Purity rings and virginity pledges are getting an upgrade. For only 99 cents, iPhone users can download a virtual purity ring, complete with a virginity pledge in which users vow to “not engage in sexual activity of any kind before marriage,” and “keep my thought and my body pure as a very special present for the one I marry.” (You can listen to that pledge below.) The application displays a silver ring on iPhones that theoretically proves the user’s commitment to abstinence.

The company behind the virtual purity ring, Island Wall Entertainment, chose the following keywords to entice people into buying the app: “The Jonas Brothers, Chastity, Miley Cyrus, Billy Grahm, Barack Obama, Bible, God, Jesus, Sex, Naked, Woman,” and “pocket.” The company also makes an application that helps disoriented users find their tents during music festivals.

One espoused benefit the virtual ring is that it saves money, Island Wall Entertainment director Henry Bennett told the Guardian. According to Bennett, “If you wanted to buy a purity ring, you could spend as much as £100.” When asked if the virtual nature would lead young girls to forget about their pledge, Bennett responded, “If you've taken the pledge, you're likely to follow it through.”

Not everyone agrees that the application will be so effective. Jessica Valenti of the blog Feministing writes that the purity pledge won’t really promote chastity, but it could promote “oral, anal, and unprotected sex.”

To hear the pledge, click on the links below:

Men’s Purity Pledge
Women’s Purity Pledge

Sources: The Guardian, Feministing 

If you read just one thing about Michael Jackson in the wake of his untimely death, make it this beautiful rumination by Utne visionary Adrienne Maree Brown. “Michael Jackson, who’s loving you?” is a lovely personal remembrance, and a gentle reminder of the role we all played in his fall from grace. Here's an excerpt:

When the rumors and the truth were all too prevalent (the children, both his and others), and he wasn’t getting the psychological support and accountability he needed, we turned from him and derided him. We made the distinction of loving the child, but ridiculing the man.

How many times did his heart break before this? How many times did he experience happiness, community, belonging and love in his life, in his off-the-stage life?

My entire life is framed by his songs. I have had ecstatic moments to his music while high, while drunk, while sober, while sad, while in love, while in heartbreak. It seems silly to feel this way over a pop singer, and yet it's crucial to feel this way over an artist who reshaped how we understand music, movement and communication. He was at every good party I ever attended (which is where I have felt more release and unity with other people than just about anywhere else).

I suspect he always will be.

(Thanks, Feministing.)

Image by stylespion, licensed under Creative Commons.

Alt Wire is a morning digest of links and information collected and explained by a different guest blogger every weekday. Today's guest is Jessica Valenti of Feministing . We asked her for five links, and here's what she gave us (check back for Monday's guest, media activist Joshua Breitbart ): 

My Flickr Favorites: I have a bit of a thing for feminist graffiti and street activism/art.

Interview with bell hooks:  What can I really say—this woman is just incredible. I could watch this interview over and over...I've also assigned it in a Gender & Pop Culture class that I teach at Rutgers. hooks has this incredible talent for making complicated ideas accessible, which is really powerful.

The Virgin:  I've been thinking a lot about virginity lately (not a surprise given my new book, I suppose!) and I came across this Gustav Klimt painting; I'm not sure how I feel about it yet but I keep looking at it...

My fake wedding website: My partner and I just thought that buying the url would be hilarious.  It still makes me laugh whenever I look at it.

Whipping Girl: One of my favorites, and—in my opinion—one of the most important feminist books to come out in years.  The author, Julia Serano, is just brilliant and writes about gender, trans women and femininity in a way that not only educates, but inspires.  I wish everyone would read this.

Bio: Jessica Valenti is a feminist author and founder of the blog and online community Feministing.com.  Her newest book, The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Yong Women , has just been released.

Previous Alt Wire Guests: Jessica Hoffmann, Noah Scalin, Rinku Sen, Paddy Johnson, Melissa Mcewan,  Fatemeh Fakhraie , Joe Biel , Anne Elizabeth Moore 

The ACLU has gone to court to challenge Act 1, an Arkansas law approved by ballot initiative last November that bars unmarried couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents, the Advocate reports. The law is aimed particularly at gay couples, and the ACLU argues that the act’s language was confusing to voters. More broadly, Marie-Bernarde Miller, an attorney on the case, says that it “violates the state’s legal duty to place the best interest of children above all else.”

The suit was filed on behalf of more than a dozen families and will be presided over by Judge Timothy Fox, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He may be sympathetic to the plaintiffs: In 2004, he overturned a state ban on gay foster parents.

Image by Matt McGee, licensed under Creative Commons.

(Thanks, Feministing.)