ABSTRACT
The major premise of a moral argument, in contrast, refers to an agent's duties or rights, which may arise from a variety of sources—the agent's place in special relationships or roles, or in a scheme of just institutions, or in the general human condition. As a moral ideal, chastity does not stand or fall with the prudential arguments for premarital abstinence. The commands of morality and deliverances of prudence speak from distinct realms. The moral injunction to abstain from premarital sex would presumably remain in force whatever medical science invented: a cure for AIDS, a vaccine against all sexually transmitted diseases, a foolproof contraceptive method. Chastity education's prudential argument against teen sex doesn't work independently of its moral argument. Chastity education substitutes a different message: "Abstinence Only". Sex is also an especially common occasion for moral disregard. Seduction too often takes the form of bullying, cajoling, pressuring, and outright forcing.
