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Silver Ring Thing is a virginity pledge program which encourages teens and young adults to remain sexually abstinent until marriage. It is based in the United States and was until 2005 partially funded by the U.S. federal government. Drawing on Christian theology,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.silverringthing.com/ )〕 SRT uses rock/hip hop concert-style events in an attempt to appeal to 21st-century teenagers. SRT events feature high-energy music, club-style lighting and sound, music videos, sketch comedy, and a Christian abstinence message. During the gathering, participants commit to a vow of sexual abstinence until marriage by purchasing rings. Shortly before the end of the event, they receive their silver rings inscribed with Bible verses, which are usually worn on the ring finger of the left hand. The verse is First Thessalonians 4:3-4: "God wants you to be holy, so you should abstain from fornication. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honor."〔(King James Version 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4 )〕 The rings are tokens of their vow, a reminder of their decision to remain celibate. The rings also are a way to signal to others that they are pledged to celibacy. After they put on their rings, they take a vow to remain abstinent. Some studies of the efficacy of virginity pledges have found they may be effective in delaying vaginal intercourse but ineffective in reducing the rate of sexually transmitted infection. They also reduce the likelihood of contraceptive use.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work = WebMD.com )〕 Additionally, it has been reported that pledgers replace vaginal intercourse with other sexual activities, such as oral or anal sex.〔 At least one study has found no difference in the sexual behavior of pledgers and non-pledgers after controlling for pre-existing differences between the groups. ==History== Silver Ring Thing was created in 1995 by Denny Pattyn, an evangelical Christian youth minister from Yuma, Arizona, as a way to combat what he saw as rising rates of STDs and pregnancies amongst teenagers, as well as a way to protect teens from what the founders saw as a distinctly American obsession with unhealthy (in opposition to biblical standards) sex, which, according to Pattyn, was a byproduct of the “promiscuity () the sexual revolution of the ‘60s”. In 2000, Pattyn became Executive Director of the John Guest Evangelistic Team of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and SRT became part of the national outreach of the John Guest Team. In 2004, SRT claimed to have won pledges of chastity of more than 16,000 young adults since its inception, and Pattyn stated that SRT planned to have rings on the fingers of 2 million youngsters by 2010. Initially, SRT was funded entirely by private sources, but beginning in 2003, SRT began receiving money from the federal faith-based initiatives program. By 2004, SRT had received more than US $1,100,000 in U.S. government federal funding. In 2004 SRT began expanding operations into the United Kingdom, with mixed results. While some teenagers in the UK embraced the message of abstinence, some critics rejected and ridiculed SRT, saying it was anti-sex or unrealistic, and that it seemed unlikely that abstinence programs would attract widespread support in the UK because of the UK's different attitude about sexuality and sex education. The group's Assistant National Director for the UK, Denise Pfeiffer, said there was a real need for such a movement in the UK to curb what she sees as the ever-increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies, both of which she claims are the highest in Western Europe. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Silver Ring Thing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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