Cable channel TLC [1] is putting out a new special on Dec. 4 titled ''The Virgin Diaries,'' which promises [1] to take its viewers 'inside the lives of adult virgins who reveal the challenges, truths, and anticipations of losing their virginity.'
The promotional trailer [2] features several adult men and women [3] who, for various reasons, remain virgins into their adulthood, including one who admits ''I am not a virgin entirely by choice.'' The highlight of the video is a long and incredibly awkward first kiss by a newlywed couple who waited until their wedding day for their first kiss for religious reasons.
TLC has aired number of shows on controversial topics [4], including ''Sister Wives,'' about a polygamist's family, and ''19 Kids and Counting,'' about the Duggars and their 19 (soon to be 20) children. ''The Virgin Diaries'' is the latest in a series of shows with incredible shock value from the channel.
Perhaps the special will respectfully discuss abstinence as a positive lifestyle choice, and not mock those who choose virginity, but that's not the sense one would have from the trailer. TLC's Timothy Kuryak claims [5] that ''A lot of stories about later in life virgins talk about it like it is a problem. We want to show that this is something that can be celebrated.''
If so, the special would be a welcome change from the usual modus operandi of the entertainment industry, which has a penchant for mocking virginity [6]. A recent episode of 'Glee' celebrated [7] a couple losing their virginity for the sake of a high school play. Movies such as the ''The 40 Year Old Virgin'' [8] mock adult virgins as losers who can't ''do the deed.'' The media also insist [9] that abstinence is an impossible lifestyle [10] (and if that is so, why do they spend so much time insisting it is impossible?).