Bristol Palin: Just say, no way

"If girls realized the consequences of sex, nobody would be having sex," says Bristol Palin, teenage mother turned campaigner against teen pregnancy. "Trust me. Nobody."

You mean "Mom" never told you? Gosh...thankfully, Bristol is so all is good. End of teenage pregnancy finally.

The Levi and Bristol Abstinence Song
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They're the ones
Who like all our pretty songs
And they like to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But they knows not what it means
Knows not what it means
when I say yeeeaaahhh
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F176im4TUJs

You mean "Mom" never told you? Gosh...thankfully, Bristol is so all is good. End of teenage pregnancy finally.

Posted by: bill r. | May 20, 2009 2:49 PM

Way to go Bill- take a legit, positive message from a teenager that has obviously been forced to adult hood prematurely and ugly it up with your shallow, pithy point of view.

The so called open -minded and progressive left thinkers in this country display an amazing amount of vitriolic hatred when confronted with someone like Bristol - she challenges people and I hope teenagers to not accept the if it feels good it is okay mentality or "the religon of whatever I want "

What should Bristol do Bill? Should she hide away in shame and not try to let others know that she made some bad choices that she is paying for now?

Grow up- your embarrasing yourself attacking her...

Biology (hormones) win out over abstinence more times than not. That's why the incidence of teen pregnancies has never been higher.

Where there's a Levi, there's a way. Or Will. Or Henry.

heartburn.........You think a daughter of a woman who ran for vice president and believes abstinance only is the way, who says "If girls realized the consequences of sex, nobody would be having sex," isn't news? If she didn't realize, then the only reason is she wasn't told, or abstinance only approach doesn't work. That's the point. Then you say:What should Bristol do Bill? Should she hide away in shame and not try to let others know that she made some bad choices that she is paying for now?

How about her telling people that abstinance only isn't the "only" thing they should know. How about her being honest with them and say "hey" my mom told me but look where I am. Maybe you should consider "safe" sex if you're going to have sex. How about saying abstinance is 100% effective but being abstinant is about 35% effective so there is more you need to know. I think being the Govs daughter, she isn't hurting as bad as other teens in this position and a little honesty and reality would go a lot further to help those who will be in a much worse situation than her.

Ah the Republicans; The anti-sex party.

Bristol,
That's what birth control and condoms are for; So you can relax and enjoy sex.

Disappointing, but entirely like a Republican-in-the-Making. As walking proof that "Abstinence Only," "Just Say No" plain-ole doesn't work, she's still trotting it out as the be-all and end-all of a bunch of people determined past all logic that it actually works. And the reason it DOESN'T work is that it addresses NOTHING of the way people really are, and especially nothing of the way teenagers are.

Young Ms. Palin had an excellent opportunity to speak to reality and honesty. It's too bad she chose to ignore it.

Bill r., face it - heartburn got it right. Try to rationalize all you want. You are picking on an unwed teenage mother, psycho! You and Silva are seriously malevolent.

"...If she didn't realize, then the only reason is she wasn't told, or abstinance only approach doesn't work...."

Posted by: bill r. | May 20, 2009 9:54 PM

Have you met a teenager? If they listen to half of what you say and actually retain it enough to act on it you are lucky... I have no idea what Bristol was told- but my guess is that Palin has as many regrets, and wishes she could have done more to help Bristol avoid becoming a parent as most parents would in this case...
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There is no shortage of the messaging you want to send being available. The rest of the world, music, movies and magazines are telling teenagers, ad nauseum, that sex is the most important thing in the world and that girls and women are only valuable if they are sexually attractive. Abstinence is mocked in almost every input that young people receive now.
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Why not a voice that says that the popular view of sexuality, particularly directed at young women, is not normal and that traditional values should be the norm not the alternative...
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The last thing a message like this needs is to be spun into some passive aggressive political shot at Palin- unfortunately, this seems to be the goal of this article and your post.

heartburn, who exactly "forced" her into adult hood prematurely? She made a choicew. Apparently it was a very ill informed choice, as she herself admits in the statement. Now, people like you want us to take advice from her to ensure that other young girls remain as ill informed by adopting the same "abstinence only" educational plan that led to her being so tragically ill informed. She is promoting a policy. We are not obliged to agree with her policy, nor are we obliged to ignore that she is an example of the failure of the very same policy she is promoting.

Since Bristol Palin is an unwed single mother, we must all accept the policy positions she promotes without question or comment. "Abstinence Only" education must be adopted nationwide immediately because Bristol Palin is an unwed single mother. Anyone who disgarees in anyway is malevolently attacking an unwed single mother.

heartburn.....While it is obvious that Bemused will agree (surprise), this isn't really about Palin, although it is about a failed outlook at abstinence only. Your first sentence says it all. Telling teenagers not to have sex just doesn't work. If Bristol is really concerned about other teenagers, then she should be honest enough to offer every option available, not just the abstinence only that failed for her. As far as a passive aggressive shot at Palin....Please.....this was a women atrying to be vice president who would want to push the country towards her abstinence only agenda which failed in her own family. You have every right to call it a cheap shot.....but I call it extremely relevant.

Bemused...seek help for your paranoia!

Posted by: Lou | May 21, 2009 10:00 AM

Lou- your missing the point..

Bristol is completely responsible for her circumstances- this does not discount the abstinence message, it only highlights the importance of it being the only 100% effective way to avoid becoming a parent before you are ready. Its our jog as parents and adults to make sure that this is not dismissed off hand- and especially not used as a politcal message.

She clearly did not practice abstinence- this does not make it any less effective- or in your words, make her an example of it's failures. She is an example of what happens when you don't listen to what you have learned...

I am in no way discounting the value of educating teenagers on birth control- but the message Bristol is making should be stressed way more than it is , as the expectation for how young people should respect themselves and their sexuality.

heartburn, you are missing the point. This isn't about abstinence, it's about education."Abstinence only" education simply doesn't work. Why should any of us pretend it does, just because Bristol palin is promoting it? Bristol isn't saying abstinence should be a part of the message, she is saying it should be the WHOLE message, and that's just wrong.

Posted by: Lou | May 21, 2009 1:13 PM

Lou- you didn't read my post- I have no problem with birth control education and I never said that abstinence only should be what we teach our kids...

Well, then heartburn, why are you crying about people criticizing Bristol Palin's Abstinence only PR campaign? Abstinence Only is exactly what Bristol Palin is teaching your children.

I find her comment laughable. It implies that after learning how difficult it is to raise a kid, no girl will ever take the risk. It doesn't take a genius to see how untrue that is. There are plenty of teen girls out there who have not just one, but multiple children and it's not usually because they've married the father and decided to expand their family. It's because people have sex, consequences be damned. So the stress in our educating teens ought to be on how to do it responsibly and not just trying to scare them out of doing so. I think it's fine to try to encourage kids to put off becoming sexually active as long as possible because there are a lot of potential physical AND emotional consequences that can come to pass that they're probably not really ready to deal with. But don't pretend that the threat of babies and STDs are effective deterrents the young folk. Such threats aren't even completely effective for people who HAVE had to face them.

When our son became 15 and acquired a girl friend we took him aside, gave him a 12 pack of Trojans, and showed him how they were applied, using a large cucumber.
We also gave him a stern warning not to take this as permission to have sex!

Years later, as we packed up to move I came across an old box of Trojans in the back of his closet.

SIX WERE MISSING! YOUNG MORRIS SCORED! YAY!!

And a young lady's reputation and future plans were still intact.

And a young lady's reputation and future plans were still intact.

Posted by: C.Morris | May 21, 2009 4:30 PM

As far as you know-

Well, then heartburn, why are you crying about people criticizing Bristol Palin's Abstinence only PR campaign? Abstinence Only is exactly what Bristol Palin is teaching your children.

Posted by: Lou | May 21, 2009 3:44 PM

Lou- is Bristol the only voice out there- ? Your argument is that because her campaign is abstinence only- that it is somehow invalid and should not be heard?
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My argument has been initially that many posters here dishonestly, use this issue to take some weird political shot at Sarah Palin because she had the nerve to raise a daughter who didn't listen to her all the time. bill R. posted that he believes that this is part of some plan to push us all to some "abstinence only agenda" of Sarah Palin's-

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And secondly the off-hand dismissal of anybody who believes that they should tell teenagers not to have sex to avoid pregnancy.

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We don't tell are kids to practice safe drug use, or safe drunk driving, or safe cheating on tests, but we accept that telling them to practice safe sex is automatically the only best answer? Why is the idea of saying that I expect you to wait until you are an adult such a lightning rod for criticism?
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I think that messages like Bristols that are dismissed because they do not work 100% of the time is the ultimate in cynicism.

Heartburn, I'm not saying it shouldn't be heard. I am saying that it is perfectly legitimate to criticize the campaign and the policy. You are the one saying that any criticism of the policies that Palin promotes shouldn't be heard.

Annd now you've moved on to attacking the very concept of teaching kids about safe sexual practices, something you said you supported a short while ago. Is the true basis of your problem with criticizing Palin that you agree we should be teaching "abstinence only"?