Cable channel TLC is putting out a new special on Dec. 4 titled ''The Virgin Diaries,'' which promises to take its viewers 'inside the lives of adult virgins who reveal the challenges, truths, and anticipations of losing their virginity.'
The promotional trailer features several adult men and women 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, 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 gets from the trailer. TLC's Timothy Kuryak claims 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. A recent episode of "Glee" celebrated a couple losing their virginity for the sake of a high school play. Movies such as the "The 40 Year Old Virgin" mock adult virgins as losers who can't ''do the deed.'' The media also insist that abstinence is an impossible lifestyle (and if that is so, why do they spend so much time insisting it is impossible?).
