Last week, Mariah Carey announced that she and her new husband, Nick Cannon, waited to have sex until marriage. Whether or not you believe her is hardly the point. Carey joins a growing list of Hollywood celebs (think: Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers) who are publicizing their decisions to wait. Granted, most of these stars are teenagers (Carey is in her late thirties and on her second marriage; it’s a safe bet she’s not a virgin), but this public pursuit of purity has gotten a lot of attention.

The Jonas Brothers’ may be fully committed to abstinence, but their performances are, ironically, all about sex. Case in point: the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. There the boys are, singing on stage, arching their backs, enticing a crowd of screaming females. We’re supposed to think that their performance is not sexual because they wear purity rings, but in front of the band is a crowd of girls who watch, cry, and shriek with gyrating hips. It’s basically one big hypothetical orgasm, sans contact.

Will the virginity pledges work? Last year, the Washington Post reported that a congressional study determined that abstinence-only education does not stop teens from having sex, nor does it increase or decrease the likelihood that a teenager will use condoms. But “American Idol” winner Jordan Sparks thinks such pledges are legit. After MTV VMA host Russell Brand mocked the Jonas Brothers for their purity, Sparks famously said, “I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It’s not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut.”

The misconception is, of course, obvious; having sex and hooking up in high school doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a slut.

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