Technical Virgin: How Far is Too Far? [Paperback]

Hayley DiMarco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2006

How far is too far? Because purity can be lost on a technicality! The bestselling author of Sexy Girls and Dateable tackles love, romance, sex, and where to draw the line. Help your students find out:
-How far is too far
-How to seek God's forgivness
-How to get back on track

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Catalog excerpt:

There's an epidemic going on in schools today that has to be addressed. Lots of grown-ups are afraid to talk about it because it just seems too freaky. But I'm not one of them. If we want to get real with ourselves and our God we have to get real about sex. We can't keep on lying to ourselves as if that makes everything okay, because it doesn't. Why are more and more "technical virgins" having more and more sexual encounters? And what does God think about the "technical virgin" anyway? Is he all excited that you found a loophole? Is he happy you are having fun and doing what your body feels like doing?

Let's take a logical look at sex and find out if we are going wrong, where we are going wrong, and how to get back on track.

From the Back Cover

Pledging abstinence until marriage can be dangerous.

Huh?! You read that right! The reality is that while you may have decided to save sex for marriage, you may still be having physical encounters--just not going all the way. But being a "technical virgin" isn't just risky--did you know you could still contract an STD or get pregnant?--it can wreak havoc on your emotions and your spirit. Even innocent playing around, like back rubs or tickle fights, could be setting the stage for something more. Hayley DiMarco explains why.

Technical Virgin also answers questions you might be afraid to ask.

-Have I gone too far?
-What is too far?
-If I've messed up, will God forgive me?
-What should I do from now on?

Knowing when to draw the line will help save you the pain "everything but sex" can bring. This book can help you start over with a clean slate if you've already "messed up" and keep your purity intact if you're just starting to get physical with guys. Because purity doesn't have room for compromise.

Hayley DiMarco is the founder of Hungry Planet, the co-author of the phenomenally successful Dateable and the author of Mean Girls and Sexy Girls. Hayley and her husband, Michael, live in Nashville, Tennessee.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 15 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Revell; Reprinted edition (July 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800730852
• ISBN-13: 978-0800730857
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Teen Health > Sexuality

More About the Author

Hayley DiMarco is the best-selling author of more than thirty books, including Dateable, Marriable, Mean Girls, The Woman of Mystery, and Cupidity. She spent the early part of her career working for a little shoe company called Nike in Portland, Oregon and Thomas Nelson Publishers in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 2002 Hayley left Nelson and founded Hungry Planet, a company intensely focused on feeding the world's appetite for truth by producing books and new media, taking on issues of faith and life with a distinctly modern voice. Shortly after founding Hungry Planet, Hayley successfully completed a nationwide executive search for someone to run the company so she could focus on writing. She describes her husband, Michael, as her most successful business acquisition!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teaching girls purity can be lost on a technicality, July 19, 2006

By 

Jackie Barlow (Hartford, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technical Virgin: How Far is Too Far? (Paperback)

In a culture where a sitting president denies sexual relations since he didn't 'participate' and MTV gives ample air time to teens in The Real World hooking up just for fun, it's no wonder that teen girls are defining virginity as one consumating act and green lighting everything else.

The book "Technical Virgin" is a book I wish was never published because I wish it wasn't needed. But it is needed. My little niece is 14 years old and wears a purity ring on her finger, but my sister caught her 'fooling around' with her 16 year old study partner. Talk about upheaval in that family. As someone familiar with Hayley DiMarco (I became impressed with her at Women of Faith a couple years back) I promptly rushed this book into my niece's hands.

The great thing about this book is that it's written for the teenage girl, not the parent. Too many books are out there supposedly for youth that appease the sensibilities of the parent but don't connect with the teen, but this book was read cover to cover by my niece in less than two days. I personally had the same experience with DiMarco's book "Marriable."

"Technical Virgin" is a needed book that hits the target audience square between the eyes. It treats the teen as a decision maker. Because as my sister found out, teens can make decisions counter to what's being taught at church and at home and this is a persuasive book written with that in mind.

34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm sorry . . ., June 2, 2007

By 

David Zampino "21st Century Hobbit" (Delavan, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Technical Virgin: How Far is Too Far? (Paperback)

. . . but I can't in good conscience recommend this book.

As a father, a teacher, and a youth minister, I'm always on the lookout for something of value on the subject of moral purity, especially with regard to teens. When I first saw this book, I hoped that it could be something I could use, or at least recommend.

I'm sad to say that I cannot do so.

Why then the three stars? Because, in all honesty, the book does have some good things to say. It presents some blunt honesty with regard to sexaul relationships that many teen girls need. (As do many teen boys!) The morality presented is traditional, Biblical, Christian morality with regard to sexual expression outside of marriage. This much is good.

HOWEVER . . .

The treatment of young male teens in this book is, in my view, totally unacceptable, and borders -- more than borders -- on demeaning stereotypes. (And I say this from having 1) been a teen for seven years!, and 2) from having teenagers of both genders). Yes, it goes without saying that males in their teens and twenties have a truly boiling sex drive. No question there. But the way the book treats young males is as essentially totally amoral sex machines, incapable of any self-control, restraint, or deeper level of feelings or emotions. And this is a blatant and unfair stereotype. (If the reverse stereotype had been suggested, I wonder if this book would have ever been published.)

Yes, I am all for upholding Biblical standards of morality. Yes, I am all for encouraging our teens to live chaste and upright lives. But this book swings too wide and paints with too broad a brush. I can't endorse it.

36 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An effective book for girls that could go 'some of the way'., July 18, 2006

By 

Teresa TL (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technical Virgin: How Far is Too Far? (Paperback)

"Technical Virgin: How Far Is Too Far" by Hayley DiMarco is a refreshing entry into the world of Christian purity books. It offers a frank and blunt evaluation of the current trend of teens pledging abstinence from sex and protecting their virginity, but then narrowly defining what virginity is (only intercourse.) In other words, many teens that have made the pledge are participating in sexual activities that allow them to remain 'technically' a virgin. Ms. DiMarco calls teen girls out on the subject.

The interior of the book is a beautiful and well conceived design, on thick glossy paper and printed in full-color similar to her book on immodesty. Throughout the book, the publisher has placed full page images of teen girls with their boyfriends in 'almost compromising' situations. This is grandly effective in my humble opinion as the images work as visual flash cards for the female reader. Almost as if to say, if you start to find yourself in any of these situations...BEWARE. You're putting your purity at risk!

As a youth leader at a large church and a fan of Ms. DiMarco's other books, the effective visual design and straight-forward writing style did not surprise me in the least. What did shock me were some of the statistics she reported on the instances of STDs among those that have signed abstinence pledges and those that haven't. They were identical! Instead of using scripture alone to draw a line, Ms. DiMarco piles on statistics about teen depression, escalating sexual behavior, and society's propensity to tell young girls to be like "one of the guys", i.e. that oral sex and other activities are no big deal. As someone that works with youth as a ministry and profession, her methods are very effective.

In a sea of purity books waxing poetic about sex or leaving details to the imagination (and providing pledge loopholes) "Technical Virgin" offers a much needed book for teen girls at risk. And if your girls are wearing a True Love Waits ring, statistics show they're more at risk than you might think.

As a clarification: this book is written for teen girls dating or likely to date. If you homeschool your girls and know their whereabouts constantly and don't allow them to date, some of the content of this book might be unsettling for you to talk through and wholly unnecessary. Though I might recommend it to those girls if they were going off to college. Unfortunately yet understandably, this book is not for teen boys. Hopefully a similar book will be released for teen guys as well.