9998% effective, which is not far from the effectiveness of other forms of birth control.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:25 am
I fail to see how wearing a ring and abstaining from sex is anything other than personal choice and nothing fundamentally to do with religion. Abstenance is a secular issue that transcends religion. This is jewellery, nothing more. It’s meaning is important only to the wearer.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:40 am
It seems there is an entire Purity Ring movement, which is interesting in itself. Is this movement focussed on abstinance, or is it making the point that anybody not within their exclusive little world, is not a worth person. There often seems to be an inherent criticism in these kinds of organisations.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Such a non story! The ring is just a fashionable way of expressing your beliefs. The only reason its been picked up is the UK tabloids love a story they can twist into a story about religous divides in school. As has been stated already, muslim headscarfs and jewellery is an important part of the religon. This is just something put out by a organisation with weak links to christianity.
June 26th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
So this ring is a religious symbol? Has this girl’s parents left Christianity and formed their own new Purity Ring religion? Last I checked, the religious symbol for Christianity is a cross. Not a ring. Do I take it that this ring is the religious symbol for this new Purity Ring religion they’ve created? They are not Christians anymore then, are they?
Clearly this is not true. The movement was started in the US, and the girl’s parents are the UK leaders. All it’s members in the US claim to remain Christians. The ring, the ceremony, the pledge; everything was made up by Denny Pattyn in 1995.
Think of the commandment “Thou shall not steal”. I could create a program tomorrow, where members will pledge to be honest. And all members will have a tattoo of a purple flower on their foreheads.
Yes, Pattyn created the program, and the ring, to promote abstinence. Which, he believes is encouraged (not sure if he thinks it is required) in Christianity. But his ring is no more a religious symbol than my purple flower. The school was right. The ring is not a religious symbol.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
[...] Link to the whole story at pink blocks [...]
June 27th, 2007 at 9:01 am
There is so much more to this story than the mainstream media are reporting.
See http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/2007/06/25/silver-bling-thing and http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/2007/06/26/asexual-nazis-for-god/
June 30th, 2007 at 3:10 am
I went to a parochial school for 10 years. While I am not religious these days, I believe that the policy of her school is no jewelry, That means NO jewelery, period. If we let one “get away with this” then where does it stop? Can this girl carry it in her pocket? This could be easlily resolved. I think too many people are clogging up the courts and attorneys for ridiculous things. This is insane.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:41 am
Each person should be allowed reminders to help them in life.
For one it is a head wrap, for another it may be a veil.Even a Witch wears a penticle or cloth to remind them of who they are.
A small ring should be no different. By principal, all Christians are to keep the Word of God with them at all times. Does this mean that we carry a Bible with us everywhere? No, because most places it is forbiden. We hide the words with us because seeing it (a Bible) is forbiden.
It’s the old argument of the division of church and state.
Tell me what is the difference with any other child or person. Is there a different standard within different beliefs? Or is it that I don’t understand what I’m seeing and hearing.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:03 am
If other girls are allowed to wear religious symbols, she should be allowed to. A purtiy ring is a religious symbol. It shows christians beliefs and one of our beliefs is not having sex until marriage, and a purtiy ring is a symbol of this. Being a purtiy ring wearer I know I would be stongly offended if a adult at school asked me to remove it.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
The Purity Ring is a symbol of the Christian beliefs of staying sexually pure until marriage. Everyone has a right to express their beliefs and if people of whom aren’t Christians can wear religious items, such as the Kara bangle, then a Christian should be allowed to wear a Purity Ring.