Even though I'm the mom of five, my children are young enough that I'm not yet connected to the teen or tween scene. So when Today Show producer Alicia Ybarbo called to ask about my interest in covering a story on Purity Balls, I had no idea what she was talking about. My first thought was it was some kind of round soap. No joke.
A Purity Ball, it turns out, is a bit like a prom... but with a twist. It's a fancy evening out with food, music and dancing. Right there is where the similarity to a school dance abruptly ends. At a Purity Ball, the date is dad and the purpose is a pledge girls as young as eleven take to remain 'pure.' That is, they make a public promise to their fathers that they will abstain from sex until they're married.
Whether it's the season's hottest bag or a really good story, everyone wants an exclusive and I'm no exception. I soon learned that wasn't going to be the case at the Purity Ball Alicia and I would attend in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The organizers were coy about the other news organizations covering the event, so I expected our competitors to be there. I wasn't expecting a crew from Al Jazeera! A French television network made the trek to South Dakota as well.