I Don't Give a Phunk: Promoting Abstinence through “Coolness”

• In Event: 165 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. Religion and Adolescents

Abstract

Purity Ring Posse (PRP) is an evangelical youth ministry that promotes premarital sexual abstinence by touring the U.S., putting on live, multimedia events for teenagers. The group faces the challenge of how one might depict premarital abstinence - by its very nature a delay of gratification as well as a more traditional form of sexuality - as something nevertheless rebellious and transgressive. This paper explores how the PRP team works to manufacture abstinence as “cool” and the tensions they encounter in this process. PRP is not a radical or progressive organization, in many cases group members support a largely “conservative” Christian position on issues like marriage, gender roles, and homosexuality. Yet in their attempt to advocate “abstinence as rebellion,” they actually do challenge adult authority and many “traditional” ideas within the conservative Christian community. This includes encouraging racial diversity, challenging the sexual double standard, discussing taboo topics such as pornography or sexual desire, and respecting the voices of young people over those of preachers or professional speakers. Drawing on a discourse of “coolness” and rebellion, the members of Purity Ring Posse attempt to distance themselves from dominant forms of abstinence promotion. Their struggles demonstrate that the promotion of abstinence might initially serve a conservative agenda, it also has the potential to create some unexpectedly transgressive consequences.

Author

• Katherine Castiello Jones, University of Massachusetts-Amherst