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A SCHOOLGIRL has protested against her school's ruling that she cannot wear a purity ring which shows her intention to abstain from sex before marriage. Kioni Lansbury claims the ring is a religious symbol, but her headteacher at King's School, in Ottery St Mary, has said school rules forbid all jewellery on the grounds of health and safety and told her she must remove the ring for lessons. Kioni, 12, is a fan of the Jonas Brothers, an American pop group whose members all wear the purity rings. The movement is popular in the USA where teenagers are encouraged to...

The item of jewellery owned by Kioni Lansbury represents her intention to stay a virgin until she marries. But her school has deemed it potentially dangerous and against uniform rules. Kioni, who is a regular church-goer, was inspired to wear the ring by the American pop group the Jonas Brothers, who have all made pledges of celibacy. Purity rings are popular in America where organisers have persuaded a vast number of teenagers to abstain from sex. Kioni, of Ottery St Mary in Devon, said: 'Lots of girls sleep around. I want to keep myself pure. 'Many of my friends want...

When Sarah Johnson hears kids talk about having oral sex, she’s surprised when they claim to be virgins. In her mind, they lose that distinction once they engage in such intimate behavior. But Johnson, 15, admits her views aren’t the norm. ... Johnson’s peers in the Black Hills seem to reflect the views of kids nationwide. A recent study showed that teens are having oral sex in high numbers and view it very casually. More than half of the kids surveyed, age 15 to 19, had already had oral sex, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The...

Peer pressure may not be as persuasive as the silver rings being worn by a group of teens as a reminder of their pledge to wait until marriage to start having sex, reports ABC news. According to the report, nearly 25,000 teens have taken the vow of chastity with the group, Silver Ring Thing. The ring, worn like a wedding ring to symbolize their vow of chastity, is "a constant reminder on the young person's hand that they've actually made a decision about this," Silver Ring Thing founder Denny Pattyn told Good Morning America. Kids "have a lot of information...

From dallasobserver.com Originally published by Dallas Observer Dec 18, 2003 ©2003 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved. No Trespassing When teens vow not to have sex, the moral to their story isn't always clear BY LEAH GERCHARIO AND MICHELLE MARTINEZ top:Jim Veneman The virgin diaries: In 1994, top, more than 200,000 True Love Waits commitment cards were displayed at the national mall in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of the burgeoning teen abstinence movement. Since then, TLW estimates more than a million teens have signed such pledge cards; left, pledge drives like this one two years later at the Georgia...