importance of chastity before marraige

Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies
Pre-degree Law

Name: Kaluba Sakala
Course Code: PL111
Lecturer: Mr Sakyi
Title: Importance of chastity before marriage

Importance of chastity before marriage
Chastity is defined as a sexual purity that involves being morally spotless in thoughts, words, and actions. This is due to the fact that sexual intimacy is ordained of God for the creation of children and for expression of love between husband and wife. God has commanded that sexual intimacy should only be reserved for marriage. This is because, when we are sexually pure, we qualify for the Holy Ghost, and that we are protected from emotional and spiritual damage of sexual sin. However, in today’s society us people have now convinced ourselves that sexual relations outside marriage is acceptable if the participants love one another. This is not true, as breaking the law of chastity and encouraging somebody else do so is not an expression of love as people who love each other wouldn’t endanger one another’s happiness and safety in exchange for temporary personal pleasure. When people do care for one another that are willing to keep the law of chastity and follow by it, their love, trust, and commitment increase, resulting in greater happiness and unity. In contrast, relationships that are based on sexual immorality do not end well as they get sour quickly.
As our society changes, new inventions and ideas have come about. Since women do not have the respect of having children since the invention of contraceptives. Such a power of contraceptives has been placed in the hands of the women as they will not be able to have children when they do not want any. Not only is this power in the hands of women but also in the hands of men, as it is an easier way of men having sexual intercourse with women as our society believes that the only reason women were able to remain chaste for such a long time is because women were more worried on getting pregnant.
Virginity also plays a big part with people remaining chaste. Virginity has long been important in many cultures and not only religion. Anthropologists speculate that the social significance of female virginity, which seems to be the most important in patriarchal authoritarian cultures, comes from the need to guarantee the continuation of the husband’s bloodline. In many of these societies, wedding a virgin helps to ensure the husbands family against illegitimate births, and relocation of the bride, whose virginity often increases both of the value of dowry.
Such a historical system is taken seriously because a virgin bride is viewed as a commodity that increases a possibility for a profitable and prestigious marriage. For example, societies in Africa and the Middle East often place a high value on the virginity of brides, and the honour of the family is often measured by the chastity of its women. In Kanuri society of Africa, marriage to virgin girls, are more expensive and less sexually satisfying than secondary marriages to older divorced women as it is deemed more prestigious to men, who value virgins because they believe that they are more obedient and that they have not been used by another man. Virgin brides are also preferred because they have been forbidden to other men and they are more likely to be submissive to their husbands. This is because such possession and submission were made literal in the marriage rituals of the Amhara society in Africa, which regarded the wedding night as a battle in which the husband had to overpower his new bride, who was expected to resist to the best of her ability.
Societies that place a high value on virginity have methods to safeguard and verify that virginity is common. In medieval and Renaissance Europe young women were required to wear a chastity belt, a lock undergarment that prevented them to take part in sexual intercourse. Many societies have practiced some form of female circumcision to inhibit female desire and prevent premarital sexual activity though in the early twenty-first century it is common only in some African and Middle Eastern societies. However, in a documentary I watched on female circumcision I am aware that in countries like Kenya such practices are still happening.
Cultures throughout the world now verify if a woman is a virgin before her wedding night. This is normally done by a physical examination, or sometimes by taking a vow and lastly by a display of blood from the hymen after the wedding night. Bedouin men have another method. They would test their brides virginity with togas wrapped around their forefingers; the toga then was then displayed. Some Native American tribes required a ritual vow as proof of virginity, and a passage in the Old Testament which dedicates he garments of a Jewish bride be displayed after her wedding night. In some cultures a bride who failed to prove her virginity was subjected to punishment, sometimes by death. In other cultures gifts were bestowed on the bride’s family after she proved her virginity to be the satisfaction of her husband and his family.
It is said that marriage is the dream of every girl. Although in reality a girl and her family need more than luck to be able to get married. The emphasis on chastity was the reason why early marriages occurred. According to Moroccan women, it was considered shameful for a woman to be married off after she had begun to menstruate. Although others believe that mensuration was essential for marriage, as it is proof the of woman’s childbearing ability. Rumours of unchaste behaviour could also ruin a woman’s chances of marrying a desirable man. This story indicates the peril of unchaste behaviour in a more traditional setting, Yemen in the 1940s. This was when a rich Muslim married off his daughter to a man in another village. Later on, when the groom’s family learned that she was not a virgin, the sent her father a traditional gourd filled with honey, but made a hole in its bottom. The father, who understood what the message, waited for his daughter’s visit a year later and killed her. Even though the husband did not care that she was not a virgin, the girl’s father did not care as the father was more worried on protecting his family’s reputation and honour.
To my conclusion, the importance of chastity has a full effect not only on one individual but has an effect on the individual’s family and the person they want to marry. However, this individual is the woman in particular as women play a huge role in remaining chaste in society as it symbolizes what sort of family they come from. Another reason would be that society respects such families more.