Purity Balls - Pledging Chastity Till Marriage

They're trendy, creepy, and have all the elements of a wedding with one difference.

Called Purity Balls, there is no groom and the girl in the long gown is no bride but the participating parties are fathers and daughters, the latter pledging to her father in a public ceremony she will not have sex until she is married.

The astounding thing is girls as young as seven can make this promise.

"The gala affairs are intended to celebrate the father-daughter relationship," says Raw Story. "The highlight is when the fathers and daughters exchange vows, with dad signing a covenant to protect his daughter's chastity by living an unblemished life and the daughter promising not to have sex until marriage."

According to research, many fathers also slip "purity rings" around the finger of their misty-eyed daughters or offer them "chastity bracelets" and other jewelry that the girls can entrust to their husbands on their wedding night.

The first Purity Balls in the U.S. were organized in 1998 by Generations of Light, a popular Christian ministry based in Colorado Springs, CO.

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

Called "like a wedding with a twist" by a national magazine, these daughters enjoy a first dance with their dads at these Purity Balls.

"Encouraging girls to avoid sleeping around, is, without a doubt, a good thing," said writer Jennifer Baumgardner. "When it's time for fathers and daughters to take the pledge the men stand over their seated daughters and read aloud from parchment imprinted with the covenant: I, (father's name), choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity..."

Curiously, the rate of teen pregnancy is on the decline, some critics state.

"When you sign a pledge to your father to preserve your virginity, your sexuality is basically being taken away from you until you sign yet another contract, a marital one," worries Eve Ensler, a writer and activist in a recent interview.