ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the distinctives of conservative Christian young adults as a demographic group, and how their unique experiences of an overwhelmingly sex-negative culture can manifest in destructive ways in their dating and in their marital and sexual lives. In the early 1990s, the no-sex-before-marriage discourse was expanded to include the idea that Christians must remain "sexually pure" before marriage, which many Christian youth understood to mean refraining from any expression of sexual desire. Many young men and women developed significant sexual dysfunction and chronic low desire issues that persisted well into their marriages. Research on the effect of the purity pledge indicated a slight delay in the onset of sexual activity, a reduced use of contraception when young persons did engage in intercourse, and a significant increase in shame, condemnation, and self-loathing.
