Margaret Talbot, in the New Yorker, explores the subject of evangelical teenage sexuality. She cites particularly the research of Mark Regnerus at the University of Texas who conducted a survey of over 3000 teenagers. The entire article is worth a read, but note especially these findings: 74% of evangelical teenagers believe in abstaining from sex before marriage. "Among the major religious groups, evangelical virgins are the least likely to anticipate that sex will be pleasurable, and the most likely to believe that having sex will cause their partners to lose respect for them." Evangelical teenagers are more sexually active than Mormons, mainline protestants, and Jews
Evangelical teen-agers are significantly less likely to use contraception. One possible reason is because evangelicals are also among "the most likely to believe that using contraception will send the message that they are looking for sex."
Half of teenagers who take the so-called "abstinence pledge" break it with someone who does not end up being their spouse. Those who take the pledge do tend to delay sexual activity, though high rates of "abstinence pledging" may also be associated with higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
Evangelical teenagers are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Sex outside of marriage is portrayed as animalistic rutting, which makes it not surprising, then, that evangelical teenagers don't expect sex to be pleasurable. Yet, at the same time, married sex is portrayed as ethereal and "physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual pleasure beyond description." Within that framework, how could anyone, let alone teenagers, not be confused?
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