I have time and time again seen my classmates and friends go through the social ritual of taking the Rice Purity Test: a test that gives a purity score out of 100 based on how many boxes you check on a list of things you have done, with the score decreasing by 1 point for every box you check. Much of the list concerns relationship and sexual landmarks (been on a date, kissed someone, had sexual intercourse, etc.), getting more and more raunchy as the list goes on. And while I, like my peers, have taken the Rice Purity Test numerous times and laughed about my score or compared it to others, I think it is utterly stupid. The thought of feeling shame or pride because of a number that pops up on your screen, determining your ‘purity’ after checking some boxes, makes no sense to me. The purity culture movement has gripped thousands of Americans for decades, but pushing purity culture and the concept of virginity onto teenagers does much more harm than “saving.”
Purity culture started as a defined movement in the 1990s and early 2000s, but has been prevalent in the lives of Americans for far beyond that. Purity culture pushes the idea of staying abstinent and “saving yourself” for marriage, placing personal worth on virginity. Purity culture is very prevalent in religious cultures, wherein waiting for marriage to have any sexual connection with your partner is preached and pushed upon devotees.
Of course, if someone chooses to wait for marriage because that is something they truly want to do, I am not going to judge them for it. But it becomes dangerous when waiting for marriage or a necessity to “stay pure” comes from a place of religious guilt or societal pressure. Pushing purity culture originates from a place of believing that one’s worth is in some way connected to their sexual habits or lack thereof, creating a space in which people are judged or viewed as less than for natural human desires.
Virginity, which I view as a social construct, has been a prevalent idea for thousands and thousands of years and is commonly talked about among teenagers. When discussing virginity, it is commonly seen as something that is taken from another person, typically targeting women and their purity. But this black and white view of sex, instilling a belief that having sex for the first time takes something from you, creates an environment of shame and taboo around a normal topic. It should not be an experience where you leave feeling like something has been taken from you, but rather an experience that you have gained.
The constant advertisement of purity culture and push towards abstinence onto young people who are going to be or, most likely already are, sexually active forces teenagers to feel discomfort around their virginity or sexual activity. Forcing shame around a normal topic makes people less likely to be open about sexual wellness or natural questions that could come up, leading to dangerous situations in which one or more people could feel unsafe or unprepared.