Who Teaches Abstinence Only Education?

The abstinence-only world has produced a few stars over the years, people who will draw a crowd and spout off a laundry list of dangers they claim come with sex before marriage.

One of these is a man named, Ed Ainsworth, or "Sex Ed," as he calls himself. "Sex Ed" is a Baptist pastor with a mission: Stop those kids from having sex out of wedlock!

Ed Aisnworth came to wider attention after appearing in the 2005 documentary, The Education of Shelby Knox. The film told the story of Shelby Knox, a young southern Baptist girl, and her fight to get comprehensive sex ed in her school.

Ed appeared throughout, first entreating drunk kids in a parking lot to give up sex, then officiating as Shelby takes a virginity pledge and finally announcing to a packed auditorium that:

"The first time I ever had sex in my life was when I was 20 years old. It was in Austin, Tex., at the Hilton Hotel, at 11:30 at night, in room 1158. That's right...it was on July 15, 1978. I celebrate it every year. It's my wedding anniversary."

It had been a while since I thought about "Sex Ed." Then he popped up on Dr. Phil last month, intent as ever on telling teens that having sex before marriage was a surefire ticket to doom and gloom. At one point he stressed this message by holding up two toothbrushes and declaring:

"Nobody would stick one of these in their mouth. The reason they wouldn't stick them in their mouth is because they don't know where they've been, what they've been doing, or who they've been doing it with. I [also] have a virgin toothbrush right here. Can you get back in your box and start over? Absolutely. Can you get your dignity back, your reputation back, your innocence back, your self-esteem back? Absolutely. A person can start over."

Yup, "Sex Ed" is also about secondary virginity, that scary notion that you can simply claim to be a virgin if you promise never to have sex again before marriage. I am not sure what "Sex Ed" thinks about how someone should deal with an STD he or she got before their secondary status.

He doesn't really go in for details, favoring scarce tactics and half-baked musings like this quote found on his website: "Sex in marriage is like fire in the fireplace, it will keep you warm and make you feel good. Sex outside marriage is like a fire in the middle of the floor, it will burn your house down and destroy your life."

There are a number of Ed Ainsworth's out there. Have you encountered him or someone with a similar message? What was it like?