Chastity clubs in the United States

[3] In the early 2000s, students at elite colleges in the northeast created purity clubs,[3] beginning with Princeton University's The Anscombe Society, which still exists in 2024.

Operating with traditional gender roles, purity culture often posits modesty in dress as a way to avoid arousing sexual urges in men and defines marriage as strictly between a man and a woman.

In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed information about condom use from its website in connection to Bush Administration regulations.

[6] In 1993, Bush spoke at a True Love Waits rally, stating that “abstinence is 100 percent certain to not only make sure that children avoid pregnancy, but it’s 100 percent certain to make sure that children avoid disease.”[12] However, amidst this outlook, which also viewed chastity as the solution to HIV/AIDS, promoting abstinence or signing a virginity pledge did not result in a decrease in sexually transmitted diseases, as teenagers who took virginity pledges were much less likely to use condoms when they did have their first sexual experience, according to a 2005 study.

In 1993, Southern Baptist youth minister Richard Ross founded True Love Waits, a Christian sex-education program promoting premarital sexual abstinence.

Focused on presenting the topic of chastity to audiences of teenagers, True Love Waits organized virginity pledges among youth as well as other events and rallies that sold Bible-study materials related to sexual purity.

Chastity clubs for adolescents began to grow in the early 1990s, alongside a rise in increased funding for abstinence-only sex education, evangelical Christian backlash to what they understood to be a hyper-sexualized culture, high rates of teen pregnancy, and President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Evangelical Christians formed chastity clubs to push back against this culture which they believed taught young people to have sex.

Many of the chastity clubs at elite universities also spread inaccurate sexual health information and elicited feelings of fear and intimidation to dissuade students from having premarital sex.

The founders claimed they did not want to morally judge students, but instead, provide information about “health and safety issues” associated with premarital and casual sex, and to ultimately promote dignity.

[4] They used moral and ethical arguments to support a chaste lifestyle for college students and argue that an unchaste lifestyle leads to “personal unhappiness and social harm.”[6] As of May 2024, the club still exists, aiming to promote “dignified, respectful, and beautiful sex”; “affirming and supportive” relationships “where no one is objectified, instrumentalized, or demeaned”; and marriage between a mother with “authentic femininity” and father with “true masculinity.”[5] Beginning with Princeton’s The Anscombe Society, many elite university’s chastity clubs were named after Elizabeth Anscombe (1919-2001).

A chaste lifestyle involves using the gift of my body honorably and respectfully.”[3] Their method to achieve their mission was largely intellectual, aiming to encourage students to reflect on their views on and beliefs about sex, sexual behavior, and marriage.

Like Princeton’s The Anscombe Society, the club did not mention God or religion in promoting abstinence in order to appeal to a wider audience.

[6][17] The club’s events gained notoriety, as founders Sarah Kinsella and Justin Murray were interviewed in multiple major news outlets.

[22] The Princeton Anscombe Society also actively participated in efforts against LGBTQ+ rights, drafting an amicus brief against same-sex couples for a case heard in the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2006.

[8][23] As of May 2024, the club’s new position on same-sex attraction statement claims “all persons have inherent dignity and worth” and declares support for the chastity of people of all sexualities.

Columbia University’s Augustine Club stated that “chastity comes much harder to men than to women,” adding that “it’s no secret that the undisciplined male sex drive is monotonously predictable and frivolous.”[6] On their now-defunct club’s website, Harvard’s True Love Revolution organization wrote that there are “inherent physical, behavioral, emotional, and psychological differences between men and women,” describing that statement as evoking “true feminism.”[18] The website for Princeton’s Anscombe Society, which remains up as of May 2024, also references “true feminism,” defining it as a version of feminism that “does not embrace the idea that women should become more like men or that they abandon feminine characteristics and instincts.” The Princeton Anscombe Society also states that “there are inherent physical, behavioral, emotional, and psychological differences between men and women, and we affirm and celebrate these differences as wonderful and complementary.”[27] University students responded directly to chastity clubs on their campus.

In a 2007 op-ed responding to True Love Waits sending Valentines to freshmen girls encouraging them to wait to have sex, author Rachel M. Singh of the Harvard Class of 2010 wrote that “by targeting women with their cards and didactic message,” True Love Revolution sends the message that “the worth of a young woman is measured by her virginity.”[7] In 2007, a Princeton student wrote an op-ed bringing attention to the Anscombe Society’s efforts in discrimination against gay students.

The author also discussed the implications of this approach to gender for instances of sexual violence, writing that “women are made to feel that they’ve failed to protect their purity, while men are absolved of responsibility for their abusive actions.”[18] In her 2010 article, scholar Breanne Fahs provided similar critiques, describing how purity culture frames sexual violence as “a mere ‘giving in’ to temptation” rather than as a violent act based on power and control.