A New Level of Creepy

I'd read about "purity balls" before yesterday, but this column from yesterday's USA Today adds a new level of creepy to the practice. As the column explains:

Tuxedo-clad dads promise to 'war for' their daughters' 'purity,' as reported in February's Glamour magazine. Daughters, in turn, vow abstinence until marriage. The fathers slip 'purity rings' on the fingers of their misty-eyed daughters, the elegantly attired couples drift across the floor for a 'first dance,' this one-on-one time with Dad is referred to as a 'date,' and wedding cake is served for dessert. For post-dinner entertainment, a corps of adolescent ballerinas clad in white tulle performs a 'ceremonial dance' to the song [']Always Be Your Baby.[']

That's creepy enough, but now there's a line of apparel to go along with this fabulous new trend:

Another of those 'chastity chic' T-shirts, distributed by California-based Wait Wear, proclaims: 'Notice: No Trespassing on this Property. My Father Is Watching.'

Ewwwww. Forget the prospect of Big Father watching a girl's every move, is anybody else freaked out beyond all belief that they're explicitly claiming a woman's body as "property?" I thought we did away with that convention in the last century! I sometimes roll my eyes when feminists see the big bad patriarchy standing behind every social trend, but I'd say the evidence is pretty clear in this case.