Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sex and the Single Evangelical
They may not believe in evolution, but they still do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.
"80 percent of teenagers who identify as 'evangelical' or 'born again' think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing," writes Hanna Rosin in Slate. "Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age—16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants."
Rosin reviews Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers by Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin in Slate.
"80 percent of teenagers who identify as 'evangelical' or 'born again' think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing," writes Hanna Rosin in Slate. "Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age—16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants."
Rosin reviews Forbidden Fruit: Sex & Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers by Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin in Slate.
