Worried that their children are bombarded with words, clothes and pictures that "talk dirty," six mothers are plotting a revolution against a society seen to be saturated with sex. The women, two Britons and four American expats, from Surrey, a wealthy part of London's commuter belt, will next month launch a very American solution to the "sexual epidemic" afflicting the nation's teens -- a silver ring and a vow of chastity.
They were inspired by the success of Silver Ring Thing in the US, a Christian movement that has encouraged 17,000 young people to take a pledge of abstinence until marriage.
Denny Pattyn, the charismatic leader of the US organization, is visiting Britain this week to help launch Silver Ring Thing's UK wing. The mothers and their backers will go to seven cities in Britain and Ireland presenting a series of free events next month and in July, offering pledges and selling silver rings.
`Deterioration'
"It's thumping music, lights, comedy, drama," said Paula Jacobs, a mother of three teenagers who teamed up with friends near Walton-on-Thames after being stunned by rising levels of sexually transmitted infections and the "deterioration of our youth."
She added: "It's a fun night without any dark dangers or sex, just a good wholesome evening for kids with the same atmosphere as you get in a nightclub."
Silver Ring Thing is strongly rooted in Christianity, but encourages girls and boys of any faith to take the pledge. Its pragmatic aim is to reduce sexually transmitted infections. Cases of syphilis rose by 870 percent between 1992 and 2002 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; chlamydia rose by 139 percent; and gonorrhoea by 106 percent, according to the Public Health Laboratory Service. The largest increase was among people under 25.
"We've all been taught safe sex. It's not working," said Jacobs.
"Abstention is the way you stay away from STDs. We are not here to convert people, we are here to alert them. We want to help them eradicate this sexual epidemic amongst the teens. We're not going to be able to tell people what they do, we simply want to help those who want to change," she said.
In the US, the 10-year-old True Love Waits movement, helped by federal government funding of "abstinence education" to the tune of US$120m, has persuaded more than 2.4 million teenagers to promise to abstain from sex until marriage. Silver Ring Thing has received US$700,000 from the administration of US President George W. Bush.
`Slow hand'
Here, the organization is self-funded. "We've not got a lick of money," said Jacobs.
Loosely based on the step system pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, the program encourages people between 11 and 18 to abstain until marriage. On Silver Ring Thing's US website, teenagers are asked: "Would you eat a cookie that already had a bite taken out of it?"
Teenagers taking up the program are supported by an "accountability partner," a friend with whom they can share thoughts and any worries. The program emphasizes that everyone deserves a "second chance" -- wisely, given that a US study found that almost nine in 10 of those who signed chastity pledges broke them.
The mothers realize that chastity is a tough promise to keep in today's sexualized society. Roseanne Walters, a mother of six from Oxted, Surrey, said: "I've been through everything. You try to train your children in good choices but peer pressure should never be underestimated. Kids are bombarded with sexual images, with songs saying `give me a man with a slow hand' and `let's spend the night together.'
Peer pressure
"Youngsters need help and this is an avenue where they can have support from their peers. This is not the sort of teaching you get in a locker room where someone says `did you see her breast?' This is positive peer pressure. It's a support system for what I'm teaching my kids. I say `you don't think I'm cool but this is cool.'"
Her daughter, Kristina, 16, agrees that teenagers are under great pressure to be sexually active. "You don't think TV and advertising makes a difference but it accumulates and then you realize that it does. A lot of kids at my school dress exactly how TV and magazines have decided they should. People are trying to grow up fast."
She supports Silver Ring Thing but is not so sure about making a public pledge. "It's intimidating when you're in front of all those people. Maybe people shouldn't make the decision there and then. They should think about it seriously." She thinks it could prove popular among Britain's teenagers. "Sex is a problem for any teenager in most modern countries."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of