When I was growing up I believed in the idea of being a virgin until marriage. My parents were religious and I had to go to church with them every week, but my reasoning didn't have anything to do with god. I came home after school one day when I was six or seven and watched an episode of The Phil Donahue Show in which the subject was people who were saving themselves from marriage. One of the panelists was wearing a white wedding gown, and while I don't remember anything that was said on the show, I felt swept away by the idea. It was like I had suddenly been given the words to articulate a romantic impulse that had been welling up in my little adolescent body.
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