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Bristol Palin Says Do as I Say, Not as I Do
16 Comments | Posted by Marin in Uncategorized
Oh, devilish internets. You keep records of everything.
Back in February, Bristol Palin went on the record with CNN, telling her tale of woe but also of joy of having a baby at age 18. She told CNN that she wishes she’d waited ten years (making her 28) to have a baby, and that mommyhood is not “glamorous” but it’s awesome. The best option, wise old Bristol said, is abstinence. But she called abstinence “not realistic.”
Fast forward to May. Bristol is now patrolling the media as part of the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (they have one of those?), ironically and absurdly preaching the gospel of abstinence. She is now an ambassador for The Candie’s Foundation, an organization that hopes to prevent teen pregnancy, although she herself represents the very sort of situation Candie’s hopes to guard against. Using what might possibly be the poorest choice of words, Bristol now describes abstinence as a “realistic” choice for teens. Hm, really? Let’s go to the videotape.
I clicked on The Candie’s Foundation website to see the other ambassadors or supporters of the organization are. I was “shocked” to discover that for an organization that tries to prevent teen pregnancy, they sure have a lot of hypocrites among the honorees. Here’s a few: Lionel Richie (daughter Nicole Richie is pregnant with second daughter out of wedlock), Ashlee Simpson (pregnant out of wedlock) and Destiny’s Child (Beyonce’s sister, Solange, had a child at age 18).
Based on the website, it’s unclear just how and to what extent the Candie’s Foundation supports the fight against teen pregnancy. The website seems to reiterate the message “don’t get pregnant,” but nowhere is abortion discussed. The Foundation takes it as almost a given that if teens get pregnant, they’re stuck with it. There’s no talk of condoms, birth control or even abortions. The message is, sex inevitably leads to pregnancy, so don’t do it.
Sex does inevitably lead to pregnancy if you’re being a moron about it, as Bristol Palin apparently was. Levi Johnston, her baby daddy, went on The Tyra Banks Show and described how they had a condom “wardrobe malfunction” of sorts. When pressed, Levi admitted that he and Bristol failed to use a condom every time. So yes, sex without a condom can lead to pregnancy. And yes, as Bristol now says, the only “100% foolproof way” to avoid pregnancy is to be abstinent. But as she herself admitted not just four months ago, abstinence is not realistic. Given that such Draconian solutions are destined for failure, why doesn’t she promote usage of condoms and birth control to at least decrease the odds of pregnancy? Why is she going from one extreme to the other – from unwed teen mother – to proponent of abstinence? No teenage girl (or adult, for that matter) could possibly watch her interviews as she calls Tripp a “blessing” and take her seriously. She would do girls and women everywhere a service if she used her celebrity promote that which she executed imperfectly – safe sex. It’s the more realistic option.
Agreed. Bristol was a nightmare on this one. And this Candie’s thing feels like a foundation for abstinence, which of course is unrealistic.
I was wandering, do girls in USA know about menstrual cycle? There are perfectly save days to have “real” sex with your partner even without a condom. I am remembering back in the days this is what we were taught to do first of all. I am not from the US and I never ever saw these mentioned as a preventive or contraceptive technique in any posts. I am wandering is it not in fashion? Or did it disgraced itself in any way? Basically we were taught to count the days, have a diary, measure temperature, something like that. We were also told that the closer we are to ovulation the more aroused we would feel. On those days we were advised to be more vigilant.
That is because they are not ways to have “safe sex”.
Girls in the US are taught plenty about the menstrual cycle, but you can still get pregnant during it. I think the methods you are using are a bit outdated.
Oh, I am not using them now, but they worked for me in the past. Oh well… this technique did disgrace itself. :D
Although, I hear people use it to get pregnant. When we planned our family I managed to get “desirable” birthdays! You know, so they are evenly spread over the year, so I don’t miss out much in my life because I am a size of little house etc…
Sorry, a bit to much information, here.
yes, I forgot to mention it was never the only thing you should use.But it was the first thing a girl should do, know your days. I mean we are having time of the month for a bigger part of our lives, we should know how is it. As I said it was the first step to sex education and then condoms of course. When you are young, and don’t have children yet, the pill thought to be not a good idea.
I saw a report during one of my psychology of sex courses that basically said that people that are taught abstinence in place of traditional sex-ed are x% more like to get pregnant and x% more likely to contract an STD. I don’t feel like googling for exact numbers, but you can if you want to prove me wrong or look up more on this topic. Proponents of abstinence, please, please stop your war on science. Please stop your war on education. I honestly can’t take it anymore. I went to a Lutheran school for eleven years. I was raised as a Christian. I was taught abstinence, everyone in my class was. We took chastity classes. We were taught that in God’s eyes when you have sex with someone you ARE married to them. We were also reminded of that one guy that God killed for spilling his seed on the ground as a way to tell us not to masturbate (like that worked, lol). When my class graduated and went on to high school we went CRAZY. Three of my classmates (out of a class of thirty-six) ended up pregnant before graduating. I don’t think any of the sixteen or so that went to my high school were a virgin when we graduated together. Personally, I know I wasn’t. I know no one I still spoke to was.
So, speaking from personal experience, and speaking from a bunch of statistics I don’t remember… abstinence, while nice in theory, does not work.
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Sorry in advance for the errors in grammar and spelling. I got into the wine tonight!
Okay I just saw that Hayden Pantytroll is also involved with this. If she is going to tell me she didn’t sleep with Milo while they were dating… ugh. I mean, Milo is on my list!
I personally know of several women in their 20’s that are virgins. So, someone believes in it. I guess they were never in band in highschool. Band geeks are the horniest people Ive ever known!
I know people too, but none of them preach abstinence ONLY. They are educated about safe sex, they may be naive about some sexual things, but they know the basics and they know how to keep themselves safe. I think that is the main difference, to know your options and choose your own path from there. They are choosing to stay abstinent, mostly for religious reasons, others have chosen to have sex before marriage, either is fine, just be safe and knowledgeable when you do choose to have sex.
abstinence only is a ridiculous sex education policy. I have no problem with promoting abstinece, not that i agree with it, but if you only teach about abstinence you are leaving a whole lot of children with out an adequate education because as much as these people would rather its not true teens are sexually active. They have raging hormones and they are going to jump into bed with each other.
I’m so happy someone mentioned natural birth control above. I know as a teen I was not taught about my cycle in depth, but now I have come to follow it and it works very well for me. I am, however, in a steady relationship with one person and that is a big part of why it works. But it’s just part of the picture. ALL methods of birth control and sexual safety need to be taught. While i think it’s so good for our culture to discuss issues about teens and sex, i think we should focus on safe sex rather than abstinence-focused campaigns. Young people are going to have sex, biologically it’s what they want to do. We should give them access to what they need to be healthy and safe rather than preach some ideal that those preaching can’t even follow through with.
yeah it would be me I guess. I strongly think it is an obligation for all girls to know their days after their cycles evened out. It is your body, one of the functions that is the very basic for your gender. I thought it is strange that no one mentions it, either in the press, nor among the bloggers. One day a girl would want to get pregnant, and this is how it is done I believe, she looks up her dairy, measures the temperature of cervix and voila you know when you might get lucky. I got a feeling that Robin had an information that this method does not work at all. I would like to read about it.
I wouldn’t say that the people supporting the foundation who have children out of wedlock (or who have children who have children out of wedlock – quite a stretch) are hypocrites. The foundation is against TEEN pregnancy, not having babies out of wedlock when you are in your twenties.
How are Nicole and Ashlee being used as examples of hypocrites? Isnt it a foundation to prevent “teen pregnancy”? Neither of them was ever a pregnant teen…..
The statement that having a child at her age is a wonderful thing and a blessing but she wishes she hadn’t done it and other people shouldn’t is conflictual within itself. But probably completely true. None of this is black and white, cut and dried. Every situation is different. For some people, abstinence is a completely viable option. For others, not. Some teens may actually want to be pregnant and have a child for whatever reason, even if it’s not a good idea. I think if we are going to teach young women to be responsible to themselves as far as sexuality goes, there needs to be a multifaceted approach to the discussion.
“Ending teen pregnancy” is too simplistic.
I’m sure she *thinks* she’ll engage in abstinence “from now on” (honest! I “mean it” this time!). But let’s face it, Bristol loves the cock – and what’s wrong with that, exactly?
In fact, I think she should proclaim it proudly. I want to start printing and selling T-shirts, with a big picture of Bristol on front, with a bold font caption: “loves cock!” underneath.