Don't get me wrong. Equipping kids with the skills to say 'no' to anything they don't want to do--be it sex, drugs, alcohol, smoking, reckless driving, general hooliganism--is a good thing.

I was more concerned about the purity ball (and the other things that go with this purity movement). My problem with this fake wedding (really, that's what it is) is the implication that the daughter and her sexuality belong to the father. :shudder: Besides, there have been studies that show gilrs (or boys, because there is a larger movement here that includes both) who participate in this sort of thing are more likely to engage in other forms of sexual behavior as a way of preserving their 'virginity.'

The other problem is that it really puts the girls in a place of weakness rather than strength. It doesn't say 'your body and sexuality belong to you, so *you* decide when you're ready'--again, not just for sex, but anything. Instead it gives the girls the message that they need a man or other authority figure to control them. That's not true strength and is likely to fail them when they need it most.