Short abstract
BBC 2, 25 January at 9 pm
Rating: ★★★
How do you persuade teenagers to say no to sex? Denny Pattyn, a religious man and a big believer in sexual abstinence before marriage, believes that he has the answer. Pattyn is the founder of the Silver Ring Thing, a faith based US organisation set up to spread the message that it's cool to wait.
The Silver Ring Thing, which has just received $700 000 (£383 000; €556 000) from the Bush administration, is aided by a few “hardcore virgin” teenagers and by Dr Meg Meeker, author of Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids. Dr Meeker said, “Our generation was focused on making sure that sexual freedom could be had by all. Now at the turn of the century... 8000 kids every day in the United States get a new sexually transmitted disease.”
In response to this medical crisis, the organisation tours the United States recruiting teenagers through talks, shows, and parties, and entertaining them with comedy sketches, music, and personal stories. Nicky, one of the teen helpers said, “I came to the Silver Ring show and I just fell in love with the programme. People actually cared... I had a very low self esteem, I didn't have any friends. I was just looking for something.”
Making young people feel as if they belong may be one of the reasons why the organisation has so far convinced 16 000 individuals to pay $12 membership. The money gets them a Bible, a silver ring, which they wear on their wedding finger until they get married, and, of course, a pledge of prenuptial chastity.
This fascinating documentary was an only-in-America story of ironies. When Miss America was flown in to launch a national programme to teach the country's young to say no to sex, it appeared that sex was being used even to sell abstinence. Jonathan, a spokesperson for the organisation in a debate on sex education in schools, seemed on edge, and you could not help wondering if this was because he was a teenage boy who was made to talk about sex constantly, but who never had any.
The director of sexual health clinic Planned Parenting, Dr Brenda Green, said, “Most of these fear based curricula violate the doctrine of separation of church and state that we hold so dear in the First Amendment.” When Miss World attacked her over her distrust of abstinence programmes, Dr Green answered, “More vows of chastity have been broken than condoms will ever break.”