Should 11 Year Old Girls Marry Their Fathers?

It has all the ingredients of a wedding. The proud tuxedo-clad father, the frosted white cake, the limousines and an exchange of vows.

But there is no groom and the girl in the long gown is no bride. She's daddy's little girl, there to take a vow of chastity...

So begins this AFP article on the recent phenomena known as Purity Balls. This virtual purchase of abstinence with promises of a big party to rival the disgusting affairs to be found on My Super Sweet 16 began in 1998 under the guidance Colorado-based Generations of Light. According to organizers, this lead to over a thousand other similar ceremonies last year alone, in which the father pledges to be true to his wife and avoid pornography while his daughter promises to remain a virgin until marriage.

While the focus on the father-daughter relationship is admirable, this is a poorly conceived program that will lead to more hurt than help:

But critics say that while teaching abstinence to children may be laudable, it is just as essential to make them aware of sexually transmitted diseases and condom use.

They also point to studies showing that the majority of adolescents who take purity pledges break them within a few years, often by engaging in risky and unprotected sex.

One study conducted by researchers at the universities of Columbia and Yale found that 88 percent of pledgers wind up having sex before marriage.

"Unfortunately these young people tend, once they start to have sex, to have more partners in a shorter period of time and to use contraception much less than their non-pledging peers," said Debra Hauser, executive vice president at Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based non-profit organization.

"Teens may pledge with the best of intention... and then as they break their pledges they are so shamed and embarrassed that it's unlikely they will go for help."