Google me: Youth embrace chastity (well, some of them)

Taking a vow of chastity is not very rock and roll, and seems an unlikely lifestyle choice for teenagers. But pop stars are leading the charge of the chastity belt and teens are their willing disciples.

More than a third of young people surveyed in a Herald poll this week were "virgins and proud", and new NZ Idol Ben Lummis is not shy about his lack of bedroom action.

But what is a "vow of chastity" and who is taking one? Looking up "sex" on Google brings up 212 million websites, a hunt for "vow of chastity" brings up just 30,000 hits.

On The Catholic Forum, we learn that the vow "forbids all voluntary sexual pleasure".

Britney Spears, who once famously vowed to be a virgin until she married, has now embraced the original rock and roll lifestyle. Ooops, Britney. Christdot.org reports that Rebecca St James, a Christian music star, says of the new-style Britney that "I feel sad for her". She said Spears led youngsters astray with her message of "anything goes, if it feels good, do it".

St James is a front person for True Love Waits, a US organisation supported by George Bush which urges teenagers to avoid pre-marital sex.

The True Love Waits website gives teens several reasons for abstaining from sex, including:

* You are 100 per cent guaranteed that you won't get pregnant. It's a sure thing that you will stay STD-free!

* You will be spared much emotional pain and heartache. God will provide a way out from temptation 100 per cent of the time. You will have every opportunity to fulfil your dreams. If you get married one day, you can present yourself pure to your mate.

But for all the good reasons and good intentions, The Melbourne Age reports that almost 90 per cent of teenagers who pledged not to have sex before marriage did not live up to their vows. While such a vow is usually self-imposed, have a heart for girls at a Swaziland High School. Ananova.com reports that they will be expelled unless they agree to take a chastity pledge.

Role models may be in short supply, however - their King, Mswati III, was fined one cow last month for violating his own five-year sex ban by choosing a 17-year-old girl as his ninth wife.

And Rockford Register Star reports that the music director at Rockford's largest Catholic church had to choose between giving up his gay partner of 10 years or losing his job.

Walking out of the job, he said: "This shouldn't happen to anybody. It's the year 2003, for crying out loud."

On the website for True Love Waits devotees, a New Zealand teenager offers her heartfelt view on the vow of chastity.

Susie, 16, tells her global network that "Where I live, New Zealand, abstinence is NOT a cool look. But what's depressing is how it's almost more so within the churches.

"Yes, there are other girls I know who are virgins, but I'm realising more and more that virgins are less and less to come by. How sad is that?"