Again, until they’re ready to be married, there is only one man in their life - Daddy. Such purity extends to dating, kissing and even holding the hands of the opposite sex. During it, white roses are laid at the bottom of the cross, a symbol of all that’s pure. (The abstinence movement more broadly is aimed at boys and girls, but Purity Balls are specifically aimed at daughters and their dads.) The event, which is now held annually at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs (save for this year, when it was canceled due to COVID-19), remains the biggest, most elaborate of the Purity Balls, as it involves a dance performed by the daughters - a kind of celibacy ballet around a giant wooden cross. “And my dad gave me a diamond and sapphire ring to seal our promise.”Īlthough the abstinence movement gained significant traction throughout the 1990s - aided by the Christian rock music scene, which widely promoted the cause - in 1998, things went next level when the first Purity Ball was organized by Randy and Lisa Wilson in Colorado. “I signed a contract that I wouldn’t have any form of physical relationship until I was married,” she tells me. During the ball itself, Delaney did what every young girl she knew had done. The TLW program was promoted fanatically by the youth pastor at Delaney’s church, and it was pretty much expected that she partook. ( South Park mocked all of this in a 2009 episode - and yes, there’s even a song.) Former members include the Jonas Brothers, who famously wore purity rings when they first hit the charts in 2005, at which point more than 2.5 million other young people had taken the organization’s pledge as well. The Purity Ball Delaney attended was through an organization called True Love Waits (TLW), a nonprofit started in 1993 that created the first virginity pledge program. ” But though the event itself seemed fairy-tale-like, the promise she made that day continued to haunt her well into adulthood. “It was the fanciest ball I could ever have dreamed of and I went to Cotillion. Forty-one-year-old Delaney attended one during the summer of 1995, between her junior and senior year of high school. It’s kind of like prom, only your date is your dad, and the theme isn’t “The Great Gatsby” - it’s abstaining from sex.ĭuring the ceremonial part of the evening, dads pledge to protect their daughter’s purity - mind, body and soul - and daughters promise to remain virgins until marriage.
#Purity ball professional#
Professional photographs are taken of the couples who attend. There’s a lavish dinner followed by a ballroom-style dance with white roses, white dresses, enormous crosses, and yes, sometimes swords.
At first glance, a Purity Ball might appear to be just like any other formal event. Presented with the ultimate in sinful indulgence, she still has to decide: turn over a new leaf or sink even further into base desire?.
Soon she realizes this godly retreat is nothing at all like it’s advertised to be. Fully intending to get herself back on the righteous path, she commits to pledging her maidenhood to the man she loves. When she learns about a strange retreat of chaste young women and the respected Christian patriarchs who vow to guard their purity, she eagerly signs herself and the man of the house up for the event. Stealing from her pastor, tempting the hell out of the man of the house - it’s enough to give her a twinge of conscience and make her reconsider the direction her life is heading in. He could’ve sat at least to make her feel better, but remained standing over her, brazenly dominating her with a cocky smirk on his face.įelicity is rotten to the core. Stealing from her pastor, tempting the hell out of the man of the house - it’s enough to give her a twinge of conscience and Soon she was on both knees in front of him, afraid to look up. He could’ve sat at least to make her feel better, but remained standing over her, brazenly dominating her with a cocky smirk on his face. Soon she was on both knees in front of him, afraid to look up.
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