Cosmo's Twisted Take on Virginity

There is a shocking headline on the front of Cosmopolitan Magazine this month; so shocking that whoever makes up the headlines actually wrote it like this: “VIRGINS IN COSMO! (We Thought This Day Would Never Come)” (July 2009 issue.)

Considering that I find this magazine offensive on several levels it pained me considerably to plop down $4.29 to purchase the magazine. But, I wanted to read what millions of women around the world (they tout that they are the best selling magazine with 58 international editions published in 34 languages and distributed in over 100 countries according to their web-site) would be reading about virginity.

As I suspected I would be, I was outraged. The summary is this: “seven virgins were interviewed and NOT ONE indicated she planned to actually wait for marriage.” I’ve scanned the entire article twice to see if the word marriage even existed in any of their interviews. Not once. One girl says that she “is in no way waiting for The One” and another says she “wants to hold out a little longer” but perhaps one of the saddest statements of all comes from a young woman who says that she was holding out for Mr. Right….but sometimes she thinks “Mr. Okay will have to do.”

I can not express emphatically enough how incredibly VITAL our ministry is to the young men and women in our society today! Teens are asked to believe nothing but pure LIES from our culture on a daily basis. It is compromises they are being asked and told to make! The Pregnancy Care Centers of South Central Indiana lovingly confront this generation with truth in the classrooms, in the centers, and in every encounter we are given.

Let me share just a few of the many instances where we are making the difference in South Central Indiana. I have included seven comments from seven Indiana teens to rebut the seven testimonies of girls in the Cosmopolitan Magazine article who have bought the lies of our culture or grown too weak to care. Let the comments collected from teens at the Columbus East/North Summer School program who embraced our Choose to Wait program last week speak to you:

- “I am now more confident on keeping my virginity.”
- “(This) really got through to me.”
- “I’ll definitely save my virginity for my spouse.”
- “Gave me a better perspective.”
- “Having this presentation convinced me.” “Awesome”
- “All of it made me realize it’s not worth giving up when there is so much ahead of me.”
- “It was SO informational.” “Think about your future spouse.”

Please join me in praying for the strength of our ministry and the audacity of Generation Y to embrace the truth!

Tracey Pike, Director of Community Education