Well, say what you will, at least you could actually pick up, and hold, the Pet Rock.



iPhone launches 'purity ring' application

The iPhone has applications for almost everything, from helping people to choose the best wine for a meal to locating supermarkets in Holland. Now there is one to help them to stay chaste until marriage.

For just 59p, consumers can download an application that allows them to take a purity pledge and then display a silver ring on their phone to prove their commitment to abstinence.

[snip]

"We are preaching to the converted, and we're going for people who wouldn't buy a ring. The app is not the be-all-and-end-all of purity pledges: it's an entry point."

In the US, around 8m people have taken a purity pledge; in the UK, the figure is around 250,000. The country is regularly described as the teenage pregancy capital of Europe, and last week it was revealed that a £6m campaign to cut teenage pregnancies had failed, leading to an increase, rather than a drop, in the number of girls getting pregnant.

Despite these statistics, Bennett thinks the purity ring app "might take off".

Ouch!

Where'd this guy learn how to talk to the press, from Duh Valley Swim Club guy?

Henry Bennett, Island Wall Entertainment's director may want to work on his interview skills, and not refer to an Abstinence product as an "entry point".



And, the teenage pregnancy 411;

From Dave Cross's "Silver Ring Thing" (five years ago!);

The result, a paper published in the British Medical Journal shows, is that abstinence programmes are "associated with an increase in the number of pregnancies among partners of young male participants". You read that right: abstinence training increases the rate of teenage pregnancy.

Getting back to that "entry point" reference ...

Jessica Valenti, over on Feministing, with "Need a hymen? There's an app for that.*";

I don't know I shouldn't be surprised that there's a iPhone "purity ring" application - after all, I'm all too familiar with the various ways virginity fetish reveals itself. But this still managed to skeeve me.

[snip]

As we all know, however, the only thing virginity pledges are more likely to make teens follow through will is oral, anal, and unprotected sex. As someone replied to me about the app on Twitter, "Girls who download it are less likely to practice safe texting."

If Bennett is really concerned, and sincere, about Teen Abstinence, than keep "Purity Ring" in play ...

Otherwise, fire up the marketing machines for the iButtfuck, or iBlowjob application, and he'll make a killin' on it

He can even get some help with that from Karl Rove.

(Cross Posted at The Garlic)