C is for CREEEEEEEEEEEEEPY.

Imagine your dad taking you to a purity ball. This is a black-tie event held in America where girls aged from tweens to college age go with their fathers, step-fathers or fathers-in-law.

Basically, the girls promise their fathers to remain virgins until they get married. This ‘deal” is often sealed with a ring given by the father to his daughter.

Still with me?

According to the New York Times:

The first two hours of the gala passed like any somewhat awkward
night out with parents, the men doing nearly all the talking and the
girls struggling to cut their chicken.

But after dessert, the
63 men stood and read aloud a covenant “before God to cover my daughter
as her authority and protection in the area of purity.”

The
gesture signaled that the fathers would guard their daughters from what
evangelicals consider a profoundly corrosive “hook-up culture.” The
evening, which alternated between homemade Christian rituals and giddy
dancing, was a joyous public affirmation of the girls’ sexual
abstinence until they wed.

Yet the graying men in the shadow of
their glittering daughters were the true focus of the night. To ensure
their daughters’ purity, they were asked to set an example and to hew
to evangelical ideals in a society they say tempts them as much as it
does their daughters.

“It’s also good for me,” said Terry Lee,
54, who attended the ball for a second year, this time with his
youngest daughter, Rachel, 16. “It inspires me to be spiritual and
moral in turn. If I’m holding them to such high standards, you can be
sure I won’t be cheating on their mother.”

The gesture signaled that the fathers would guard their daughters
from what evangelicals consider a profoundly corrosive “hook-up
culture.” The evening, which alternated between homemade Christian
rituals and giddy dancing, was a joyous public affirmation of the
girls’ sexual abstinence until they wed.

Yet the graying men in
the shadow of their glittering daughters were the true focus of the
night. To ensure their daughters’ purity, they were asked to set an
example and to hew to evangelical ideals in a society they say tempts
them as much as it does their daughters.

“It’s also good for me,”
said Terry Lee, 54, who attended the ball for a second year, this time
with his youngest daughter, Rachel, 16. “It inspires me to be spiritual
and moral in turn. If I’m holding them to such high standards, you can
be sure I won’t be cheating on their mother.”

Recent studies have suggested that close relationships
between fathers and daughters can reduce the risk of early sexual
activity among girls and teenage pregnancy. But studies have also shown
that most teenagers who say they will remain abstinent, like those at
the ball, end up having sex before marriage, and they are far less
likely to use condoms than their peers.

You can see a slideshow of purity ball pix here.