Personally, I have no idea what historical event (if any) started this crazed idea that men are somehow allowed to have as many sexual conquests as they wish and yet women should remain chaste. Still, I don't think one needs to be a sociologist to know that such a double standard does in fact exist. Over the last few years, I have asked young women of different cultures if the double standard exists where they are from and if so, what is the extent. A young woman from South America laughed when I asked her if a male in her culture would admit to virginity, much less profess it proudly. I got a different response from woman from Iraq. There, she said, standards are more strict for both sexes. The reason I asked women instead of men is because people are often more cognizant of biases against themselves than those which are in their favor. And this double standard certainly doesn't favor the females.

My goal is to eradicate this mindset. Contrary to popular opinion, sex before marriage is wrong for both males and females. If you have a doubt about this, simply read the Scriptures. Genesis chapter 2 makes this point very clear. Men and women were only to enjoy sexual intimacy from the confines of a lifelong commitment of marriage. Therefore, they were meant to be completely virginous when they marry.

Nowadays, men are not only allowed to sow their wild oats without repercussions but they seem to be even encouraged to do so. Peer pressure is an incredibly powerful and destructive force, especially combined with a lack of parental guidance. Which brings me to an interesting anecdote. In a 1997 article published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family (59, 928-938), University of California at Irvine post-doctoral fellow Eric Widmer writes about the relation between older brothers' attitudes towards initiating sexual activity and the effect is has on younger siblings. Basically, the article shows that if big brother waits to have sex, the younger brothers and daughters are much more likely to wait. Incredibly, if the older brother waits to have sex, the percentage of younger brothers who do not drops from 67% to 0%. I found this to be most interesting. It would seem that constructive guidance can be equally powerful.