Did anybody see "NOW" tonight on PBS. It was very sick

[PlanetBev]

It was about the Christian Right's shennanigans in South Dakota. How they are trying to stop access to birth control, besides outlawing abortion.

The most insane thing was the "Purity Ball" a formal affair where a young lady is accompanied by her father to a ball and takes an oath in front of her father to offer up her virginity as a wedding gift to her husband. The whole thing gave me the willies. Can't help but wonder if any of those fine upstanding gentleman has ever diddled his daughter in secret.

The anti-choice activists had that same glassy-eyed look with the perma-smirk, as they spoke of their coming fantasyland, where abortion will simply vanish from America without a trace.

[d_b]

1. Check this out

http://www.purityball.org/

creeeeeepy

Also, check out their 'sponsors'. Wal-Mart? :rofl:

[BlueEyedSon]

5. i would like to see a poll of those dads, which ones "saved it" for

marriage.... I bey they are hypocrites!

[no_hypocrisy]

28. "My Heart (and Virginity) Belong to Daddy".

Eeewwww! This brings back some unpleasant flashbacks with my own father decades ago.

[Eric J in MN]

2. What century is this? nt

nt

[Erika]

10. It's the 14th sh.

The neocon theocrats are the new religious nuts on the block.

[niyad]

3. no, but I have to deal with those morons on a daily basis here in

fundieville, where the governor has yet again vetoed over-the-counter EC, bowing to the xian reichwingnuts who seem to be running the state. these people are truly scary as we do counter-protests at PP --that glazed, desperate, vacant look on all their faces as they pray so earnestly. sickening.

[Erika]

8. Do they never say anything about the homeless or uninsured?

Out of curiousity.

[xxqqqzme]

4. That 'Purity Ball' segment was creepy!

made my skin crawl - did you see the one little girl reading the oath - she could not have been more than 10 or 11. She was standing on the chair FCS! and her daddy with his arm around her waist was smiling. I tell you it made me shiver.


I will also tell that moran woman running her alpha health clinic - NO ONE will ever make me feel guilty about having an abortion. F*ck you! you guilt-trip-laying, beady-rat's eyes witch.

[Erika]

7. It could have been the Taliban

Pretty soon they'll be telling the woman submission is her role, and the man is in charge, by God.

[PublicWrath]

17. They've been preaching submission, too. They put stuff in the

fundy-brand of homeschool textbooks to teach that other cultures are inferior and idol-worshippers and the writers alter history to imply that only white Christians have made any significant contribution to civilization. And gender roles are being inculcated, sometimes directly, sometimes in ways subtle and insidious. The Fundy homeschool movement is going to raise a generation of nazis and harem masters. Theocracy Watch has hair-raising info on these movements.

Notions about fathers owning a daughter's virginity until he transfers it (or disposes of it himself) to her husband! It's classic tribal shit! And "The Handmaid's Tale".

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

27. My take too, exactly

My first reaction was, "Vow to Daddy? Why? Does her hymen belong to him?"

Classic tribal shit, indeed.

[PlanetBev]

9. She did have little beady rat eyes, didn't she?

I like that Orweilian statement she made, "by outlawing abortion, we are offering women real freedom."

Huh?

[Erika]

11. Nah, she's a messed up broad

Republicans are reeling from their party being taken over by the Taliban West.

[madeline_con]

67. Uh, what? eom

[Maraya1969]

30. What is going on in this picture?

[hwmnbn]

31. These girls are searching for their minds ......

because they've certainly lost them.

Let's see what happens when their teen-age hormones rage and the "forbidden fruit" of sex is that cute boy right next to her.

It's been my experience that primal biology is stronger than any intellectual vow they may take. They may not have intercourse, but they will have sex. Bank on it!

[d_b]

35. !

:rofl:

[madeline_con]

68. Reverend Bump-A-Lot gone wild? n/t

[Erika]

6. Yeah, like a Christian girl never got pregnant

and was unmarried. Let them have their dreams.

Let them introduce the Bible as the Law of the Land, and they can thank God for the movement.

OK.

[pecwae]

37. Fundy neighbor's

granddaughter got pregnant at 16, not married. The neighbor said her granddaughter has never missed a day of Sunday School in her life. Said the guy involved "tricked" her granddaughter. Funny, the family never went after the guy, who was 18, for DNA sampling to establish paternity.

[jean]

56. That would involve trusting science - they won't do that anytime soon

[roguevalley]

57. abstinence programs in lieu of sex education don't work. its laughable

to expect kids now not to have sex when their idiot parents didn't abstain and would have laughed themselves sick if it had been proposed to them. abortions and unwanted pregnancy have gone up under these ass clowns.

[kevinbgoode]

12. I thought that "Purity Ball" was whacked too. . .

Don't slap me around for this, but my first impression was that these crazies were encouraging romantically incestual relationships. Where was the "ball" for the mothers and the sons where the sons would offer up their virginity as a gift to their wives upon marriage?

This smacks so much of the 19th century that every person in this country should be alarmed. And yes, they had this fantasy-land smirk as if everyone will come to understand that being dictated to by religious leaders is much more preferred than representative government.

[Erika]

13. A touch sick. The girls will offer themselves up as virgins

and the man will yell heehaww. I don't take these nuts too seriously. But I am embarrassed for my GOP friends who thought they were voting for other things. Oh well, the laugh is on them.

[Nicole]

18. Mothers & Sons are included as well

Different ball, same message.


Monique Endriss places a purity ring on her son Justin's finger during the Purity Ball ceremony.
Photos by Donnie Biggs


Mahlon Thomas tries his new purity ring on for the first time in front of Eric Hayth, Joseph Palgutt and Jonathan Duff at the Purity Ball.

http://www.belvoir.army.mil/news.asp?id=truelovewaits


Edit to add:

Notice that this Purity Ball took place on an Army base. So are we paying for this?

[kevinbgoode]

19. Now it ticks me off that this was on a military base!

But I have a real good idea for a nice fat law when we have power again. Every citizen who takes a "purity" oath and breaks it before marriage cannot legally enter into holy matrimony at a later date. Let's make these fundies have to live up to their vows for a change.

I have no problem with them making the pledge. I just think that religious conservatives are copping out by not demanding moral legislation to enforce their decisions. They should be concentrating on that instead of trying to legislate morality on the rest of us. After all, we have to "protect" the sanctity of "marriage."

[Nicole]

71. That military base thing ticks me off too

I'm all for making the fundies live up to their vows.

[ClintonTyree]

22. Gee....all my Mom gave me was.....

a purity cock-ring! :rofl: What's next....chastity belts? The sexual repression in these youngsters is going to scar them for life. I'd like to study these "pure kids" and see what they're like 20 years down the road. My guess is some TRULY fucked-up adults! :silly:

[xchrom]

24. you had the same thought i did.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

29. *wiping down coffee-sprayed monitor*

At the risk of shutting down this thread, I must say that this purity crap puts me in mind of "Christian BDSM." It's outrageous, taking something so wholesome and healthy, and linking it up with Christianity. :silly:

[converted_democrat]

38. I came from an extremely r-wing home.. It does lead to extremely

fucked up adults.. I could write a book.. It took me 5 years to shake my repression issues.. People that haven't been a part of that culture have no idea.. It's crazy..

[madeline_con]

70. "... 20 years down the road ..."

Some of those who "break their vows" won't give a rat's patoot about it.

Some will be forever guilt-ridden about going against "God's Law" and such bull as that, making them feel inferior all their lives.

[area51]

64. "Where was the 'ball' for the mothers and the sons...."

Exactly, that was my thought too. Gee, I guess these girls are getting pregnant all by themselves.... :eyes:

[TankLV]

72. Where's the "purity ball" for the sons? Or are all these yahoos gonna

somehow make ANOTHER convenient excuse?!

Creepy creepy CREEPY!

Did I say it was CREEPY?!

[ugarte]

14. All hail the Patriarchy. Paternal authority over women is alive & well...

Saving it for Daddy.

[silverojo]

15. Shouldn't it be MOTHER-daughter?

Isn't it kind of weird to have fathers hanging around their "virgin" daughters like that? Ewww!

[ugarte]

16. See my post above. It's all about Father Knows Best

The Fundies lust to reinvent the Father as head of the family. It's really less about sex than gender.

[ClintonTyree]

23. They're not lusting to re-invent it........

they HAVE reinvented it. The Old Testicle teaches that the women is the "lesser vessel" of the lord, that the man is the final authority on all things familial. And the fundies bible is the old testicle, not that new-age, feel good, forgiving NEW testicle. That's for wimps! It's already here, they don't have to bring it back. WHY these women subject themselves to this control is beyond me.....poor self esteem issues or did they have "purity contracts" with THEIR fathers? :eyes: These people are nutz! :silly:

[nicknameless]

26. "The Old Testicle"!

:rofl:

We saw shades of this crap back with the "Promise Keepers" in the '90s. (Who knows. Those idiots are probably still around too.)

[Iowa]

79. That's the first thing I thought of - Promise Keepers...

These types of organizations are fundamentally flawed, IMO. The very idea that a bunch of men must rely upon one another for "help" in fulfilling their roles as decent men strikes me as weak, somewhat pitiful, and bordering on sissified. For example, Promise Keepers focuses on "sexual purity" among other things. The thought of stepping out on my wife would be unthinkable to me, and any man who needs a support group (like Promise Keepers) to help him keep his dick in his pants... well, I have tended to view those guys as both cads and weenies. Real men, it seems to me, just do what's right without the need for continual praise and reinforcement from other men. Furthermore, the whole premise is demeaning to women. Same applies to these bizarre "Purity Balls". When it comes right down to it, the right is made up of the very weakest, pathetic men in our society.

[nicknameless]

80. "The right is made up of the very weakest, pathetic men in our society."

I couldn't agree more.

:thumbsup:

[wishlist]

33. Growing churches like Presbyterians in America subscribe to patriarchy

The PCA (TV's James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries is a leader) is a strong and growing Southern based offshoot of Presbyterianism that does not allow women to be ordained as pastors or elders and espouses literal interpretations of creation (6 Days) and rejects evolutionary theory. Females are taught that male domination is Biblical but are encouraged to be fully involved as teachers of women and children and these churches offer many enticing programs of family activities where their rigid views and politics are not mentioned.

Their rigid Biblical views are slipped in casually and quietly in the background while they loudly espouse peace and understanding and conciliation and their members exude warmth, charm and intelligence (they denounce violent tactics against abortion clinics and denounce inflammatory wackos like Pat Robertson). They are among that loyal 34% of diehard Bush backers.

[converted_democrat]

41. You really want to know?

It's because from the moment fundy women are born they are taught that they are worthless without a man.. You learn it at home, you learn it at church.. God gave us men so we don't have to "deal" with the world, because the world is just too hard and too complicated for women to deal with. Unless you have a man to take care of you, you're screwed.. The religion also teaches girls from a very young age that it's "Godly" to submit to males.. So, unless you want to be godless, you better serve the man, cause' if you don't, you're going to hell.. Fundy women are taught their place very early in life.. If you grow up in that environment, and it's all you know, it's tough to break out of it.. It's just another element of the religion.. Part of being a female fundy is knowing you're less, but it's "okay" because that's the way God wants it.. (You don't want to upset God, do you? It's written in the Bible, so it must be true.)

You're taught early on that the only way you can have a decent life is if you please and serve the man that protects you from that scary outside world, and most of the women buy into it.. That's one of the many reasons that fundies like home schooling and only socializing with their own.. (They don't want their children exposed to anything that challenges their belief system, and if that means they have to dumb down their kids to do it, than so be it..) They don't want their girls in public school where they might get a sense of equality, and it's why they are so against real education.. If they let the girls learn too much, or let them develop critical thinking skills, they run the risk of them feeling bright enough to make it on their own.

[newswolf56]

20. And yet there are still idiots who refuse to believe in...

the corporate/fundamentalist conspiracy to impose theocracy (whether Christian or Islamic) on the entire world.

[Breeze54]

21. I just watched it.........OMFG!!!!!

They are telling these girls that they should wait until they are married to have sex
and even then;
TO ONLY HAVE SEX TO HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wtf:

The blonde woman saying this, looked like a hooker!! :rofl:

Holy shit!!

We all need to go there this summer and scatter sex info pamphlets and condoms, all over the streets!

"South Dakota -- Supporting Rapists Reproductive Rights Since 2006!!"

[Jose Diablo]

49. Sounds like new nirvana for sly wolves

If the mothers and fathers don't prepare their daughters to recognize and deal with the worst guys can be, the guys will go through them like buckwheat through a goose. The ticket is, learn to quote the scriptures and your in. Another approach could be the rebel approach, that might work as well for these sexually repressed rebellious young women. Look at the 60's as an example of what happens when women previously repressed were freed by the pill, talk about girls gone wild.

If only I were a young man again. There's gonna be a lot of angry fundies parents and sad daughters, that's for sure. Or maybe they won't be sad. The daughters I mean. Be a big migration from the country to the city though.

Those fundy parents, they are screwing-up, big time, with this approach.

There was this club in my high school during the late 60's called the Daughters of Artemis. I won't go into Artemis and all that, but soon after graduation and the availability of the pill, well, it did get interesting. I have pictures from those times. Before and after pictures. The before pictures I was angry and tense, the after? Was all smiles and relaxed. Why do you think the 70's grads were more touchy feelly and less prone to fights. It was the pill, the grass too I think.

The best response to possibility of teenage sex a parent can make, is education and lots of instruction for the daughters on the nature of guys. Thats the best way to try to keep daughters celibate. Even then, it's iffy if it will work. Thus the education on preventing disease and unwanted pregnancy.

Then there is AIDs, it's out there children and these fundies are leaving their children wide open to that.

These fundies are doing everything all wrong. This must be the work of that Dobson guy, showing these fundy parents how to be parents. This guy is the main one responsible for placing the daughters at risk, him and the parents for being such idiots.

[murielm99]

58. "guys will go through them like buckwheat through a goose"

I am seeing that right now.

I work at a community college, part-time I do some testing and placement, and a little tutoring. Many of the home-schooled go there to get their GEDs. I can pick out the fundie types in a crowd of students.

Many of them do all right in reading. But they have no math skills, and no verbal reasoning ability. They usually end up taking remedial classes before they can test for the GED.

I use the gym and I see them interact there and in other places around the college. They have no social skills. Many of the girls end up dating guys who are terrible jerks, guys who would not be able to get a date if not for these naive girls. I don't know if they are being taken advantage of sexually, but I wouldn't doubt it. The young men don't seem to have any social lives at all. They barely interact with anyone around the school.

I do see a few of these kids grow and mature. Some of them get associate degrees and do well. But that is not the majority.

If the people here who home school want to flame me, go ahead. I see the downside of homeschooling every day. I see kids who can quote the Bible, but don't know their own bodies. I see kids who have never associated with anyone outside their small circles of friends. They are truly ignorant people, ripe for the plucking.

[CrispyQ]

50. And these women's husbands are ok with

sex only for baby-making?

Really??????

[XanaDUer]

25. K & R'd just for the "Purity Ball" thing.

Bizarre.

[BiggJawn]

32. Do the girls swear to Wotan, with drums and torchlight?

Sounds like some kind of sick Aryan-SS betrothal ceremony to me...

[ihelpu2see]

34. The sicker thing is over 80% don't keep the pledge and when they

do have intercourse they are not prepared on proper birth control ( condoms). This is also found to be true in the higher teen preg. rates and higher std rates among teens that get "Abstinence only" sex ed. We can also now quote the absolute failure of the US push for abstinence only ed to stop the spread of HIV in Africa. The AU (African Union) ditched the US backed plan after it totally failed to show progress against the spread of HIV. The AU is now turning to the condom based education that India has used.

[knitter4democracy]

36. That Purity Ball this is just wrong on so many levels.

I had friends in college who had purity rings, but they chose to get them, and their parents didn't put them on in some sick ceremony. They were serious about their vow, but that's probably because they felt they'd chosen to do it themselves and had power over it.

I would never have promised my virginity to my dad, and I was one who waited. My virginity was my own to do with as I wanted, not something my dad had any control over. That's just wrong.

[bloom]

52. yeah - that's pretty sick nt

[holboz]

39. Maybe we should yield SD to the Fundies...

I think it would be better if we let them all migrate to SD; let's let them have one state and make it just the way they want it. They can set up their American Taliban way of life up there and leave the rest of us alone. That Purity Ball is just beyond grotesque!

I'm sure there are plenty of states that would be more than happy to accept non-Fundy South Dakotans as refugees! I really feel sorry for the moderate citizens of South Dakota who have to put up with that crap.

[ananda]

40. Both extremes oppress women.

Remember, there's a mindset that a woman is also a man's
fantasy toy.

Virginity and promiscuity are two sides of the same coin.

Choice means more than reproductive rights for women.
It also means complete power over every aspect of what
she does or doesn't do with her body.

That's why I respect women who choose to be virgins just
as much as I respect those who don't... by complete choice
and for the right reasons.

Sue

[liberalhistorian]

69. No, please don't yield this state to them!

I moved here last summer and love it (I live in a more urban area); there are a lot of good people here. Don't punish all of us for the sins of a few! Send them all to South Carolina instead, just like they were talking about going there and making that state a private fundie state a few years ago.

[hootinholler]

42. It it anything like the

Orgasmatron in Sleeper?
Does it have mirrors like a disco ball?
or is it small like a hackey-sack.

-Hoot

[Canuckistanian]

43. What's next, "honor killings"?

Parading blood-stained marriage bed sheets in public? Because that's where this is headed.

For a group that's so concerned about "Islamofascism", they're sure quick to emulate the socio-cultural aspects of the religiously insane.

[WCGreen]

44. The AMerican TAliban

[Geek_Girl]

45. This kind of reminds me of my cuban friends who had ultra conservative

families. When I was a teenager I had a few friends that were cuban. Their parents made them take chaperone's on dates. My friends who had parents like this ended up pregnant teenagers.

What's kind of funny is these parents are setting up their kids for that same fate and they don't even know it.

[FooFootheSnoo]

46. That's creepy.

I don't know what else to say. It's just creepy and weird. My dad would have been mortified if I'd have asked him to take me to a "Purity Ball". We did not discuss sex, my dad and I. My mother would have wondered what the hell was going on too.

[truth2power]

47. I see that many posters here were creeped out by the same thing

that bothered me...those girls (some looked pre-pubescent) standing there with their FATHERS pledging purity. Some disturbing subtext there.

[alarimer]

48. I'm glad I'm not the only one creeped out by this

I posted about this last night. It was just so weird to me. Well the whole show was creepy really. Scary stuff.

[young_at_heart]

51. My PBS station has "Now" on Sunday afternoon....they don't want to offend

I've written to them to ask why the rest of the country is able to watch it on Friday nights and NC has it buried when few people will be watching (2pm Sundays). I received a song-and-dance about programming that's 'right' for our state, etc. We finally gave up and subscribed to TIVO. I guess I should be grateful they show it at all!

[Berry Cool]

53. I didn't see this, but this whole thing reminds me of Margaret Atwood.

Remember "The Handmaid's Tale"? I'm starting to wonder if we're really all that far off from seeing that kind of government come to us. These people would no doubt roundly approve of it. :scared:

[young_at_heart]

55. Yes, it is "The Handmaid's " Tale....every American should read it

That kind of government is already here, IMHO!

[PetraPooh]

54. The part that made me the maddest was the "display" of what

fetus look like that the one "recovery from abortion mental illness" centerwas using. The reporter said something quickly about them being used, though the accuracy was questionable (this part was short and sweet) but then the lady who ran the center was allowed to say "and this is at 5 weeks, and this is at . . . " without being corrected at all. I had a miscarriage at home at 10 weeks. The last little "doll" was supposed to be a ten week old fetus. I assure you that what I passed looked nothing like what they showed. They showed a fully recognizable baby about the length of my thumb. What I retieved from the toilet (sorry but that's where I miscarried) was nothing more than a roundish glob of mucus and the baby inside was about the size of my thumbNAIL and had absolutely no recognizable attributes. This really steamed me that NOW didn't show some kind of accurate imagery about the fetus up to 10 weeks. Instead just a two second little comment.

[roody]

59. Maybe a silver lining in this dark cloude

is that as soon as they turn 18 or so, they may go away to school or leave home and in one instant realize what a crock this all is then join the real world. Unfortunately without the skills to deal with the real world. This is what happened to me. In one day, I threw it all out the window and liberated myself.

[PlanetBev]

60. I love stories like yours, Roody

It always gives me hope that after all this kind of indoctrination, a lot of young people are left with enough brain cells to throw off the yoke when they come of age.

[high density]

61. Purity Ball... "Wedding gift to my husband"

Umm that was pretty sick and scary. Yes, little girls, your sole purpose is to find a husband and to make babies for him. By the way, he'll probably have sex with somebody else before that too, but that's ok.

[mistertrickster]

62. I saw it and it was sickening. My wife and I were just appalled.

It's a bizzare obsession with the sexuality of young women.

Which is really what abortion is all about--it's not about "saving babies," it's about controlling women's sexuality.

The thing is, how do you tell your daughter how shameful sex is year after year and then expect her to enjoy it, ever?

Answer--you don't. That's the point.

[MissB]

65. That is exactly it.

And yet it is one very good reason why that viewpoint will never catch on throughout the United States. There are far too many people with ordinary, healthy sexual relationships.

[Solly Mack]

63. Patriarchy at it's finest (blech)

That's some sick shit when you think about it.

Daddy stands up with his daughter to secure her virginity...then Daddy gives daughter away to the man who is supposed to be taking her virginity - and then Daddy congratulates the husband.

Sick.Sick.Sick.

[madeline_con]

66. Those lying little ho's!

You know they're having a "ball" later with their boyfriends! :rofl:

[judaspriestess]

73. and how many of these freaks are on birth control?

quite a few. Hyprocrites how are they keeping from having so many kids? whoops answered my own question, they don't have sex.

[the observationist]

74. Nebraska could be next.

We have three GOP candidates for Governor and all three of them said they would sign a bill to outlaw abortion. The GOP nominee will win. The three liberals in Nebraska will obviously vote for our Dem candidate, but we're screwed.

[Catshrink]

75. The Virgin Mary had a child out of wedlock..

what's up with that?

[Imagevision]

76. some pharmasists won't fill birth control scripts?!! for personal beliefs?

kinda wants you to drag the putz's across the counter and wipe the floor with them.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

77. I know that totally grossed me out too... So smarmy.

n/t

[lovuian]

78. I know a couple that did this and they are getting divorced

and why cause she is fed up with his church and religious beliefs...

I just think a couple should make their decision rather than parents get involved in it...