The Jonas Brothers' Purity Rings

I live in a community that's not too big on sex education in schools. But I'll bet they're big on purity rings, like the ones The Jonas Brothers wear.

Does this make sense to anybody else? It doesn't to me. If you don't know a whole lot about how to avoid getting pregnant, what good is a purity ring gonna do you and your new single-parent baby?

Sure, kids know what sex is. And they know what purity and abstinence are. And maybe they even know something about birth control that they learned from a friend of a friend of a friend. But when a virgin girl is in the middle of a kissing frenzy with her virgin boyfriend, sometimes their judgement gets clouded. Wouldn't it make sense to know that instead of throwing caution to the wind and following the dictates of their sexually-of-age bodies, they might remember, from having been taught about it, that a condom just might be a better choice than a purity ring at that particular passionate moment in time? Wouldn't it make sense that the virgin boyfriend be taught that there are responsibilities, often crushing ones, that could possibly go hand in hand with this one episode of unprotected sex? Isn't an informed choice logical when it comes to sex and parenthood?

So.... good for the Jonas Brothers. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for all the kids who have the purest of intentions. But I'm happiest for all the kids who also have a healthy dose of sex education under their belts.

My heart goes out to the girls in my town who may have the ring but little else to prepare them for their sexual coming-of-age and a possible lifetime of single-parenthood. Brings to mind Bristol Palin , daughter of republican vp candidate Sarah Palin. Although we all know of course that she and her boyfriend were planning on getting married all along and that they had their responsibilities as parents all planned out ahead of time. Or not.

Sex education. It's not just for faithless heathens.