By the early 80s, kids were already trawling the message boards of the Internet for perverse kicks. Well before Star Ways Kid or "flash mobs," one of the first online fads was the "Purity Test," a series of questions to rate your moral purity, from the raunchy ("Ever had sex in your parents' bedroom?") to the absurd ("Ever snorted cocaine off the dashboard of a car doing 80 mph?"). The tests would be printed out, brought to school, and pored over with friends in the back of the gym during recess. Then kids would modify the original with their own prurient additions before sending it along. Eventually, the tests became bloated thousand-question Franken-tests that took hours to complete. Doing the test with friends was like playing an endless, filthy, wildly enlightening game of "Did You Ever?"--and because it was a standardized test, you could compare your scores. Assuming everyone was being honest--which they weren't. The Purity Test by Joselin Linder will offer both a humorous history and analysis of the Purity Test as well as several versions of the test to take at home.
This little book goes well beyond "Have you ever stuffed your bra" in its examination of Americans and the very, very many ways we can go wrong in life. Four shorter tests (General, Male, Female and Gay) of only 100 points apiece are mere teasers compared to the four main tests, 400 questions apiece regarding drug use, sex, criminality and plain old vice. (Note, though, that to answer the full two thousand questions, one must answer as a male AND as a female.) This may be a world in which "anything goes," but in THE PURITY TEST everything counts. If your experience is like mine, there will be questions that strike your sense of compassion for the alleged wrongdoing ("Have you ever felt disgusted by talentless people in the public eye?"), through mid-level sins and trespasses, down to the shocking, how-could-anyone-think-of-this query: "Have you ever gone through your neighbor's mail around the holidays looking for cash in the greeting cards?" followed immediately by "Do you plan to now that the idea has been presented to you?" The highest numeric scores have the most questions answered "No." On the other hand, the more "Yes(I've done that)," answers take away away from the "No" answers and consign the test-taker to lower circles of morality. A couple of warnings. THE PURITY TEST is just for fun; it is not any meaningful kind of personality inventory. And there is no accounting for age, which makes younger people comparatively "purer" if they haven't yet had time to do more of these awful things. The book can be, however, nice wicked fun. So if you're looking for an adult version of "truth or dare," THE PURITY TEST might be just what you need; but use it at your own discretion.
Purity Schmurity, this is a funny book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 15 years ago
I came across this book as I was looking for something random to read on a long train ride, and boy am I glad I picked it up. It is hilarious! Some of the things people have done, or would do, is really shocking and also a bit enticing! If you have ever questioned how far you would stretch your morals or wonder how your crazy past compares to others, this is the book for you.
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