Dannah Gresh

I hate the ideas in this book. I only read it so I could be justified in slating it. This is a dangerous and ridiculous idea that teaches girls that they are only as important as their hymen. It's a far right view that a woman is defined by her sexual status, why isn't this book about the groom? Why must a woman remain sexually abstinent but not a man?
It's an outrage that this kind of crap can be published and I only hope young people will see sense and reject this backward nonsense. It must show more be bad times when I find myself hoping that girls will look to shows like Gossip Girl as an inspiration, but compared to harmful books like this, that would be a relief.

We should be teaching our girls and young women the importance of enjoying life, practising safe sex and that they are of much greater worth than a film of skin between their legs. I'm just disappointed that I couldn't give this minus stars. show less

Extremely Jesus-y to the point of distraction, and too much of the advice was not actually helpful because it was not about fostering healthy relationships, it was about fostering religious relationships -- i.e., the idea was that a friendship that is not god-centered is by definition not healthy.

This book is a really great way to start conversations about sex with young people. I used it with my teen campers at summer camp. The writer writes in an easy-to-read and easy to connect with style that allows readers to ask hard questions about sex and find the answers.

This is an excellent book for any girl who desires to live a life of purity, but doesn't know what the practical tools for purity are. I recently led a seminar for young girls using this book and I believe it really resonated with them. I based my discussion questions on a loose outline of what Dannah Gresh talks about in the book, and the discussion among the girls was great.

I really appreciated Dannah's suggestions for journalling exercises, as some of the issues I wanted to touch on in show more our seminar were extremely personal and probably would have been difficult for the girls to discuss in a group setting. The journalling times were a great way of bringing up those personal issues without putting the girls on the spot.

The book is written in a very conversational, personal style and I found it very easy to read. The graphics are attractive and the layout is very friendly.

The best thing about this book is Dannah's focus on the practical aspects of purity. It's so easy to tell girls not to have sex before they're married, but how do we arm them to avoid the temptations so prevalent in our society? What exactly does practical purity look like? Dannah gives some very basic (but very easy to overlook!) tips such as "stay vertical" and "stay public," among others. I wish that I had had this book as a resource when I was in my teen years.

Another excellent point that Dannah makes is that purity is not just physical; it's emotional and mental as well. Wearing your heart on your sleeve, ready to be plucked by any guy who comes along, will only cause heartache. I think it was something of a revelation to the girls during the seminar that even when you're in a romantic relationship, you need to hold some of yourself back, to protect yourself. Not to mention how attractive a bit of mystery is in a girl! :-)

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be a wonderful resource for young girls who want to be pure. It lends itself very well to group discussion and I think the girls' interest was piqued to read all the chapters we didn't touch on in the seminar. Highly recommended! show less