I'm wondering if they will include the loss or lost again (as opposed to born again
) story of their virginity?
Don't get me wrong, I think it's admirable, but I also think it's a tad bizarre. Even in the "olden days" one would have been hard pressed to find a 30 yr old virgin.
'Yes, I'm a virgin': B.C. women seek spiritual purity online
VANCOUVER — "Confessions of a 29-year-old virgin." That's the title
of the emotionally revealing blog of four virgins from British
Columbia's Fraser Valley who are looking for some good men for marriage
and "holy" sex.
The Abbotsford, B.C., women's online
"virgin diaries" have suddenly made them media stars. Their quest for
guys led to a video about them appearing Wednesday on the popular show
of Ellen DeGeneres, who proceeded to get in some virgin jokes.
The
virginal British Columbians, all of whom are 29 or 30 and evangelical
Christians, were also set to be videotaped Wednesday night for an
upcoming appearance on HLN's Dr. Drew Show.
And this Sunday
evening three of the four young B.C. women will be starring on a pilot
program called The Virgin Diaries on the TLC network. The program
includes video of the young women dating eligible men, all of whom also
happen to be virgins.
The extroverted B.C. women, all
members of a small church in Abbotsford called The River, began their
blog four months ago because they were tired of being stereotyped as
defective for being virgins (actually one confesses to being a
"born-again" virgin who wants to start over). They are fighting back
against a sex-saturated culture, and looking for guys, in the name of
spiritual "purity."
"We're in a culture filled with sex,
where sex sells. And it's sold every day. And we believe it shouldn't be
sold," said photographer Lisa Marziali, the online ringleader for the
virgins. Marziali notes that sex is "God's idea" and should be held for
marriage.
Marziali and her friends want to be
"cheerleaders" for virgins. They say it's sometimes difficult to be
among so many friends who are married.
The four young
women's crusade for virginity before marriage goes against the grain of
North American culture, where a poll released this week by online
polling system SodaHead suggested 70 per cent of North Americans think
cohabitation before marriage is a good thing.
Unlike
religious right leaders in the U.S. who have turned sexual abstinence
into a wedge issue against liberals, Marziali said her crew of virgins
is not pushing their views on anyone.
"We just want to tell our stories."
Marziali's
story, according to her online diary, is that she is one of four
"great-looking" siblings. "I am 29, I have never had a boyfriend. I have
shared one kiss in 29 years. Yes, I'm a virgin and no, I don't plan on
being the old, grumpy, crazy spinster that never ends up married."
Tamara
Larson's story is that she currently works with street people. She was
an aspiring basketball player who crashed. It led to "self-hatred,
striving excessively, cutting, bulimia and abusive men." Tamara is the
one who says she's a "born-again virgin," who believes sex should be
"pure, holy and good."
Danielle Michaud as a youngster
endured frequent foster homes and "the shadow of abuse." She is now a
nurse who loves Jesus Christ and who has had one serious relationship,
"which taught me a lot."
The last member of the virgin
quartet, Amy Schmidt, is in Uganda working for a church mission program.
The daughter of Fraser Valley pastors says she is "just a young woman
on a quest to find what true love, true beauty, and true intimacy really
are."
Even though Marziali is finding this week's flurry
of media attention "exciting," she said she was unaware until the last
month that many U.S. evangelical churches have advocated sexual
abstinence outside marriage for more than a decade.
It's
led to hot political controversies in the U.S, over whether sex
education programs in public schools should promote only abstinence,
while censoring information about birth control.
But the goals of Canada's increasingly famous four virgins are much more intimate.
"We're beautiful, confident, successful women" who are open to serious approaches by men, Marziali said.
For
her part, Marziali is looking for a man whom she's already nicknamed
"The Rock Star." She wants him to be "strong in character, a leader and
have Jesus as his centre."
Marziali insists she and her
sexually inexperienced friends are not romantic dreamers seeking the
ideal, non-existent "perfect" man.
"No. No. We're just looking for a guy who has a heart after God, and who is man enough to pursue us."
A
lot of young Canadian men, especially in B.C., are insecure about
making the first moves, Marziali believes. So she and her virgin friends
are getting out the message they're ready and willing.
"We are here," she said. "We are waiting to give our hearts away. We want to be pursued."
LINK