Lena Chen examines the link between the growing campus abstinence movement and the national groups arguing for “traditional” marriage:
Dozens of college students gathered in early February in a Harvard University auditorium to participate in the Love & Fidelity Network’s Rethinking Sex conference. Their keynote speaker, however, was unable to join them. Though Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons had been tapped to discuss his work as the director of the Institute for Marital Healing, he is best known for his scientifically dubious views on homosexuality — namely, that it is a treatable “disorder.” True Love Revolution, Harvard’s abstinence-only group and the conference co-sponsor, has fielded near-constant condemnation from campus progressives since its founding four years ago, largely in response to controversial speakers and a platform explicitly rejecting same-sex unions. However, an impending blizzard, not criticism, kept Fitzgibbons away.
Though debates over the efficacy of abstinence-only education dominates public discourse, the abstinence movement’s efforts go beyond sex ed. In recent years, social conservatives have raged over everything from college “hook up” culture to the decline of marriage; pre-marital sex between consenting adults is considered as dangerous as binge drinking. Meanwhile, student-run abstinence groups have cropped up on college campuses across the country, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Providence College, and Brigham Young University. While premarital chastity is marketed to students as the “true feminist” ideal, the campus abstinence movement roots its advocacy in concern for “traditional” marriage and publicly opposes same-sex marriage and reproductive rights, much like the national organizations that support it.
