Marriage Preparation

If you have sex before you marry your are more likely to:

   1. Breakup before you marry
   2. Scare off someone who wants to marry a virgin
   3. Be less happy in your marriage
   4. Get a divorce
   5. Commit adultery after you marry
   6. Be fooled into marrying for the wrong reason
   7. Be less satisfied with your married sex life
   8. Have guilt feelings that may nudge you into a poor marriage
   9. Be deprived of the important bonding that sexual intimacy can give a marriage

– Ray E. Short, Sex, Dating, and Love 1994 Augsburg Publishing House

MEDIA INFLUENCE and BODY IMAGE

We can protect our self-esteem and body image from the media's shallow definitions of beauty and acceptability by:

Become a critical viewer of the media messages we are bombarded with each day.
When we effectively recognize and analyze the media messages that influence us, we remember that the media's definitions of beauty and success do not have to define our self-image or potential.

View all media with a discriminating eye.
All media images and messages are constructions and not reflections of reality. Advertisements and other media messages have been carefully crafted with the intent to send a very specific message.

Advertisements have one purpose: convince you to buy or support a specific product or service.
Remember that you are only seeing what the advertisers want you to see. To convince you to buy a specific product or service, advertisers will often construct an emotional experience that looks like reality.