NEWS MEDIA CENTER

Trends Expert's Book Cites 'True Love Waits'

October 1996

Being a virgin is "turning into a badge of pride," nationally known trends analyst Faith Popcorn has written in her book "Clicking."

Popcorn, publisher of "The Popcorn Report," is credited with making the word "cocoon" a verb by predicting the retreat of persons from corporate life to home-based businesses. She is known for her accuracy in leading persons and corporations to "future fit" themselves for success by being aware of business and lifestyle trends.

In a chapter on "Mancipation," a coined word Popcorn uses to describe the "emancipation of men ... unshackled from the bondages of macho-ism," she references the Southern Baptist-led teen-age sexual abstinence campaign, "True Love Waits."

Popcorn cites research indicating the percentage of 20-year-old men who have never had sex is greater today. She said chastity generally nets respect rather than ridicule.

She calls the signing of True Love Waits pledge cards "a new Click for Teens," adding in parentheses, "Could this be the start of a shift away from the enormous number of unwanted pregnancies?"

Popcorn concludes that mancipation is "a forward attitude that welcomes individuality and self-worth."

Richard Ross, True Love Waits campaign spokesman at LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, said "It is not often that a program of the LifeWay is credited with fueling an observable trend in culture. This trend, in fact, has been confirmed in an Associated Press story indicating fewer babies were born to unmarried mothers last year, the first drop in nearly two decades. I see this as another high-water mark for the campaign."