More holier than thou, less holy

This, as Amanda points out, is a prime example of the new "virgin"-oriented "counter-culture" make sex a tool of power, control, manipulation. When couched in the theme of Christianity, it is nothing but extremely public displays of false piety - the moral equivalent to the macho culture of bragging about how many chicks you banged. It is, despite the self-denial crowd assertion, the height of consumerism.

"Abstinence," says Dunbar, "is countercultural," a kind of rebellion, he says, against materialism, consumerism and "the idea that anything can be bought and sold." It is a spiritual war against the world, against "sensuality," according to one virginity manual popular with men like Dunbar.

They see themselves as ascetics, denying themselves (sort of) in the name of Jesus

It had been one thing to go down on his girlfriend when he wasn't sure what he believed. It was another to let a girlfriend go down on him after he'd committed himself to God. But then, he says, that's how it works all too often when a man looks like he's devoted to Jesus. "It becomes more about giving than receiving" -- an implicit recognition of the sexism he knows permeates the best intentions. Even among Christians, the girls, he says, "will go down on you, but you don't have to go down on them."

Theirs is a culture more obsessed with sex than the religious right claims the heathen Hollywood-driven American society is; one that turns it into an easily devalued commodity rather than an investment. It's all for show, there's no privacy about sexuality since it's a means to achieve a very public status. There's nothing legitimately spiritual about it since the Christian orthodoxy's denial of privacy of sexuality is a means to provide one deliciously voyeristic glimpse into the bedrooms of others to confirm their moral superiority.

One more time with feeling: "I am Christian, hear me roar" - oh and don't forget to check out the jewelry.

Tags:abstinence; fundamentalism; virginity; sex

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