by Spoiler Alert: Probably Nobody
Looking back on today, I can’t believe I dedicated my Tuesday to investigating who’s actually maintaining religious purity standards. Actually, I totally believe it. This is exactly my brand of satirical journalism chaos.
This morning, I woke up thinking about purity as a concept. We use the word for water, gold, intentions, and virginity. Three of those things have objective measurement standards. One relies entirely on self-reporting and social performance. Guess which one gets the most cultural obsession?
Today, something unexpected happenedI discovered that literally every religious community claims their members maintain higher purity standards than other groups, while simultaneously lamenting declining morality among their own members. So everyone’s better than everyone else while also being worse than they used to be. The logic is impeccable.
It’s been one of those days when research leads to uncomfortable conclusions. Want to know who’s actually staying “pure” according to virginity-until-marriage standards? A small minority, typically characterized by: early marriage (often before age 20), limited sex education, restricted social circles, intense religious community pressure, and sometimes genuine asexuality or low libido.
Later in the day, I realized that asking “who’s really staying pure” assumes purity is a meaningful category worth maintaining. But virginity’s not actually a thingit’s a social construct with no biological basis beyond “has this person had sex yet.” Hymens don’t work like purity seals. Bodies don’t fundamentally change after first intercourse. We invented virginity and then convinced ourselves it was real.
Something small but meaningful happened today when I found communities where virginity-until-marriage is genuinely common. The common factors? Not religious intensity. Not moral superiority. But rather: early marriage age (often arranged), gender segregation reducing opportunity, and social structures making pre-marital sex practically difficult. It’s logistics, not morality.
The highlight of my day was discovering that the question “who’s really staying pure” assumes purity and sexual experience are opposite states. But human sexuality is complex, fluid, and doesn’t fit neatly into virgin/not-virgin categories. Asexual people might remain “pure” without effort or virtue. Sexually active people might maintain ethical behavior, emotional health, and respectful relationshipsaren’t those more important than genital status?
As I reflect on what happened today, I’m struck by how purity language centers virginity as morally significant while ignoring actually important ethical questions. Are you honest? Respectful? Consensual? Kind? Those matter infinitely more than whether your genitals have touched other genitals, but purity culture focuses obsessively on the latter while often neglecting the former.
This afternoon brought a surprising turn of eventsI realized that “staying pure” is often code for “successfully hiding sexual behavior from authority figures.” Communities with high claimed purity rates often have active sexual behavior that’s simply not reported or acknowledged. Everyone maintains appearances while privately deviating from public standards.
Today’s experience reminded me of abstinence-only education evaluations showing that pledge-takers and non-pledge-takers have similar sexual debut ages, just different reporting. The purity performance doesn’t change behaviorit changes disclosure. Who’s really staying pure? Fewer people than claim it, more people than admit violating it.
Looking back on today, I realize the question itself is flawed. “Who’s really staying pure” implies purity is achievable, measurable, and worthwhile. But it’s a social performance, not an objective state. And the people most insistent about others’ purity often have interesting histories they’re not discussing.
The real answer to “who’s staying pure?” is: mostly people who married young, people with naturally low sex drives, people without opportunity, and people lying about it. Not the morally superior adherents religions claim to produce.
SOURCE: https://screwthenews.com/whos-really-staying-pure/
SOURCE: Who’s Really Staying Pure? (Aisha Muharrar)
