The Virgin Lips Movement

Just when I think I have heard just about everything, something always comes along. I was reading through my daily list of online news when I came across an article that made me double-take, Couples Save First Kiss for Wedding Day. Are you kidding me? It seems that a Christian group from The Volunteer State have rejected the sexual revolution and have taken the chastity pact to a whole new level. Tennesseans are giving the smooch the kiss off in a new pledge to the Virgin Lips Movement. Religious leaders say this example of super-abstinence deserves admiration, not derision.  I find this movement almost as amusing as Bristol Palin and her abstinence roadshow.

Harold, 35, of Spring Hill, decided to save his first kiss for his wedding day when he was in just the eighth grade, after a youth pastor mentioned the idea. He hopes his story will inspire other young people who want to do the same. Something tells me Harold probably didn’t have a choice in the matter considering at 35 years of age he has never been kissed. Doesn’t he know you can pay for that kind of thing? It’s Tennessee, surely, there is a cousin or two around. I don’t mean to make light of Tennessee or the state’s religious preferences or rituals, but come on, isn’t this taking it a bit too far? I can understand someone not taking a suitor out for a test drive, but come on, you have to at least start the engine.

Harold said saving his first kiss on his wedding day guaranteed that his marriage wasn’t based on “the physical.” I get it, I agree that a good relationship has to include the mental, but I will say, though my significant other’s brain is a huge turn on, it’s not her brain that makes my eyes roll back in my head, and I knew that from the moment her lips met mine.

Farrah Clark, 15, said she also decided to save her kisses after reading the book, called I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. The book, which came out in 1997, is kind of the Virgin Lips Movement bible. She said in an effort to avoid temptation she has decided not to date until she goes to college. Well, I’m sure she won’t find any temptation there.

Isn’t it about time that we start judging our teens on values such as intellect, honesty, altruism, courage, and integrity, not their sexuality. America is obsessed with virginity. From the media, to politicians, to religious organizations, moral character is linked purely to their sexual behavior, rather than their moral conscience. Abstinence only education, virginity pacts, and anti sex education in public schools merely set our teens up for failure. If you don’t believe me, ask Bristol Palin.