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• Friday, December 22, 2006 10:58 AM

  Chastity Is a Virtue, Just Not the Only One

  I appreciated this article, and what Ms. Eden was trying to say, namely, that promiscuity may not be emotionally productive. Someone has to say it, but unfortunately, in recent years those who did were usually labeled prudish or lunatics. Neither of these has to be the truth.

  But Chastity is not a virtue in an of itself. A person can be chaste and still mean-spirited and cruel. Chastity has to be placed in context with greater moral virtues such as kindness and love for others. Only then is it really worth anything.

  Ms. Eden, intentionally or unintentionally, leads us in the direction of thinking that chastity is necessary to have productive friendships and love relationships. In fact it is the opposite that is true. Only a person who feels truly loved can possibly succeed in being chaste. Perhaps this is why studies show that daughters who have good relationships with their fathers are more likely to delay their first sexual encounter.

  I think chasity is a valuable personal decision. But I also think it comes easier, and means more, to a person who has a strong sense of identity and self-confidence. Not having sex cannot create that, nor is it a substitute for it.

  —mchebert Read mchebert's other letters
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