Bristol Palin admits abstinence is "not realistic."
I feel bad for her. Her story was used by her family and the GOP to make an example of what is considered "responsible" behavior for a teen mom. Holding all that, she is telling the truth that abstinence is not realistic for young people, even if it should be what everyone strives for. Comprehensive sex-ed wouldn't be this unrealistic.
(h/t to Aaron)
Posted by Samhita - February 17, 2009, at 09:46AM
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I just watched this interview and was really confused by Bristol's statments - she said "abstinence is unrealistic" and said that teens should just "wait ten years" - what could that possibly mean? If abstinence is unrealistic for teens, what does it mean to say "just wait ten years"?
Does she think that she can be the "teen mom advocate" that she and her mom are striving for her to become if she isn't in any way willing to talk about condoms, birth control, etc?
I think what she means is that abstinence is probably the best form of birth control, but that it is unrealistic to expect from teenagers now. (right on both counts).
The other part about "waiting ten years" seems to reflect the ambivalence that a lot of young mothers feel. Frankly, it is easier if you wait ten years to have a kid -- I'd be way more suspicious if she was all "me and my rescued fetus are besties, I never wanted to hang out with my friends anyway." I don't think she meant wait ten years to have sex (although I could be wrong, and logic and messaging might not be her strong suit).
If anything, I think that that makes her a BETTER spokeswoman for young mothers. If her message is that 1) it's pretty hard to be a parent even when you are the privileged daughter of the Governor, 2) even "good" conservative teen dudes will book it in the opposite direction once a fetus is involved and are often not mature enough to assume parenting responsibility, and 3) expecting abstinence from teenagers isn't going to work, it makes a pretty good argument for young women to take responsibility for their reproduction so that they don't get pregnant before they are ready. She just needs to make that one last step to contraception (you can tell that even though she is very off-message in this interview, she knows that it is possible to fuck up. the refrain of "I don't want to go into details" seemed a little terrified).
In fact, Sarah Palin could lead the way on "compassionate conservatism" by letting up on the anti-abortion rhetoric a tad. How much more compelling would she be if instead of saying "having a trisomy-21 son and a grandchild we refused to let our daughter abort means I 'walk the walk' of being pro-life," she said "we should do what we can, individually and as a society, to support the disabled and young parents so that everyone can reach their full potential." ah, pipe dream.
Shit. I cant watch it right now. Im in the library. Is her mom somewhere having a freakin heart attack about this...who let her out to interview? hmm
Oh - her mom knows. Sarah Palin actually brings little Tripp (really, is that his name?) into the room in the second part of the interview.
Ohhh. So this is all staged...I got my hopes for an honest account of her experience...what in the hell was I thinking? I shall watch this later.
I think it's Trig, actually.... Not much better lol.
Trig is Sarah's son. Tripp is Bristol's.
i'm seriously waiting for the identical twins algebra and calculus.
LMAO. Also spit rice at the keyboard. HiLARious.
It's a shame that this will be the usual Sarah Palin publicity op. She could actually have made some important points, and she has a national stage. Oh well, at least Bristol will get big bucks for the pictures. She sure as hell wasn't going to get help from mom on expenses.
Does Greta van Sustern actually consider herself to be a journalist? Or is she officially on Palin's payroll at this point?
Poor thing. From that clip, it sounds like she feels she didn't have much choice about the sex either. I hope she regains more control when she's older.
I love that Fox News is doing this interview. Fox News. The ones who were jumping down everyone's throat for bringing in Palin's personal life - her daughter's teen pregnancy. You have to be kidding me. And how does a girl expect to be a mother and a grown up now if she can't even talk about contraception??
I feel bad for Bristol. I wonder if she really wanted to do this interview or if her mother pushed her into it - after all, she (Sarah) does make sure to get herself on camera and blather on for a few moments. Bristol just seemed so uncomfortable. It's possible that she's just nervous, but I also think it's entirely possible that Sarah and Todd guilted her into talking so mommy could have another shot at the cameras.
Lazy about contraception.
I doubt it'd be easy to discuss birth control when your family is gung ho about abstinence. Or maybe when you grow up with the abstinence message and probably misinformation about sexuality...idk. I just don't like that she asked if she was lazy about it.
That 'lazy' shit is SO Fox News...you knew they HAD to ask her that. Because laziness is the cause of ALL the world's problems.
I'm glad she said it. Her mother may be pissed, but it's the truth.
I did think the interviewers question was more than a little condescending. I mean, who "gets lazy" about contraception.
Still, it's an interesting point, and it's especially potent coming from her. Frankly, I have a lot more respect for Bristol, as a teenage mother in the public spotlight, than I do for her mother, who is a frightening hypocrite.
I just wonder when my governor is gonna get her ass back to work. I heard an interview with another governor (forget which state) who said his job is 7 days a week, especially when in session. What right does Sarah have to be parading around on TV, exploiting her family (which is supposedly off limits)while Alaskans are starving out in the bush, when our 3rd largest industry (tourism) is bracing for a rough summer, when 1 of our 3 main philanthropic entities (conoco) announced they are cutting their gifts by 30%. For the love, impeach the bitch for not doing her job!
But...but...but... Palin's got to keep herslf in the public eye lest she be forgotten. And what are a few starving people compared to the gift that would be President Sarah Palin?!?
/snark
It is great that Bristol came out and said this. We need the young people to speak out themselves and say that Abstinence only sex-ed DOES NOT WORK.
There is no better poster child for the failure of abstinence programs that little Miss Bristol.
I think the part where she said it was her choice to have the baby and that her mother didn't force her to have him speaks volumes. It's great that Bristol had the choice that her mother, and so many others like her, are trying to take away from the rest of us.
She kind of has to say that now that the kid exists and will someday grow up and see this video.
Speaking of ending abstinence-only funding, have you sent your letter to Obama asking him to ZERO OUT ab-only funding in his new budget?
No? Go here. :)
I was actually offended by how judgemental the interviewer was in the way the question about contraception was phrased. "Lazy"? Eesh.
Uneducated about contraception options, sure.
Taught that abstinence is the only option, definitely.
Brainwashed by the religious right that preventing conception is wrong, check.
But "lazy"? Back off, woman.
Yeah, she "doesn't regret," being a teen mother.
One of the weirdest taboos in our society is being unable to admit to a mistake when it results in an unwanted pregnancy. Now that she's got a son that it's pretty clear her mommy named, she has to pretend it was on purpose at the same time she admits "abstinence only" doesn't work.
Sheesh.
Thank you for the link.
I truly feel Bristol's pregnancy should have been off the table for criticism IF her mother wasn't a psycho anti-choice fundie. The fact that Sarah is so incredibly anti choice, anti sex-ed and the fact that her daughter became pregnant just proves that that shit DOESN'T WORK. That could have happened to any of us. We all make mistakes, it just happened to happen to her. Bristol also carries more of a burden than that idiot boyfriend of hers because she's a young woman. I am sure that most of us here have had a close call or a scare, and even perfectly-administered birth control pills are not 100% effective. I feel bad for Bristol. I haven't had children but I have a lot of friends who do, and I can't imagine being 17 and pregnant and having EVERYONE in the country knowing about it and judging me for it, while my boyfriend gets little flak.
It's really, really sad that Sarah P. is using her Down's Syndrome baby "see! I have a special needs child and care about them so much!" (Did she NOT cut some funding that helped special needs kids before she had one?) and her teenage daughter and her grandson to get more press attention. "Every family has challenges" and whatnot. You can bet that if the Obama girls were a little older and one of them were pregnant, Fox News would have had a f*cking field day. But when it's Palin's daughter, it's a "family challenge".
Bristol obviously wasn't ready for this interview, and FOX shouldn't have aired it. But that would mean they'd have to act ethically, which they have no capacity to do.
Greta didn't seem ready for the interview either. "Lazy" about contraception? She needs to go back to school.
Oh, how I wish we, as a society, could talk about responsible celibacy until one is ready instead of "abstinence," in all its vagueness. How about we teach young women and men that they should know an respect their bodies and not participate in partnered sex until they are aware of the risks and responsibilities? How about we teach them that you should wait to have sex with someone you trust not to hurt you emotionally or physically? How about we teach them that masturbation CAN'T hurt you, and that men and women BOTH do it and enjoy it? And that if you can't have safe sex, you should not be having partnered sex at all? Where's Dr. Jocelyn Elders when you need her?
Sex can be and is wonderful, but with it comes responsibilities. Is it so much to ask that we be realistic and teach young people these responsibilities without insisting they get married? And how about telling them to enjoy and get to know their own bodies if they so desire?
Oh, how I wish we, as a society, could talk about responsible celibacy until one is ready instead of "abstinence," in all its vagueness. How about we teach young women and men that they should know an respect their bodies and not participate in partnered sex until they are aware of the risks and responsibilities? How about we teach them that you should wait to have sex with someone you trust not to hurt you emotionally or physically? How about we teach them that masturbation CAN'T hurt you, and that men and women BOTH do it and enjoy it? And that if you can't have safe sex, you should not be having partnered sex at all? Where's Dr. Jocelyn Elders when you need her?
Sex can be and is wonderful, but with it comes responsibilities. Is it so much to ask that we be realistic and teach young people these responsibilities without insisting they get married? And how about telling them to enjoy and get to know their own bodies if they so desire?
Good for her; she seems pretty independent, has a giant support system she's taking full advantage of, and hedges even on topics that would make her mother look better to her constituents.
If anyone's interested in the full video/transcript they can be found here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,494205,00.html