Purity test

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A "purity test" is intended to measure the user's percentage of "purity", or non-exposure, to a certain field. The name derives from virginity tests which have historically been practiced in many sexually restrictive cultures and are still practiced in some nations today. The oldest and most common purity tests are intended to measure sexual purity. There are hundreds of different purity tests on nearly every possible subject imaginable, from sex to computers to Gilligan's Island. Purity tests are closely related to (and possibly the ancestor of) online personality tests.

Most purity tests have possible scores anywhere from 0% to 100%. Purity tests ask numerous (sometimes embarrassing) questions of their users, most commonly about the use of drugs, alcohol, and illicit substances; sexual acts with members of the opposite or same sex; or the above actions in an odd or "kinky" context. These tests typically have anywhere from 50 to 2000 questions.

Most popular among those aged 13-30, purity tests are the subject of much discussion and quite a few parties (one person reading a purity test aloud while others mark down their 'yeses' for later tabulation). It is common to post purity test scores in online profiles, discuss them with friends, and even plan to 'improve' them, using the purity test itself as a 'checklist' of things to do / try.

Purity tests are also a quick way to get anonymous information about the denizens of the Internet. One purity test is actually an AI experiment attempting to identify the test-taker's gender by the answers given to certain questions.

The most well-known purity test is The Unisex Purity Test (or, simply, the Purity Test — note the capitalization). First written sometime before 1980 in the MIT Baker House, this first incarnation had two parallel versions, 100 questions each; one for male, and one for female. The next iteration (247 questions, written Spring 1983) heralded the merging of the gendered versions, making it actually unisex. Over the next decade or so, many re-writes and expansions commenced, with a significant 2000-questions-long version being written in the Fall of 1995.

On most editions there is what many consider to be "the famous typo". There exists (existed?) a thing called a "grope suit", apparently some sort of latex garment with thousands of little nubs inside that were supposed to act as french ticklers across one's whole body when worn, giving the wearer the sensation of being continually "groped". On one of the very early editions, "Grope Suit" was typoed as "Grore Suit". Oddly, over twenty years later, that typo still appears on tests having for whatever reason never been corrected. In recent editions this has been misinterpreted as a gimp suit.

What may be regarded as a problem with many of the tests is the duplication of questions, and the asking of irrelevant follow-on questions such as "Have you ever had an abortion?" where the respondent has for example already replied 'no' to "Have you ever been pregnant?". The purescore (sexual purity) test is the most popular of the new generation of interactive tests, perhaps because of its anti poverty / AIDS messages, and because it has been translated into a great many languages. Though most purity tests are sexual in nature, ones measuring purity in other areas are also available, such as the *Literary Geek Purity Test

Purity tests are easily obtained using any search engine.