Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 16, 1993 TAG: 9310160038
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOY THOMPSON KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cheers for the teens across the nation who have signed chastity pledges. Cheers for the Southern Baptist Convention and other religious organizations that kicked off the "True Love Waits" campaign this spring. Cheers for the future relationships that will be enriched by the taking of this simple pledge.
As a woman who decided years ago that I would save myself for my husband on our wedding night - and has kept that vow, I am overjoyed that thousands of young people have made similar decisions.
Who would have guessed in this decade of decadence that a bunch of kids would decide to just say no to sex before marriage. Consider the pressure to conform. People are "doing it" all over the place - in the magazines, in the movies. Producer Steven Bochco has even managed to get Rated-R sex on prime time TV with "NYPD Blue."
Bochco claims the explicit violence and sexual scenes of "NYPD Blue" are necessary to portray a "realistic" view of the New York City Police Department.
Hey, you want the reality of sex and crime in the city, pick up the newspaper or turn on the evening news or look outside your window. It's readily accessible. There is no shortage of tales to tell.
People defend the new show as "art." I have no problem with art imitating reality. But when that reality is offensive and the art simply exploits that offensiveness for shock value, the art loses its value. It becomes intrinsically worthless. But it does make money from advertisers. In other words, just another sellout.
It's heartening to know that some people are not buying it.
Young people are acknowledging that their sexuality is not as cheap as Hollywood would have them believe. They're also realizing that respect for themselves and others is more important than peer pressure. And with the encouragement of hip adults, they aren't afraid to say so.
You want reality. This is reality: "Doing it" in the '90s can be hazardous to your life.
I'm a young woman. Sure, I've thought about sex. There have been occasions when I've said to myself, "What if, in the heat of the moment, I just let myself go and this guy and I had sex." Then, I think about it again: What if, in the heat of the moment, I let myself go and guy and I had sex - and I get pregnant, or contract syphilis, or herpes, or AIDS . . .
I can wait.
It amazes me that in the age of AIDS, TV and films continue to show people hopping in and out of bed with each other like it isn't a big thing. No second thoughts and no protection.
You want reality. I know several people in their mid-20s and early 30s who have been tested for AIDS because of relationships they had years ago. Their lifestyles have since changed; the consequences of their past lifestyles have not.
"Well, if you do have sex, use a condom." That's the new word from the White House on teen-age sex.
I agree: If you must have sex, by all means do use a condom. But beware. Condoms are touted as the miracle cure - prevents pregnancy, diseases and a whole host of the world's problems. But that's really stretching it. (Pun intended.) Any doctor can tell you that condoms aren't foolproof. People can still get pregnant, they still can get diseases, they still can get AIDS.
The motto, "Just say no to sex," is not just the raving of religious fanatics, it is a call to reason - and reality.
\ Joy Thompson is the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram religion editor.
by CNB