A 17-year-old says that she decided to commit herself to America’s Purity Movement – a program in which young women pledge abstinence to their fathers.
Hannah Lee Powers from Louisiana sealed the commitment at a ceremonial Purity Ball, which she attended with her father, of course.
Many teens her age would never consider making such a vow, but Hannah insists that pledging her abstinence to her father is strengthening their relationship with each other and with God.
Hannah, on her decision to pledge abstinence to her father, said that the bible says that intercourse before marriage is a sin, and she believes that.
“I’m doing this Purity Ball because it’s like a symbol to tell everybody. That this is what I am doing and you may not accept it.
You may think it’s weird but this is what I want to do because I want to take the stand for what believe in. I want to make a promise to myself and to God that I will stay pure until I get married.
I don’t need to do all these things that girls are doing and that girls consider to be normal. I don’t have to do these things. I don’t have to have sex to know that I am loved.”
The Purity Movement was started 20 years ago in Colorado Springs, and it was founded by evangelist Randy Wilson and his wife Lisa. Since then, it has spread across 48 states and 17 countries.
Annual Purity Balls are held by the movement, and they include ceremonies in which young girls pledge their abstain from intimate intercourse until they get married.
The girls wear long, white gowns for the ceremony, and the fathers are donning smart suits. They attend dinner and dance, making it look like a wedding. Fathers are given a key representing their daughter’s chastity at the ceremony, and they are meant to eventually pass it on to their daughter’s future husband.
Daughters and fathers even sign a purity contract, and the daughters are given a purity ring to wear on their wedding ring finger.
