True Love Waits (TLW) is an international Christian group that promotes sexual abstinence outside of marriage for teenagers and college students. TLW was created in April, 1993 by the Southern Baptists, and is sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources. It is based on conservative Christian views of human sexuality that require one to be faithful to one's husband or wife.
Contents
Pledge
The True Love Waits pledge states: "Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate and my future children to be sexually abstinent from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship." In addition, they promote sexual purity, which encompasses not only abstaining from intercourse before marriage, but also abstaining from sexual thoughts, sexual touching, pornography, and actions that are known to lead to sexual arousal.
By the late 1990s, Christian music groups were promoting the program, and events similar to youth rallies were held at Christian music concerts, providing an opportunity for adolescents to sign pledge cards.
Impact
In the first year of the campaign, over 102,000 young people signed the pledge, which was also taken up by other church groups including the Roman Catholic Church and Assemblies of God. The campaign has continued to spread across the US, making the use of occasions such as Valentine's Day to gain attention.
As of 2004, groups supporting abstinence numbered in the hundreds. During the previous decade, approximately 2.5 million American youth took the pledge of abstinence.
Criticism
The efficacy of the program has been questioned not only by studies, but also by contemporary Christian music artists who previously supported the cause.
A a 2003 study showing that 6 out of 10 college students who had taken the pledge had broken it, and of the 40% who identified themselves as abstaining from intercourse, 55% acknowledged having participated in oral sex. In the 2011 book Making Chastity Sexy: The Rhetoric of Evangelical Abstinence Campaigns, Christine Gardner criticizes True Love Waits for "using sex to sell abstinence" by promising more satisfying sexual activity within marriage for those who abstain from premarital sex; she argues that this rhetoric reinforces selfish desires for gratification, sets people up for divorce and dissatisfaction with marriage, and simply adapts "secular forms for religious ends".
Nikki Leonti was involved in True Love Waits prior to making headlines in the contemporary Christian music world. At 18, however, she was pregnant after having sex with Ryan Gingerich out of wedlock. This led the couple to immediately marry in the fall of 1999 upon learning about the pregnancy. The newlyweds, however, divorced by the time Nikki reached her twenty-second birthday in 2003.
BarlowGirl was famous and for and very vocal about its purity stances, which led to the sister trio supporting True Love Waits and other similar initiatives. Recently, however, fans have criticized band members for endorsing artists that sing sexually suggestive and sacrilegious lyrics. Alyssa and Lauren Barlow endorsed Beyoncé in 2013 and Bruno Mars in 2014. Lauren later endorsed Lady Gaga in 2016.
The Jonas Brothers wore purity rings, but only Kevin followed through his pledge by marrying Danielle Deleasa on December 19, 2009. His brothers Joe and Nick lost their virginity at age 20, despite being unmarried. Joe shared: "People were [chaste because of] us […] And we just thought, No! That's not what we're about". Later, he co-founded DNCE in 2015, known for racy songs like "Cake by the Ocean". The following year, the band made a video for "Body Moves", where the members danced with Victoria's Secret Angels. Joe attended the Victoria's Secret Pink spring break party back in 2012. Meanwhile, Nick performed at the Victoria's Secret Swim Special 2016.