Hey folks! Here’s the link for my powerpoint (hopefully it works :))
15 thoughts on “Purity Balls”
This was so … creepy and weird to learn about! What an odd concept. I’ve heard of these before but I did not realize the extent to which the relationship of a daughter and father is turned into a marriage. Really great project — it was such an interesting topic to choose. These really seem like the epitome of a patriarchical practice.
The thought that these still happen today makes me cringe. The father daughter relationship here just seems so unsettling and creates a blanketed mindset for the girls involved. Overall I really enjoyed the creativity and the topic!
Just an absolutely amazing project, which really portrays a sexist and patriarchal trope that we have just accepted. I think we need to struggle against it and realise that this is literally done to show women– metaphorically and literally i.e. the ring being transferred from father to husband– that they are transferable and controllable. This is not okay, and aims to put, as I mentioned in my project, women in cages and not pedestals.
Just an absolutely amazing project, which really portrays a sexist and patriarchal trope that we have just accepted. I think we need to struggle against it and realise that this is literally done to show women– metaphorically and literally i.e. the ring being transferred from father to husband– that they are transferable and controllable. This is not okay, and aims to put, as I mentioned in my project, women in cages and not pedestals.
–ars
This was such a fascinating topic to learn about. I had no idea how deep the culture of purity balls actually went, and how significant they are to the perpetuation of sexist and harmful actions towards women and girls. The ages that girls are told to participate in these balls seems even more frightening to me, that they basically are raised from as young as possible to be submissive to men.. unthinkable.
I also was originally interested in focusing on purity balls, so I loved seeing this project. I think your presentation does a really good job of highlighting the strange practices and underlying beliefs of purity balls and how much of the “benefits” are actually for the fathers, not the daughters. Your presentation gave me a good grasp of the entire practice and clearly demonstrated how ingrained in gender roles this practice is. Great job!
It is fascinating to see events created for girls being taken and reconstructed to emphasize the man involved. Not just that, the level of emotional incest that is present is a little concerning. Emotional manipulation is used to oppress young girls into acting the way the parents, especially the father, wants. It reminds me a little bit of the Debutante balls that are used to auction off women of marriageable age to suitors, and the father is present and prevalent in the process.
This was such a wild ride. I had no idea purity balls existed and I kind of wish I didn’t know about them lol. It is so screwed up! And the fact that girls as young as eight years old are being indoctrinated into this weird, cultish practice is insane. Why do fathers need to be this concerned with their daughters sex lives?? This topic needs to be talked about way more, because I don’t think many people know about it.
I really enjoyed this presentation and getting a better understanding of what purity balls actually are. I grew up in the southwest, and I had always just kind of assumed purity balls were similar to like cotillions, but the reality is so much weirder than I assumed. You’re completely right, the focus never really seems to be on the girls who are participating, but rather the fathers, which makes the set-up that much weirder
Such an interesting topic and your presentation was SO informative! I had honestly never heard of the existence of purity balls before and having learned about it now it’s such a wild concept with such harmful repercussions. Like you pointed out, it ends up promoting not just sexism but the overall objectification of women, which inherently would tie into perpetuating rape culture as well. A whole event to establish the identity of a woman as basically frail and ‘pure’ is unbelievable.
Thank you for doing this project, and highlighting how many of the traditions and the culture surrounding the purity ball trend markets itself as something that the father does for the daughter because of how much he cares for her, but more often than not it is actually more of a status symbol for the father than anything. Most of the time reading this presentation all I could wonder is ‘why is the father so determined to be so involved with his daughter’s sex life?’. Also, thank you for highlighting how this culture affects the women who go through it, as it can be easy to only fixate on the men who perpetuate this tradition and forget about the consequences it has for the daughters.
I loved this project so much. Purity balls were discussed quite a bit in elementary and middle catholic school. I also know where you stand on the dances because you discussed your stance after your presentation but I appreciated the way that you talked through your presentation in a less biased-sounding tone (that would have been hard for me and I found it very admirable 🙂
Thanks for talking about this. This is such a weird, patriarchal, misogynistic tactic used on young, impressionable, evangelical girls. It implies that a man owns their body (first their father and then their husband) and sends a dangerous message pertaining to this, so, it’s important to speak on it and call it out. The mention of Shreveport in your project sent shudders down my spine as it’s not far from where I grew up.
This project opened my eyes to the extent that those in the Christian faith that believe in purity will go to materialism the belief. You displayed very well the event itself, as well as the belief system behind it. What I found most interesting was the women that went through the event and still carries on its messaging. Awesome job!
This was such a good topic for this project. You gave some really good information and the quotes I found particularly shocking. It was disgusting to hear about the father part of the purity balls. Where I lived we signed purity cards in class and wore purity rings so I found some connections to the purity balls. However, the father aspect of the purity balls were really uncomfortable and I’m so glad you exposed that.
This was so … creepy and weird to learn about! What an odd concept. I’ve heard of these before but I did not realize the extent to which the relationship of a daughter and father is turned into a marriage. Really great project — it was such an interesting topic to choose. These really seem like the epitome of a patriarchical practice.
The thought that these still happen today makes me cringe. The father daughter relationship here just seems so unsettling and creates a blanketed mindset for the girls involved. Overall I really enjoyed the creativity and the topic!
Just an absolutely amazing project, which really portrays a sexist and patriarchal trope that we have just accepted. I think we need to struggle against it and realise that this is literally done to show women– metaphorically and literally i.e. the ring being transferred from father to husband– that they are transferable and controllable. This is not okay, and aims to put, as I mentioned in my project, women in cages and not pedestals.
Just an absolutely amazing project, which really portrays a sexist and patriarchal trope that we have just accepted. I think we need to struggle against it and realise that this is literally done to show women– metaphorically and literally i.e. the ring being transferred from father to husband– that they are transferable and controllable. This is not okay, and aims to put, as I mentioned in my project, women in cages and not pedestals.
–ars
This was such a fascinating topic to learn about. I had no idea how deep the culture of purity balls actually went, and how significant they are to the perpetuation of sexist and harmful actions towards women and girls. The ages that girls are told to participate in these balls seems even more frightening to me, that they basically are raised from as young as possible to be submissive to men.. unthinkable.
I also was originally interested in focusing on purity balls, so I loved seeing this project. I think your presentation does a really good job of highlighting the strange practices and underlying beliefs of purity balls and how much of the “benefits” are actually for the fathers, not the daughters. Your presentation gave me a good grasp of the entire practice and clearly demonstrated how ingrained in gender roles this practice is. Great job!
It is fascinating to see events created for girls being taken and reconstructed to emphasize the man involved. Not just that, the level of emotional incest that is present is a little concerning. Emotional manipulation is used to oppress young girls into acting the way the parents, especially the father, wants. It reminds me a little bit of the Debutante balls that are used to auction off women of marriageable age to suitors, and the father is present and prevalent in the process.
This was such a wild ride. I had no idea purity balls existed and I kind of wish I didn’t know about them lol. It is so screwed up! And the fact that girls as young as eight years old are being indoctrinated into this weird, cultish practice is insane. Why do fathers need to be this concerned with their daughters sex lives?? This topic needs to be talked about way more, because I don’t think many people know about it.
I really enjoyed this presentation and getting a better understanding of what purity balls actually are. I grew up in the southwest, and I had always just kind of assumed purity balls were similar to like cotillions, but the reality is so much weirder than I assumed. You’re completely right, the focus never really seems to be on the girls who are participating, but rather the fathers, which makes the set-up that much weirder
Such an interesting topic and your presentation was SO informative! I had honestly never heard of the existence of purity balls before and having learned about it now it’s such a wild concept with such harmful repercussions. Like you pointed out, it ends up promoting not just sexism but the overall objectification of women, which inherently would tie into perpetuating rape culture as well. A whole event to establish the identity of a woman as basically frail and ‘pure’ is unbelievable.
Thank you for doing this project, and highlighting how many of the traditions and the culture surrounding the purity ball trend markets itself as something that the father does for the daughter because of how much he cares for her, but more often than not it is actually more of a status symbol for the father than anything. Most of the time reading this presentation all I could wonder is ‘why is the father so determined to be so involved with his daughter’s sex life?’. Also, thank you for highlighting how this culture affects the women who go through it, as it can be easy to only fixate on the men who perpetuate this tradition and forget about the consequences it has for the daughters.
I loved this project so much. Purity balls were discussed quite a bit in elementary and middle catholic school. I also know where you stand on the dances because you discussed your stance after your presentation but I appreciated the way that you talked through your presentation in a less biased-sounding tone (that would have been hard for me and I found it very admirable 🙂
Thanks for talking about this. This is such a weird, patriarchal, misogynistic tactic used on young, impressionable, evangelical girls. It implies that a man owns their body (first their father and then their husband) and sends a dangerous message pertaining to this, so, it’s important to speak on it and call it out. The mention of Shreveport in your project sent shudders down my spine as it’s not far from where I grew up.
This project opened my eyes to the extent that those in the Christian faith that believe in purity will go to materialism the belief. You displayed very well the event itself, as well as the belief system behind it. What I found most interesting was the women that went through the event and still carries on its messaging. Awesome job!
This was such a good topic for this project. You gave some really good information and the quotes I found particularly shocking. It was disgusting to hear about the father part of the purity balls. Where I lived we signed purity cards in class and wore purity rings so I found some connections to the purity balls. However, the father aspect of the purity balls were really uncomfortable and I’m so glad you exposed that.