Great panel, Dawn! I look forward to seeing the complete video. Have any news media outlets reported on the discussion? I would love to see groups like the American Association of University Women disseminate the video, as this message really needs to get out. Unfortunately, my sense is that in spite of the all-encompassing nature of AAUW's name, their agenda runs counter to your message...
Mary | 11.28.07 - 10:13 am | #

some powerful presentations.. measured, factual, insightful...brave.
Glenn | 11.28.07 - 11:08 am | #

Powerful stuff! Cardinal Newman Society has certainly found the right woman the job!

Comment to Mary -- my guess is that this sort of panel discussion will not be picked up by the secular media. This is "preaching to the choir".... but take heart! The "choir" is emboldened and empowered by this discussion.

Dawn and friends have touched a lot of hearts and young people. These young people will spread the word among their friends, stand stronger to protect their own chastity, and slowly turn the culture back.

The battle isn't over; it will be a long war. But I grow more confident every day that America will return to it moral foundation. More so, after seeing these brave and brilliant Ladies in action!
Del | 11.28.07 - 11:16 am | #

Fascinating discussion. After reading both Wendy's book and your title, I am excited to see some progress being made in the direction of preserving and protecting sexual intimacy as precious and sacred.
Christa Taylor | Homepage | 11.28.07 - 11:54 am | #

Preaching to the choir? Could be to the Ivory Academic Tower.

My point: while Hollywood keeps force feeding promiscuity in the altar of neogod FUN, there is NOT a serious (meaning money)producing of plays-films ridiculing sagas as Sex and the City & the like, with satires & parodies.

Without that, there will not subsist a real-christian dent in current massive culture.

And it is possible to do a serious fundraising, just focusing that.

Christian resources are squandered in what Mother Angelica of EWTN marks as candy-pious writers who deserve 40 years of extra purgatory for their sugary-born-saintly histories, or discredited by seudochristian powerful media (like Pat Robertson supporting pro-abort Giuliani), and even our dear, defunct magazine Crisis, supporting Bush in Irak against the stern warnings of John Paul II.
Guillermo Bustamante | 11.28.07 - 2:26 pm | #

With all the paper-grading that I have to do, I have time to advise my students on how to conduct their sex lives??
Chas S. Clifton | Homepage | 11.28.07 - 5:49 pm | #

Shoot, I think it would almost certainly be a net step forward if all educators who are advising students on sex would just stop.
Mike Petrik | 11.28.07 - 6:55 pm | #

Thank you for posting these! It only makes me wish that I had been able to attend even more.

Dawn's closing arguments remind me of one of the problems that I experienced when I first started reading and commenting on the Modestly Yours blog at the very beginning. So much of the writing and discussion on this subject does come from a religious point of view. For someone like me at the time*, a pro-choice feminist agnostic interested in chastity and modest dress, talk about religion and issues that are related to chastity like gay marriage and abortion, where I did not agree with the other participants one bit, made me feel unwelcome.

I don't know how to solve this issue; if I did, I already would have taken action! I've been thinking about it for a long time. I had many friends in college who resisted the hookup scene for similar secular reasons to mine, but not everyone has that luxury.


* - I returned to practicing Catholicism some time later, where I often feel like a geriatric unmarried person at the young age of 26. Ah, that's life.
Laura | Homepage | 11.29.07 - 4:25 am | #

Wonderful!
T. Chan | 11.30.07 - 12:40 am | #

I don't know how to solve this issue; if I did, I already would have taken action! I've been thinking about it for a long time. I had many friends in college who resisted the hookup scene for similar secular reasons to mine, but not everyone has that luxury.


I'll join you in that club, Laura. I spent much of my life avoiding "that scene" for secular reasons - psychological, emotional, physical, and educational.

My only piece of (totally unsolicited) advice is for religious, chaste persons to realise that the secular world corresponds quite well to the spiritual world. You are not denying Christianity by acknowledging that the prohibitions on premarital intercourse are not there just because God says so; they are there because that is what is best for us. (In fact, one need not be a Christian to recognise this; even from an atheistic standpoint, Christianity developed the way it did in response to human psychology.)

A lot of Dawn's work has been tremendous in this respect; it removes the "just because" element, or the "well, do it anyway" element, and replaces it, "do what is best for you, long-term, and you will find joy." It's not about deprivation or following rules that seem to have little connection with reality; it's about living your life in a way that is good for your body and psyche.
theobromophile | Homepage | 11.30.07 - 10:28 pm | #

Dawn, thanks so much for posting these clips! It is so inspirational to see a group of confident, well-spoken women arguing for such a positive cause.

Theobromophile, I'm glad you made the point above regarding the connection between the secular and spiritual worlds. I agree that they are easily reconciled when it comes to what is best for us, but I have also come to realize that, in order to get my point across, I often have to draw almost solely upon secular reasoning, as many of my friends, co-workers, and even family members simply won't accept "well, because God says so" as proof. And, to be honest, I have trouble accepting that reasoning at times too.

Supporting my beliefs just by claiming that "God says so" feels like taking the easy way out, and that argument holds no weight with those who in any way doubt the existence of God. I'd much rather prove why a particular course of action is best for us through a more secular line of reasoning. Once that has been done, the connection to God arises naturally.

While the secular and the spiritual do support each other, it's often necessary to argue the secular in order to convince of the spiritual.

(And Laura, I often feel geriatric at 27, so you're not the only one.)
Grace Leigh | Homepage | 11.30.07 - 11:25 pm | #

I'm a mid/late (cough) twenties, single woman as well. So I guess we are commiserating? :)
theobromophile | Homepage | 12.01.07 - 2:21 am | #

Hey Dawn,

I would like to ask the reporter who wrote this article why it's fine for Valerie Bertinelli to write about her extra-marital affairs, but if you and other adults write books about chastity, you are going about it the wrong way or creating a cottage industry.

Just wondering.

God bless, Maureen
maureen martin | Homepage | 04.14.08 - 3:44 pm | #

Oh...I am referring to the MSNBC article on chastity that mentions you and Miley Cyrus for anyone who I confused.

God bless, Maureen
maureen martin | Homepage | 04.14.08 - 3:45 pm | #

er, whom I confused.
maureen martin | Homepage | 04.14.08 - 3:52 pm | #

Tony, I'm in a rush and can't reply now, but will alter my post when I get home today to reflect that you are a different Tony Sclafani from my former colleague. I hope you will forgive me for assuming you were the same one--it is not a common name.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 04.17.08 - 7:19 am | #

The author of the article you cited is not responsible for the above comment and respectfully requests you delete "his" post -- or at the very least "his" last name. Much thanks.
n/a | 04.22.08 - 12:41 am | #

Done, n/a--trusting your authority, though I have not received an e-mail from the author of the article that would show you are acting on his authority.
Dawn Eden | Homepage | 04.22.08 - 7:00 am | #

Thank you! Much appreciated.
n/a | 04.22.08 - 12:34 pm | #

I was using search engines with the clause 'secular reasons for chastity' and came upon this page of comments on -- a panel? and possibly a video to come? Please e-mail me a link to that which is being commented upon by the above people. I am seeking ways to communicate with older female teens, to help them understand more about the choices they have/do/will make.
Carolee | 07.23.09 - 10:22 pm | #