Freaked Out Over Standards?

We’ve all heard about it. The infamous Russell Brand comment criticizing the Jonas Brothers and their purity rings.



(However, if you, like me––a college student deficient in spare time and available cable channels–– were unable to watch the VMAs live this year, well you’re in luck: MTV.com. has dedicated an entire page to get you up-to-date on the controversy.)

Nick, the youngest of the group, told People Magazine in June that the purity ring is “a personal choice.” And wondered, as if prophesying the Brand incident two months in advance, “Why is the world so freaked out that we have standards?”

Indeed, it has been a well-publicized fact that the boys have committed to stay pure before marriage, since they are hounded by questions on the topic in almost every interview.

The article in the August issue of Rolling Stone (of which the Jonas Brothers were on the cover) was no exception. In it, Jason Gay summarized the brothers’ views very well:

“If there is one subject the Jonas Brothers are tired of talking about, it’s their purity rings […]

“We’ve talked about it enough,” Nick says abruptly. "We’d rather focus on the music and the movie.”[…]

“Well,” Nick says quietly, “to us, the rings are a constant reminder to live a life of values. It’s about being a gentleman, treating people with respect and being the best guys we can be.”

Was it something you guys all decided to wear collaboratively?

“We all did it at one point in our life,” Kevin says, “On our own personal time.”

Russell Brand was not the first dubious critic of the boys and their decision. Back in March, Michael Buckley of the “What The Buck” YouTube show, poked fun at their virginity, claiming that the only way teenage boys and abstinence could be reconciled was if they were gay.

Conversely, many have also embraced the brothers’ counterculture attitude. In the same Rolling Stones article, Jason Gay claimed that at every concert he attended, fans were showing off their rings. In fact, a “spokeswoman for James Avery Craftsman, a large Christian-based jeweler, [told him] that sales of the company’s ‘True Love Waits’ purity ring are up 25 percent this year. ‘We can’t say for sure why, but it’s up,’ she says.”

But something tells me that these millions of supportive teenage girls may be likely to start practicing regular flossing if the boys chose to promote it. Elsewhere, however, other artists have followed the brothers’ lead. Among these, of course, is Ms. American Idol Jordin Sparks, who albeit in a more forthright manner than the boys, voiced out her view of promise rings later on that night at the VMAs, claiming that “[i]t's not bad to wear a promise ring, 'cause not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut.”



Some may claim that Jordin may be biased, admitting on Hannity & Colmes on Wednesday evening that she herself wears a promise ring. But the real surprise came when self-proclaimed “gossip gangster,” Perez Hilton, defended the boys, expressing his view that “those Jonas brothers are good kids, and we shouldn’t be making fun of them for promoting good values.”



Deep down, I don’t believe that individuals are actually contemptuous towards those who have chosen to abstain from sex until marriage. It’s just that no one can deny that such a goal in the context of our sex-obsessed culture seems quite impossible. Tila Tequila once shared with Fuse the pressure she had to deal with as a teenager:

“I didn’t have my first kiss until I was 15, which was very embarrassing for me, because I had to lie to all my friends…I knew everybody at school and I had guys…that had crushes on me, but I had never made out with anybody, and my friends... were already having sex and stuff, so I was like “Of course I have!” And I was like "Oh my God! I gotta start practicing!”

As undoubtedly inappropriate as Brand’s comment was, I can honestly say that I am thankful that the incident happened. Furthermore, I am ecstatic that it happened on a platform as far-reaching as the VMAs. There could not have been a better place or time, in which such a pervasive issue was allowed to surface before the very audience struggling with it the most. As reflected by most movies, television, and music leading up to the present time, having sex before a lifetime commitment was considered not simply a cultural norm, but more like an unavoidable and inevitable reality. At least now, thanks to the Jonas Brothers and likeminded young stars, there is at least some possibility of an alternative.

P.S.
See Brand’s forced apology here. ;)