Purity Rings - the latest FAD

I am amazed (& that's an understatement) at this latest obsession that seems to have caught on in the western countries. Times of India reported a few weeks ago that youngsters in the west (read USA) are now flaunting PURITY RINGS (पवित्रता की अंगूठियां) worn on their fingers (thank GOD for that) as a confirmation of their virginity and also their intention to guard it zealously until they found a suitable life partner. Now I thought India had a copyright on that philosophy. I had heard of chastity belts being used by kings in the olden days when they went to war and wanted their wives to remain faithful during their long absence - but this concept of purity rings just took my breath away.

How did such a thought take root in a society that is so obsessed with SEX? The average age of boys having their first sexual experience in these nations is 12. Fidelity in marriage is ordained by the church but looked upon as an un-necessary burden diluting personal freedom. Anyone who has not used the back seat of a car for their "aaahs and ooohs" during a date, is considered positively backward. Here the biggest worry of a mother of teenage daughters is about the efficacy of the pill that she mixed in her daughters milk, before she went on her date. One night stands are as normal as drinking a glass of water when you are thirsty. While we in India are aping all this in the name of modernity and self liberation, how can our role models ditch us like this and be so prudish and oh .. so backward??

I see two reasons for this चमत्कार.

1. Elementary economics tells us that the price (and perceived value) of an entitiy that is abundantly available goes down. Private consensual SEX is indeed abundantly available in the West since their are no taboos like in the East. This self denial like सोमवार का उपवास will surely elevate the status of the act and that of the (non) doer.
2. The more likely cause is the fear of AIDS. Having a single partner, making sacrifices for him (like preserving ones virginity) have therefore gained a lot of importance.

These days, I scan Times of India every day for a report that writes about how करवा चौथ has become a rage in America and how married women are actually praying to have the same husband in the next seven births (I know Christianity does not approve of this पर ज़रा मेरी भावनाओं को समझो). I am worried though that by the time this happens, Indian mothers of teenage daughters would be fretting about the quality of the pill they put in her Bourn vita before she left for a date.