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American "Virgins' Marry Young

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Sunday, December 12, 2004
More and more young Americans are defining themselves as "religious' and getting married, according to new data to be published shortly by the US government's National Vital Statistics organisation (Sunday Times).

The British newspaper suggested this week that the trend could be linked to the growing numbers of "virtuous virgins'; people who embrace celibacy and abstaining from sex until they're wed.

"American women are behaving more responsibly than previous generations," said Fay Menacker, a statistician from the Centers For Disease Control told the British paper.

"Many appear to be avoiding risky sexual behaviour, changing all their habits. And some are getting married," she told the Sunday Times.

However, just 12 months previously, the Times reported that two thirds of a survey of 3,000 15-19 year old American "virgin' boys admitted having oral or anal sex, with many apparently not realising they risk catching sexually transmitted diseases from such practises. While at a drugs conference in Appalachia, this week, doctors and government officials talked unusually frankly about the sex factor implicit amongst the 12 million Americans who've used methamphetamine.

``Who wouldn't want to use it- You lose weight and you have great sex," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon (reportedly sarcastically).

President Bush's far right drug czar John Waters also attended the task force meeting though was less flippant about the temptations of meth.

``All substance abuse is frequently marketed as enhancing sex life or making you more attractive or a better social companion,'' he declared.

``Hair falls out. Teeth fall out; that's not sexy," he suggested. (USA Today)

The outspoken drug czar has also been the lead proponent behind American authorities' increasingly harsh crackdown against marijuana and their ongoing attempt to link the war on drugs to the war on terror ("American drug users contribute to terrorism', he repeatedly said in 2002).
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