There's a new rite of passage for some young women in the U.S. It's not a Prom, Sweet Sixteen or Quincenera. It's called a Purity Ball. I first read about it on Slate. At these events, girls pledge, in the presence of their family and friends, to remain chaste until marriage and their fathers pledge to protect their daughters' purity.

A photographer from Sweden named David Magnusson traveled to Louisiana to take formal portraits of some of these fathers and daughters. The young ladies and their Dads were from Haughton, Dixie, and Shreveport. Their portraits and others from Colorado and Arizona have been collected in a volume of photographs titled 'Purity' which can be purchased on Amazon.

 

 

 

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