Politics of Virginity

Alesha E. Doan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kansas. She is the author of Opposition and Intimidation: The Abortion Wars and Strategies of Political Harassment.Jean Calterone Williams is Associate Professor of Political Science and Department Chair at California Polytechnic State University. She is the author of A Roof Over My Head: Homeless Women and the Shelter Industry.

"The notion that the only sex education teenagers need are zippy t-shirt slogans like “Earn your right to wear white: ABSTAIN” would make many of us who remember being a teenager snort with laughter. It's hard enough to get a teenager to clean their room—forcing them to abstain from one of life's most pleasurable activities? Forget it. As The Politics of Virginity points out, a recent survey shows that, despite the preaching of abstinence, half of US teens engage in sexual intercourse. But while these school curricula, supported by America's religious conservatives, may not be stopping teenagers from having sex, they are far from benign. Alesha Doan and Jean Calterone Williams detail the insidious dangers of “morality politics” that is thrusting outdated notions of gender roles and sexuality on to young people under the guise of tackling disease and teenage pregnancy. Moreover, the decision not to educate teenagers about emergency contraception may mean that a young person ultimately finds herself having to choose between an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy. Many of these abstinence-only lessons tell teenagers that “normal” young women don't want sex outside of marriage and that girls do not have the same “biological urges” that boys have. Most repellent of all, several curricula exhort young women to dress conservatively so as not to provoke young men into a sexual frenzy that could lead to assault."- The Lancet

• Dedication Acknowledgments Preface Chapter 1 Under the Radar: The Advent of Stealth Tactics in Morality Policy Chapter 2 Tightening the Sexuality Noose: Title V and Abstinence-Only Education Chapter 3 Good Girls or Dirty Whores? Images and Behaviors of Adolescent Women Chapter 4 Resurrecting the Chastity Belt: Lessons from Abstinence-Only Curricula Chapter 5: In Their Own Words: Sexuality, Knowledge, and Power Chapter 6 Whom and What Are We Saving? Morality, Sexuality and Abstinence Appendix Endnotes Bibliography Selected Annotated Bibliography Tables Figures Index