Forum spreads gospel of chastity

Princeton's Anscombe Society hosted an intercollegiate conference this weekend, entitled "Making Love Last: Finding Meaning in Sex and Relationships." The conference offered a number of lectures and workshops to stimulate discussion about notions of marriage, sex and relationships in today's culture.

College and high school students, along with adults who work with those age groups, attended the conference. The goal of the weekend was "to provide [the attending students] with the arguments that they need to defend their commitments and beliefs" about relationships and sex, Anscombe co-founder Cassy DeBenedetto '07 said.

During the conference, Anscombe members strategized with conference attendees on ways to spread the message of premarital chastity to other campuses. One of the 11 schools which attended the conference, Catholic University of America, will be starting its own Anscombe chapter.

Students from Catholic who attended the conference expressed an interest in encouraging conservative sexual ethics as a response to what they see as an oversexed college culture. The new Anscombe chapter would target the "extreme sexualization that's the norm," Catholic sophomore Mary-Kate Cunningham said.

"If [their chapter of Anscombe is] a group that can foster respect for fellow college students and foster a more respectful view of other people, it could be a positive cultural force," Cunningham added.

Students from Catholic agreed that they will encourage conversation on campus by bringing in speakers who can talk from a secular standpoint, transcending religious boundaries.

Avenues of Conversation

The Anscombe Society was founded in February 2005. According to its website, the group's mission centers on "affirming the importance of the family, marriage, and a proper understanding for the role of sex and sexuality."

Talks delivered at the conference centered on the attendees' desire to create "avenues of conversation," as DeBenedetto put it. According to the Anscombe Society, understanding and talking about conservative sexual ethics and the importance of strong relationships, such as marriage, will benefit the community.

"We sincerely care about our peers, our future families and our future spouses, and [we] also [care about] society," DeBenedetto said.

Attendees of the conference stressed that discussing topics such as sexual ethics and marriage is vital in today's world.

Politics professor Robert George spoke of the necessity to analyze behavior in the realms of sex and relationships. "Private vices, when tolerated and widespread, have huge public consequences," he said.

He added that "private virtues also have big public consequences." These consequences, such as the numerous benefits of a chaste lifestyle and a fulfilling marriage, remained a common theme throughout the conference.

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George spoke of both the personal and public advantages of solid marriages. On an individual level, "Men and women are, in a certain meaningful sense, two halves of a whole ... It is good to be married," he said.

Regarding the sociological and public realm, George described the family as the fundamental unit of society. He said the government relies on the family to produce "well-disposed, upright, honest, decent, public-spirited citizens."

If the government attempted to perform this function, George said, "Society simply couldn't survive."

Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, delivered a lecture on sociological issues — particularly health and finances — portraying them as areas especially benefited by marriage.

"In every way social scientists know how to measure, you're better off if you're married than if you're single," Gallagher said.

She cited a wealth of statistics to show how marriage benefits health and finance. Gallagher pointed to a study that researched the chances that men who are completely alike save for their marital status would be alive at age 65. The results, she said, were that nine out of 10 married men would be alive, versus only six out of 10 divorced or widowed men.

Gallagher went on to discuss the economic benefits of marriage. Married men are likely to benefit from a "marriage premium" that allows them to earn 10 to 40 percent more than otherwise similar single men, she explained.

She also argued that married men have more consistent work histories than unmarried men, married couples benefit from a mutual financial commitment to their partners and husbands and wives save more money than single men and women.

The speakers at the conference praised Anscombe for its efforts and stressed the importance of continuing the weekend's discussion at other schools.

George applauded Anscombe for supporting "the wonderful cause of marriage and virtue."

"It's a wonderful gospel to spread," he said.