Not Even Texas is Willing to Admit Abstinence-Only Works
Texas currently ranks at third place for the highest teen birth rate in the country and they have the highest rate of repeat teen births. Coincidentally, Texas leads the entire country in the amount of government money spent on abstinence-only education. Luckily for the teens of Texas, some school districts in the state are shifting away from abstinence-only, admitting that it isn’t working.
Roy Knight, Lufkin Independent School District superintendent said, “Our data says that what we’re doing isn’t working, and our community is ready for us to do something different.” He also stated that the decision to go a different route as far as sex education goes was “absolutely driven” by a teen pregnancy rate that is higher than the state average.
Currently across the country, one in four teenage girls have a sexually transmitted infection and 30% of US girls become pregnant before the age of 20. Medical experts from the American Public Health Association and US Institution of Medicine have testified that scientific studies have not found that abstinence-only teaching works to cut pregnancy rates, sexually transmitted infection rates or the age when sexual activity begins.
While abstinence-only education tells teens that abstaining from sex and sexual activity is the safest choice for teens, we also know that it includes very little other than that sentiment, including extremely limited information about contraceptives and condoms and downplays their effectiveness. Texas school districts are planning to put an “abstinence-plus” sex education curriculum in place which does include abstinence in the material, but also stresses the importance of using protection if teens are sexually active.
Abstinence-plus education fits the Obama administration’s effort to shift dollars from abstinence promotion to strategies aimed at lowering teen pregnancies. Thankfully the Obama administration has been adamant of ending abstinence-only and we have all seen that abstinence-only robs teens of the information that they have a right to have. The federal abstinence program, known as Title V, expired on June 30 and an even larger program, Community Based Abstinence Education, is expected to cease after 2010. Both of these programs have sent about $14 million every year to Texas, most in the form of federal grants to nonprofit groups that contract with school districts. Because these groups will soon not exist at all (hooray!) it is wise to assume that school districts are putting abstinence-plus in place because their funding has dried up for abstinence-only and the reason why funds have dried up for abstinence-only is because it is an insult to teens everywhere.
Luckily, 17 of the 50 states have refused to accept any federal funding for abstinence-only education and I am so glad that I can report that many Texas school districts have realized that telling teens not to have sex will actually sway teens to abstain.
Bristol Palin Believes Abstinence is “Not Realistic”
This story broke in the blogosphere big time yesterday, but to be fair, I had this post started yesterday, so it only looks like I’m late with this.
Bristol Palin sat down with Fox News two days ago for an intimate interview on being a new, teenage mother and given what she had to say, she confirmed our suspicions when she divulged that she had just told her mother, Sarah Palin, the day before she did the interview. What Bristol Palin had to say, however, may have surprised Fox News, her family, her family’s devout Republican, anti-choice followers, but most of all, us–The feminist population; but in a good way.
The very last few seconds of this interview may have caught everyone off guard, but between her candid words and amateur, teenage vocabulary, Bristol Palin hit the nail on the head–Abstinence is not realistic.
Bristol Palin is Currently Pregnant
It was released today that Bristol Palin is currently 5 months pregnant.
A statement from Palin released from the McCain camp:
“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.”
“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”
I guess we know why Bristol hasn’t been attending Palin’s speeches lately and has been “taking care of Trig,” huh? Do I think this story broke just as the media coverage of Palin allegedly covering up her daughter’s pregnancy? Yes; hell, Reuters even made it their headline. Do I think there are any facts to claim that the aforementioned is true or believe it 100% when I posted it? Nope and I even said so; but I’m still skeptical, I’m always skeptical when it comes to politics and more so when it comes to politicians. With that in mind, I will refrain from the 50 different talking points and headlines that shot through my head as soon as I heard this story and speak about something else that is a hell of a lot more important than what I think.
For the 17 year old daughter of a staunch, conservative, anti-woman, anti-choice politician to become pregnant goes to show the American voters that not only does abstinence-only education not work, it is dangerous. We have seen “alternatives” to safe sex teens have come up with in the past and that was scary enough, thanks.
While you can preach all you’d like to a teenager, inevitably, they are going to do what they choose to do and if they choose to become sexually active then you have to be confident, as a parent, that you raised them with enough resources to take care of themselves when it comes to keeping themselves healthy. You can say “I do not condone you having sex before you are married” but at the end of the day, you can disapprove of it all you want, that teenager is going to do what they wish and the questions left are–Did they use a condom, is she on birth control, do they know about sexually transmitted diseases and infections? If you do not ask yourself these questions, as a parent who is obligated to ready your child for adulthood, then along with a pregnancy test coming out positive, an HIV test could also come out positive and that is what we have to think about now. With every teenager who chooses to become sexually active, they must have the facts because while we hear about pregnancies and families supporting a young girl with child, it doesn’t always come out that pretty.
My heart goes out to Bristol, a 17 year old child who will be wed to her child’s father…as soon as she’s old enough.
Obama has also released a statement today in response to Bristol’s pregnancy:
“Let me be as clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people’s families are off limits,” Obama said, “and people’s children are especially off limits.
“This shouldn’t be part of our politics,” he continued, “It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president.
“And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” he said. “You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that’s off limits.”
Good on him for doing the right thing this time.
And She Did So Much While Pregnant! Right?
I wasn’t going to touch upon this, however, I read a good amount of conservative blogs and talk to a great deal of conservatives. I hold nothing against them, I believe that one must challenge their world views and without doing so, you will never know what you truly believe or how deeply you believe in something until you open your mind to the other side. You truly find yourself when you accept criticism and have in depth conversations with someone whom you may not agree with; it is when you do this that you truly understand who you are and what you stand for. With that being said, quite a few Republicans are rejoicing over McCain’s VP pick of Sarah Palin; moreover, they are repeatedly shoving the phrase “feminist role model” down the throats of their readers and boasting that she is a great advocate for “traditional family values” and pro-life policies as she gave birth to a son last April who was diagnosed with Down Syndrome; not only that, but she stayed in office as a working governor while pregnant and didn’t even announce that she was pregnant until March 6.
First of all, I do not believe that a woman giving birth to a child with Down Syndrome and choosing not to abort said child when she found out about his disability is hardly a focus point on her politics. As an anti-choice candidate, she has created a pro-life record by standing up against a woman’s right to choose by using such phrases as “It’s not a choice, it’s a child,” which many pro-lifers yell, scream and carry on about during protests and harassing women outside of Planned Parenthood clinics. Using her politics, her son is a child and he was not a choice and yet her son is the first (or close second) thing people bring up when defending her as a candidate saying that it was her choice to give birth to a child with Down Syndrome; this point has also come up in the comments in my last post on Palin. People are very quick to throw that her birth to a child with special needs is a choice, but isn’t that what pro-lifers spend their hours trying to convince us is not the case? (Cara at The Curvature has a more in depth post on this specifically that you should check out)
As I stated in what I’m calling my obligatory Sarah Palin post, Palin is against reproductive rights and believes that abortion starts with contraception. Frankly, Palin is a traditional believer in not having sex until you’re married and ready to begin baby-making. That is all well and good and also fool proof in roping the pro-life voters who weren’t going to vote for McCain at first; but perhaps if her abstinence-only values and pro-life policies were concrete they would work, however as the hours tick by, more and more dirty laundry on Palin is surfacing.
We met Palin’s family at the McCain/Palin rally in Dayton Ohio; we were introduced to her children, Piper, 5; Willow, 12; Bristol, 16; Track, 17. Also amongst the clan was the newest member of the family, Trig, born last April.
Palin did not tell anyone outside of her family about her pregnancy until she was 8 months pregnant and even at 8 months, she did not resemble a woman with child; as Palin is a very slim and slender woman, a pregnancy would have been abundantly apparent. Alaskan media did comment on this, yet their speculations went no further.
Months before Palin’s birth announcement, Bristol Palin, 16, became ill with mononucleosis (mono) and had to leave school. Mono typically lasts between 2 weeks and 3 months and that is if it is a particularly horrendous and threatening case, but Bristol was out of school for 5 to 8 months, ironically this took place at the same time Sarah Palin was pregnant with Trig.
A pregnant Palin, wardrobe still fitting, her physique remaining the same in February, went hiking. A video was released where Palin said:
[5 minutes 55 seconds into the video]
…”I like running the hills, it kills me, that’s why I like it, I mean it thrashes your guts and your lungs and your thighs…”
Now I don’t believe that is something that should come from a pregnant woman’s mouth.
Rumors ran rampant through Bristol’s school while several of her classmates accounted that Bristol was gaining a significant amount of weight and appeared to be pregnant when she abruptly left school.
Sarah Palin went into labor while in Dallas, Texas just before she was schedule to deliver a keynote address at the Republican Governors’ Energy Conference. Palin, instead of checking into a hospital, delivered the keynote speech. She said:
“I was not going to miss that speech,” she says.
She rushed so quickly from the podium afterwards that Texas Gov. Rick Perry nervously asked if she was about to deliver the baby then.
Instead of checking into a hospital after supposed hours of leaking amniotic fluid, Palin then made the very bold move of flying while in labor to Alaska so Trig would be born “an Alaskan.” Palin is obviously wonder woman since she was said to be in labor during the entire 8 hour flight and was said to be extremely pleasant to flight attendants who oddly were not even aware that the woman was pregnant, never mind in labor.
As most of you may know, airlines typically have strict rules regarding women who wish to fly while more than 7 months pregnant. Palin said that it was through the birth of her four previous children that she became comfortable with the signs of active labor and did not feel that she or the baby were in any form of danger by boarding the flight.
I find it rather peculiar how a woman can be eight moths pregnant and deliver a 6.2lb child and no one can even notice the woman is pregnant. Palin then returned to work after three days. I understand that middle-class citizens may have no choice but to return to work, not being able to afford to take time off even after a child is born, but obviously Palin and her big oil-working husband are well equipped to take a little time off to enjoy their newborn, right? Why would any woman want to separate from her newborn child who has special needs to be taken care of after just three days?
Well, because Sarah Palin was not pregnant, Bristol Palin, her 16 year old daughter, was. Mono is a common excuse used in “respectable” families and Catholic school systems as to why teenage girls must be taken out of school when they are really pregnant. The same thing is still happening today.
Yes, Trig was born with Down Syndrome and while this occurs with newborn babies of older women, such as Sarah Palin, the same also occurs in cases of very young women, which Bristol is.
Pictures of the family, the Bristol bump and the lack of Sarah bump after the jump.
Is the Media Promoting Teen Pregnancy?
Earlier this month, Time magazine put out a story about 17 girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts, none older than 16, who had made a pregnancy pact stating that they would get pregnant at the same time so they could raise their children together. The number of teen pregnancies in this school alone has risen more than 4% in just one year and the number of teen pregnancies across the country this past year are astonishing. One must ask, given the statistics, why are so many young girls getting pregnant?
In almost every blog post I have seen on this topic, most of which were “mommy bloggers,” mothers of mostly small children, one of the first things brought up is the media. Most people are claiming that movies like Juno and Knocked Up are glamorizing pregnancy and young, unwed mothers. They are also pointing the finger at television shows such as the upcoming The Secret Life of the American Teenager, from the same people who brought you all thirty years (well it sure felt like it!) of 7th Heaven. While mass media is definitely pushing its boundaries and has caused young girls as well as grown women to take up extremist behavior, I think that while it’s definitely okay and right to point fingers, people are only pointing fingers at mass media and don’t believe that anything else can cause such an extreme outcome.
The last time I saw Juno, it was about a teenage girl who was most likely told by her parents not to have sex, hence her being so apprehensive to speak with her father and step mother about being pregnant. However, this teenage girl had sex anyway and it wasn’t a case of her boyfriend wanting to have sex and pushing her to agree to it nor was it something she felt she had to do to fit in with her friends or live up to social expectations; it was simply a curious girl who was in love with a boy and wanted to have sex. Sorry to break it to you, folks, but this is the way real life works–Teenagers are curious about sex, they wonder what it is like and yes, they’re going to have sex and it’s most likely going to be after you told them not to. The movie also showed a teenage girl who had a good enough head on her shoulders to know that she wasn’t ready for a baby and opted to find a couple who wanted a baby, yet couldn’t have one and it resulted in a closed adoption per Juno’s request. I highly doubt that Juno glamorized teenage pregnancy, nor did it show Juno’s best friend wanting to have a baby with Juno so they could raise their babies together.
The only thing I have to say about Knocked Up “glamorizing” young, unwed mothers is that one of the last scenes of the movie shows a closeup of a woman’s vagina while giving birth. Glamorous? Making teenage girls want to go out and get pregnant so they can experience what they just saw? I doubt it. On second thought, I have more. In Knocked Up, the main character asked if the man she was sleeping with after a very drunken night had a condom and being drunk, well, it didn’t work out so well. If anything, I’d think that Knocked Up is a public service announcement for “This is what happens if you get drunk…and have sex” not “This is what happens if you have sex, but it’s a good thing because it all worked out in the end!”
I find it rather odd how there is story after story coming out about a substantial rise in not just teen pregnancy, but the amount of teen cases of sexually transmitted diseases and infections and instead of pointing my finger at television shows and movies, I thought a little deeper and it dawned on me–Oh yeah! It wasn’t too long ago where we found out the amount of money that has been poured into abstinence-only sex education and what some teens think you can do to prevent pregnancy and STDs.
In the case of Gloucester High School, sex ed ends freshman year and apparently they aren’t able to tell you what you need to know up until then. No matter which way you look at it, teenagers are going to make up their own minds and if they choose not to have sex, consider yourself lucky. Teenagers are curious and they often feel as if they are in love or may actually be in love several times during their teenage years and through their lives, they have most often been told that when you love someone you have sex and that is what they do.
Education is the most powerful resource anyone can have and it’s the only thing no one can take away from you. The same applies for the subject of sex, especially when you’re talking about teenagers. Every person deserves the education they need to go out in the world and make something of themselves and of their lives.
Bleach, Mountain Dew and Marijuana are Not Contraceptives
Since 1996, over $1.677 billion has been dumped into abstinence-only sex education and fueled by the religious right refusing to admit that sex exists. Yes, I said it! Sex exists!
Since abstinence-only sex education has been adopted by many states, we now get to see the outcome of what abstinence-only does to those receiving this type of education.
Teens in Florida believe that drinking a cap full of bleach will prevent HIV and that Mountain Dew and marijuana will prevent girls from getting pregnant. We now have a better understanding of what teenagers are walking away with when receiving abstinence-only education–Nothing!
Teenagers will not abstain from having sex, it is simply not going to happen and by these shocking tales of ignorance when it comes to sex education, we are not helping teenagers by telling them that sex is bad and that they shouldn’t do it. By this story, we are seeing that teenagers want to know how to prevent pregnancy and how to have sex without contracting sexually transmitted diseases and rightfully so, we should be giving them this information; there is absolutely no excuse not to.
Purity and Integrity…Balls
I’ve spoken quite a bit on purity balls before, but lets face it, this topics in all of its Nazi-religious and abstinence-only brainwashing glory never gets old. Not to mention, of course, the underlying views of these affairs and how they tend to scream “incest” in not only big, but also bold and red type.
Abstinence-only sex education programs have been swamping the nation not only recently, but has been consistently supported by the federal government since the 1981 Reagan Administration. The federal government has been condoning this ludicrous education program and pouring more than $1.677 billion, since 1996.
Refusing to accept that abstinence-only education does not work, the religious majority have been holding formal events depicting what a traditional wedding would more-so look like for young girls and their fathers. The Father-Daughter Purity Ball, Sponsored by the Colorado Springs’ Generations of Light Ministries, are basically young girls pledging to their fathers that they will remain pure and virginal until the day (or most likely, night) they marry.
Making a commitment to yourself to remain a virgin until your wedding day is one thing that I could completely understand. A woman making an informed and personal decision for herself is completely fine, especially if that woman is of the mature age to know what she is talking about and making that decision for herself and no one else. However, these balls are not only being targeted towards teenage girls and their creepy fathers, but also to girls that look so young that they were more than likely told “Honey, look at the big, fancy dress you get to wear and there is going to be a lot of cake there!” Hell, if I were 5 years old, I’d be all about going too! And at that young of an age, the aforementioned creepy fathers only seem even creepier. I mean, it isn’t every day you look at your daughter, who is still dreaming about growing up so she can eat 3 bowls of ice cream for dinner and can’t even tie her shoes yet and immediately think and her virginity. Not only that, but to the point where you’re buying a matching cummerbund and taking her to a dance where you then imitate something that also looks like it came right out of a standard, traditional wedding. Right?
The pledge read by the father at a purity ball reads:
I, [daughter's name]’s father, choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity. I will be pure in my own life as a man, husband and father. I will be a man of integrity and accountability as I lead, guide and pray over my daughter and as the high priest in my home. This covering will be used by God to influence generations to come.
High priest!? It kind of makes you think that while writing this script they were joking saying “I can’t wait to see how many websites jump on this!” But sadly, they are completely serious. Maybe I can try that on the boyfriend while in bed–”Oh high priest…” It certainly appeals to many male egos.
What these events are basically saying is “If you really love your father, you will dress up, do an interpretive dance, read words off of a script that is provided for you, so you don’t even have to go through the task of coming up with your own words that describe how you, as a person, feel, and make a commitment you are not yet old enough to understand.” Most of the girls from the pictures on the website look like hardcore Sesame Street fans and I think that most of them even needed a little help with the big words in their script. And one of the biggest things that I have against these affairs, not including that I think Megan’s Law should keep a close eye on any father bringing his daughter to one of these, is that they are teaching young girls that they should be giving themselves as a wedding present to their husbands on their wedding day. And who ever said dowries were out of style? It is saying that we need to backtrack over a few decades to where a woman is only valuable to a man if she is a virgin, making her value as a human being only determined by her sexuality–Or if pedo-dad and God have anything to do with it, lack thereof.
The first time I spoke about purity balls I received a few emails and comments turning the tables on the father-daughter event and asking what would one think of when they heard mother-son. Well now we can question no further!
I introduce to you…The Integrity Ball!
Notice that purity was replaced with integrity–Because a man with integrity chooses a virgin to marry! I love how they go hand in hand. The integrity ball also goes on to tell young men more about women and about how they need to be “pure”, by making them think of their mothers. Ew?
Who else thinks these things came about when parents started feeling uncomfortable talking to their children about sex? Now we can just escort our children to balls, make young girls have pseudo-weddings with their fathers on their arm and make young men think about their mothers in a sexual manner.
Bad fetish porn, anyone?
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