The Reasonable Activist

In the “Not Now” abstinence-only-until-marriage program, delivered to students in part of Mississippi, students participate in a mock wedding ceremony. As part of the ceremony, the bride presents the groom with a dirty sneaker as a wedding present. The dirty sneaker signifies “a lifestyle of impurity” and relays the message that no sock (representing a condom) could ever fully protect the foot from dirt and diseases. The groom, on the other hand, gives the bride a clean sneaker representing his “purity up until marriage.” At the end of the wedding activity, the students “pledged to remain pure” and bring clean tennis shoes to marriage.

While this is awful messaging in and of itself, research also shows that 88 percent of students who pledge to remain abstinent until marriage fail to keep this pledge and have the same STD rates as those who didn’t take a pledge. They are also less likely to use contraception when they do become sexually active.

All I can say is, what the hell?

REFERENCE:
This is an except pulled from http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/.

Each year on January 22nd, folks on both sides of the abortion issue descend on the Capitol.

This year the March for Life (pro-life) will begin with a rally on the National Mall & 7th Street at noon. The march will go down Constitution Avenue and end at the Supreme Court.

Pro-choice organizations such as the National Organization for Women, Choice USA, and NARAL Pro-Choice will gather at noon at the Supreme Court, on 1rst Street NE between Maryland Avenue and East Capitol. Also, if you are registered as a clinic escort please contact the Planned Parenthood in the District. As the March for Life goes by the clinic, every year escorts are asked to stand together to help protect the clinic from potential acts of violence.

All groups will need to take the metro and, as many streets downtown will be closed, driving in the District is not advised.