Abstinence and the Media: Mixed Messages

There are many people who believe that abstinence-only education is the only way to go about teaching sex-ed.  But they are up against a far thicker wall than they may realize.  The Candies Foundation, which is an organization that raises awareness about teen preganancies, recently hired Bristol Palin as a spokeswoman.  This in itself demonstrates just how ridiculous the whole abstinence-only sex-ed movement is in today's world.

First: Bristol Palin has a child - and she lives in a wealthy family that can help her raise the child.  Not only is she living proof that abstinence-only can be unrealistic, but her home life is completely unlike the average teen mother, who would most likely drop out of school, take a job to support herself, and be living in a broken home.

Second - The Candies Foundation is a philanthropic arm of Candie's clothing company.  If you haven't seen what they model as teen clothing, take a look.  It's anything but abstinence.  The clothing is scanty, and the poses are sexy.  Trust me, as a teenage guy, if a girl dresses is those outfits, abstinence is the first thing leaving my mind.  And what kind of self-image would a girl have if she wore those clothes?  Not an abstinent one, that's for sure.

Third - Bristol Palin's advice falls on the wrong ears.  She goes on TV, on talk shows, that only air while school is in session.  The people she is trying to reach can't even see her!  Besides which, I don't know any teens who watch MSNBC or The Today Show all that frequently (or ever, in my case).  Who is going to see her are the parents, who are in all likeliness already trying to keep their kids abstinent.  And we all know how effective the parents are - because Bristol Palin really listened to her mom, right?

Fourth - The mass media in general doesn't seem opposed to teen pregnancies.  Think about popular TV shows, or movies.  For example, Juno.  The main female character gets pregnant,and isn't even in love with the guy she had sex with until the end of the movie.  Then, when she tells her parents, the reaction is something like, "Well, I'm just glad it isn't drugs."  Right, that's an average reaction to a teen pregnancy.  And then, she rejects the idea of an abortion and finds, first try, a couple willing to adopt her baby.  Just like that, and the movie ends happy.  She doesn't drop out of school, doesn't need to get a job to support herself, just has the baby and is done.

OK, so the media does not actually seem to really be working hard in favor of abstinence.  What is realistic?  Maybe teaching other methods of safe sex as well as abstinence?  Yeah, abstinence is the most effective method of preventing disease and pregnancy (duh!), but it can be unrealistic, especially in today's pop culture.  In that case, teens have the right to know how to protect themselves safely.  

That should be enough to satisfy those who seem so concerned about teen pregnancy, but yet, abstinence programs always leave out the crucial information about how to protect yourself if abstinence is unrealistic.  What's worse, is that abstinence programs always demean and lie about other safe sex methods.  One example is when Pope Benedict declared that condom use can make the HIV problem in Africa worse.   What???!!  Condoms, one of the few proven methods of preventing disease transmission and preventing pregnancy to the tune of a 90-95% success rate, is now being dismissed by the Pope?  WTF!  

Abstinence-only sex-ed is unrealistic, but what's worse is not teaching other safe sex methods, and then demeaning them.  That's like teaching someone that the best way to perform CPR is to pray, and that using an AED will only make the heart attack worse.

Just ridiculous.