Damn Them For Making Me Feel Sorry for Jessica Simpson

The imdb has an item about Jessica Simpson and her father Joe. Apparently, when she was twelve, her father held a ceremony in which he made her promise to remain a virgin until marriage. In return, he gave her a ring and his pledge to "be the man" until she found her husband (apparently to tide her over during the years when she would otherwise be dating). He is quoted as saying, "What better gift to give her husband--never touched by another man?"

I will admit that when people would rip into "Pervy Joe" in TableTalk and so on, I figured it was just hyperbole. But this has changed my mind. For a dad to extract an explicit promise of virginity from his twelve-year-old daughter and then *give her a ring* and *proudly* promise to be Oedipal with her in every way but one until she gets married, and all for the benefit *of the future husband*....ew.