Photos of Christian Purity Balls

[LiberalElite]

http://flavorwire.com/454562/striking-creepy-photos-of-christian-purity-balls

America: land of the free, home of the… thoroughly fucking weird? It’s hard to know what else to say about these striking and frankly terrifying portraits by Swedish photographer David Magnusson, which capture the institution of the Purity Ball: a religious rite wherein girls pledge not to have sex until they’re married. All the photos (which we spotted at Feature Shoot) depict the girls and their fathers, who glow with pride at the thought that their little girl won’t be despoiled until someone puts a ring on her finger. It’s hard to know where to start with this: the notion of sex as “impurity,” the fact that it’s all daughters and no sons, the idea of dressing a preteen girl in something that looks awfully like a wedding dress. But as with all the best photography, these images speak for themselves — as Magnusson himself says, he hasn’t aimed “to belittle or glorify the ceremonies… the interpretation is all up to the eye of the viewer.”

[Warpy]

1. The girls are all baby fat

so hormones haven't done their jobs quite yet. When they do, the night they married Daddy will be but a humiliating memory.

Unfortunately, these girls raised with abstinence "education" often end up pregnant very quickly since no one cared enough to teach them what to do to avoid it.

I don't find the pictures creepy as much as sad. We've had enough time with abstinence-only to know what will happen to most of those girls.

[Scootaloo]

2. There's plenty of creepy there, mostly on the parts of "dad"

I couldn't fathim wanting my daughter (had i a daughter) to pledge the sanctity of her hymen to me. Much less dressing her as an adult woman and going out on a "date" with a double dozen other father-daughter pairs to make a big celebré out of this pledge.

THAT'S creepy. The girls' part in it is sad certainly, but they're there because their fathers are obsessed with their daughters' vaginas.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Pic #4 is damn near molestation.

[dem in texas]

4. Totally Sick and Creepy, but it is worse

the message these girls get is that they must stay "pure". So if the little princess in the white dress does have sex with a boy, it is her fault that she did not stay "Pure". Why aren't there moms and sons parties for the boys to stay "pure". Scary stuff.

[charmay]

5. I saw a tv special about this also. I think these pictures creep me out more than the tv show did.

[Blue Owl]

6. That is so wrong in all the wrong ways