The Miami Herald has an interesting article today. Am I the only one who's not surprised that those who pledge virginity end up having sex anyway?
Virginity pledgers' STDs not reduced
A researcher says 'Just say no' doesn't work in the long term, after finding that the rates of sex diseases for teens who pledge virginity until marriage and for those who don't are similar.
BY JASON STRAZIUSO
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Teenagers who make a one-time pledge to remain virgins until marriage catch sexually transmitted diseases about as often as those who don't pledge abstinence, according to a study of the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents.
Those who make a public pledge to delay also wind up having fewer sex partners and get married earlier, the research shows. But the two groups' STD rates were statistically similar.
One of the problems, researchers found, is that virginity pledgers are less likely to use condoms.
''It's difficult to simultaneously prepare for sex and say you're not going to have sex,'' said Peter Bearman, chairman of Columbia University's sociology department, who coauthored the study with Hannah Bruckner of Yale University.
'The message is really simple: `Just say no' may work in the short term but doesn't work in the long term,'' Bearman said.