Gosh, there’s been a lot of information on the news today regarding Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. It’s definitely a hot item. It’s so juicy, it might even make the jump from MSNBC to E! News.
But is all this exposure good or bad? What’s really going on here? Is the “liberal media” harping on an irrelevant issue? Is the conservative camp trying to sweep the story under the rug?
It reminds me of the film La Cage Aux Folles, or The Birdcage in the American version starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. In the film, a conservative politician’s daughter announces her engagement to the son of a gay man. Scandalous!
The daughter tries to hide this fact from her folks. But of course it comes out eventually, and somehow the media gets wind of it, as well. And you know what that means. The conservative father has to scramble around, trying to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Hilarity ensues.
I like to imagine that the PR guru huddle following the announcement of Bristol’s pregnancy looked like something out of The Birdcage. At least I hope it did, because then it would at least be funny as well as very, very sad.
Why is no one talking about a key implication of this pregnancy? Aside from what you might think about abortion or pre-marital sex, Bristol’s predicament opens up the issue of sexual education in schools.
Sarah Palin is known for her socially conservative views and values, including support for abstinence only education. I bet that Bristol has heard more than a little about abstinence from her family. Still, despite the influence of her conservative, religious parents, Bristol chose to engage in sexual intercourse. As a teenager. Outside of marriage.
Does this mean that Sarah Palin is a bad parent? That Bristol is a bad kid? Of course not. But this is a good example of why “abstinence only” sex education is not enough to protect American teens from unplanned pregnancies.
I know it’s an election year, and no one wants to bring up a touchy subject like sex ed in the public schools. But I’d love to see “abstinence only” proponents address the questions raised by Bristol’s choice.
Of course, Bristol is only one teenager. Perhaps she’s the exception to the rule. Perhaps most teenagers who receive “abstinence only” education choose not to have sex.
I don’t think that’s the case, though. Remember the government report that came out last year? I believe we should encourage abstinence, but remain realistic about teen sexuality.
This would be a great time for people to admit that many teenagers are going to have sex no matter what you tell them. It would be great if they didn’t, but that doesn’t mean that we can stop them.
The question is, how do we deal with this fact? What is the best way to protect teenagers? What role should the government play, and what role should be taken by the family? Is this a private matter, or an issue of public health?
In the meantime, the Republicans will work to save face and the Democrats will strive to keep the scandal fresh in our memories. But whatever your views, this is an opportunity to dig deeper into these issues.
The question of how to prepare our children to survive in our over-sexed culture should not be taken lightly.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy
Amanda,
You are so caught up in America's consumo-porn culture that you cannot see that nigh every second article at a site like AOL, for example, is about sex in one way or another. Who porked who - how to get the guy, etc., etc.
Even the tastiest piece of wheat bread, when soaked in a soup long enough, will pick up the soup's flavor. This happened with Bristol, and her pregnancy should be no surprise. MY wife and I could scream from now until doomsday about the evils of drunkenness. But if our kids had gone to high school in Minnesota where we lived, the likelihood of one them coming home stinking drunk from a kegger was overwhelming.
Dumped in a culture of shit, guess what Bristol Palin wound up smelling like? How strong would the soap needed to get rid of the stink be, Amanda?
Before you talk about "realism" in dealing with teen sex, first figure out where the sexualization of you society has come from.
This is not a useless question. It is an exercise in logic, as well as an exercise in where to fire that double barreled shotgun every writer has in his or her hands - the ability to fashion a persuasive sentence.
2 - Condor
Amanda,
Nice level tone. If people can remember their teen years and the effects of hormones raging through their systems....
In HS (besides school work and sports and whatever hobby you might have had), boys were really interested in getting laid. We checked it out, we went to dances, we did everything imaginable to come up with any scenario in which we could make out and advance our "knowledge of body".... so to speak.
Alas it was the late 60's and early 70's and the girls just weren't as sexually active as they are now. They weren't. Oh there were a few here and there, perhaps a make out session some summer at the beach.... but not like today. For one thing working mom's were just about non-existant, meaning... they were on patrol, ceaselessly. You were never alone for long. If you got home from school and the house was empty, it would soon be full and you would be put to the chores of hauling in groceries, hauling out garbage, yardwork, feed the dog, clean the room, make the bed, then off to the filling station to pump gas for a 1.50 an hour part time job, collect soda bottles, play a little guitar... whatever; different times to say the least.
Today, lots of time, idle time, life is good for teens today. Working parents, single parents, lots of spicy T.V., internet that has oodles of porn. Google a female name, with the safe search off.... like Heather (I was looking up the plant, not surfing for porn)... goodness gracious... that was an eyepopping experience.
The nature of parenting today has become very challenging. It's wasn't so bad when I was a younster, and even when we were raising our own. But today... whew. I don't know, I believe it would be really tough.
So, I'm not surprized, and I'll not deride the girl for the oops, or perhaps she meant to become pregnant... as is often the case. We don't know. The parents seem to be taking in stride, which is good. It's not the end of the world, just another family member.
Now, some folks would be totally devestated, their life would suddenly be in ruins. Off to the clinic, immediate grounding; cast off the pyria. Panic, shock, hate, lawsuits; is it really that devastating an event? I don't think it is and by the looks of thinks neither do the Palin's, unless I'm reading this wrong, it appears that everything is being taken in stride.
3 - Joanne Huspek
As a parent, I know that no matter what you say, how you feel, or what you do, your teenage child is going to likely do the exact opposite. That's the nature of the beast.
To attribute Bristol's pregnancy to the Palin family parenting style completely ignores the fact that people of this age group are not well formed in the maturity area and they have minds of their own. They think they are smarter than everyone, parents included. Add to that factors that Ruvy mentioned, and you have a cocktail for disaster. That's why teenagers make so many poor choices.
4 - Ruvy
My experiences as a parent track Joanne's as to the nature of teenagers, Amanda. My younger son, a sharp boy with a good head and a good heart still manages to make plenty of poor choices because (he takes after his father so much it hurts) he thinks he knows better than everybody else! I'll not repeat my first comment to your article. It should be clear enough....
5 - Janice
It's not such a bad thing about her daughter being pregnant. The problem is that the mom doesn't believe in birth control! If you don't want your child to end up with a lot of children with different fathers, which could end up being the case here, then what's wrong with birth control!!!
6 - Baronius
Didn't Bill Clinton more or less order the press to stay clear of Chelsea? The press were even fairly hands-off with the Bush girls. Is this another one of those rules of etiquette that we've lost?
---
The fact is that it's possible to discourage teenagers from having sex. You're not going to win every battle, but a combination of diligence, instruction, and acne breakouts can keep a lot of kids from acting on their impulses. I wasn't the most moral kid, but common sense and good parenting kept me from making a lot of mistakes.
Studies have shown that abstinence-only education doesn't do much good, but they are effective when combined with abstinence programs.
7 - Clavos
Didn't Bill Clinton more or less order the press to stay clear of Chelsea?
He did, indeed, and he was right. And yesterday, Obama issued a statement that agrees with that, saying Palin's, or any politicians' (including his own) families should be off limits in the political arena.
And they're both right.
8 - Jet
Bill Clinton wasn't handing down judgement of other's parenting skills based on his own Clavos. Palin's self righteous right-wing bullshit on abortion and morality is different.
9 - Clavos
Bill Clinton wasn't handing down judgement of other's parenting skills based on his own Clavos.
Neither is Palin, Jet.
Her views about morality are for herself.
She has never tried to impose them on anyone else, that's an erroneous assumption on your part, obviously rooted in your hatred of Fundamentalist Christians, which in turn appears to be rooted in their rejection of your sexual orientation.
You can (and we are, albeit slowly) legislate away discrimination against gays, but you can't legislate them into accepting you. Deal with it; it's always going to be there.
10 - Jet
Clavos-Palin was picked by McCain because of her well-publicized Evangelical right-wings credentials, in hopes of getting the christian-right to fall into step behind him.
But of course you knew that.
If her credentials are called into question because of how she raised her children, verses her public opinions-that's fair.
She's being judges by her own stated morals, and she doesn't like that.
The fact that her hypocracy has come to light has the right wing evangelicals having fits, because on one hand they are aghast at her, but on the other hand they NEED McCain to get elected so their agenda can be pushed through the legislature along with a few more far-right supreme court judges.
11 - Alex
"Does this mean that Sarah Palin is a bad parent? That Bristol is a bad kid? Of course not. But this is a good example of why “abstinence only” sex education is not enough to protect American teens from unplanned pregnancies."
Ruvy and Joanne, I don't see an indictment of Sarah Palin's parenting style here. I think what the author is saying is that, DESPITE good parenting, the message wasn't enough. You all seem to be on the same page.
12 - Alex
"The question of how to prepare our children to survive in our over-sexed culture should not be taken lightly."
Also, Ruvy, did you not read this last sentence of the article???? I think the author understands your analogy of the "culture of shit" perfectly well. But maybe you didn't make it to the end of the article before getting ticked off, eh?
13 - Baronius
Jet, were you one of the people who thought that Bill Clinton shouldn't have been impeached for his "private life"?
14 - Jet
What it says is that teenaged hormones trump parental moral teachings every time-without exceptions.
The point is Palin is being judged unfairly by her own outspoken moral standards and the GOP is scared silly of that.
The problem with being an unknown is that even the smallest snatches of information forms opinions.
It has been publisized that she was picked by McCain's handlers because of her evangelical credentials.
It's doubtful that it was McCain's decision as he's only met the woman twice before nominating her for the second highest position in the land, which should graphically illustrate how tightly the right-wing faction of the GOP is holding McCain's balls.
Does the Vice presidential pick matter?
You're damned right it does!
Why?
Because McCain and Obama are virtually perceived as esentially the same people (which is why they're consistantly tied in the polls) Therefore it's a choice between Palin and Biden.
Considering McCain's age and health issues, I'd say it matters.
President Palin... think about that and shudder. Christian evangelicals still maintain that a woman's place is in the home raising children. You can bet their shitting bricks trying to wrap their heads around that concept.
As for the general public... a potential Chief executive who's only military leadership experience is head of the Alaska National guard, and a state with the population of Los Angeles?
I'll give her this-she's succeeded in keeping Russia from invading Alaska, and her sharp leadership has kept bin Laden from blowing up a northern slope oil well yet, so that's something. I wonder how long that'll take to wind up in a GOP campaign commercial?
15 - Jet
No Baronius, I'm one of the people who noticed that the GOP witch hunt couldn't pin (and still can't) anything on him but inuendos concerning White water, so they went after a lame thing like Monica Lewinsky, hoping we wouldn't notice their failure to prove anything and how stupid it was to impeach a president for something probably at least half of them had done themselves...
lie about having an affair on his wife.
The fact that he was NOT removed from office by a rabid and determined GOP led congress says a lot about how fragile and transparent their bullshit against him was.
16 - Clavos
If her credentials are called into question because of how she raised her children, verses her public opinions-that's fair.
Not according to Obama, who obviously is a much more unbiased person than you, Jet.
As he said, discussing families, and especially children in the political arena is uncalled for and an invasion of privacy; he indicated, properly, that his children are off limits as well.
The only people calling her credentials into question are the people who wouldn't vote for her anyway, which calls their actions into question.
The religious right is solidly behind her (as are the overwhelming majority of republicans) and is in fact applauding her because her daughter will marry the father, and is not considering an abortion.
People may not agree with her views, that is their right, but they don't have a right to criticize her children; those who do are showing their own poor upbringing and lack of manners and taste.
17 - Jet
Clavos, did you used to work for the Air Force explaining away UFO's? That seems to be where your logic is coming from.
18 - Clavos
Thanks for the compliment, Jet, but no, I've never worked for the AF in any capacity.
19 - Jet
If it was Obama's daughter that got pregnant out of wedlock-what do you honestly think Palin would've said?
If it was Obama's daughter that had to marry a teenager for knocking her up-what would the GOP commercials be saying right now?
You damned well what they'd be saying.
AND you know damned well that Palin would stand up and yell it's no one's business but Obama's, knowing full well that she was leaving it up to others to yell from the rooftops about it so that she'd look "nobel and above the fray"... which is exactly what Obama did.
20 - Clavos
AND you know damned well that Palin would stand up and yell it's no one's business but Obama's, knowing full well that she was leaving it up to others to yell from the rooftops about it so that she'd look "nobel and above the fray"... which is exactly what Obama did.
Wow, you have a pretty low opinion of your man's character, don't you Jet?
I'm not even voting for him, and I think he has more character than that.
21 - troll
...I heard that McCain wanted to start a rumor that Obama had fathered some black children until his staff clued him in
politics
22 - Clavos
I don't believe the rumor troll. McCain would never stoop so low...
23 - troll
what do you mean you don't believe my rumor...I started it so I should know
24 - Jet
Clavos, I've written an anti-Obama article, just as I've voiced my misgivings with McCain. What I HAVEN'T been doing is going around with a patch over my left eye and a plug in my left ear so I can perceive one point of view (the political right) like you.
I realize and acknowledge the failings AND the good sense on both sides, we liberals have a habit of doing that - unlike you who refuse to acknowledge anything you arrogantly disagree with or admit when you're wrong.
25 - Clavos
When I'm wrong, I will admit it.
It could happen...
troll. Oh. That's different. Never mind.
(apologies to Gilda. RIP)