Vanessa Grigoriadis

About the author: Vanessa Grigoriadis is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications such as Spin, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, and the New York Times.

Organizations advocating sexual abstinence among teenagers have been gaining strength in the past decade, with the result that more teens are planning to retain their virginity longer. The organizations have focused on making abstinence seem cool, popular, and normal by targeting teen role models to promote their message. However, sex education programs that teach abstinence only are irresponsible because they fail to teach teens how to use contraception to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy if the teens should decide to break their abstinence pledge.

Arianne Keeler, 17, and Karen Sapp, 16, are high school juniors in the small, pristine city of Longmont, Colorado. For fun, they...