Friday, May 22, 2009

Keeping Track of Bristol

Can someone help me please? I need help keeping track with Bristol Palin, and exactly what her position on teen pregnancy is. This latest issue of People Magazine has me seething. I mean are you serious? Really? It is nothing less than a blatant promotion of teen pregnancy.

Let's backtrack here for a second: First, Bristol's pregnancy is played out during her mother's campaign, shrouded in the "Yes, I am a huge advocate of abstinence only, but my pregnant teenager is marrying the father of her baby." Because that makes everything okay, right? Especially when you're running on a platform of such moral superiority. Then, it's "campaign's over and so is the relationship," to Bristol stating clearly on that Fox News Exclusive that abstinence is "not realistic." And then voila, personality switch. Is it just me or did everyone miss the beat between "abstinece is not realistic" to "I am now the Abstinence Only Ambassador for the World?"

Bristol Palin is sending out very dangerous mixed messages here, and although she doesn't make a difference in my life, media exposure is what it is. It gets you into people's homes and heads. I don't think she even understands the seriousness of the issue she's dabbling with only to advance her personal agenda, whatever it may be. 

However, at a time when teenage pregnancy in the US is consistently rising, the last thing we need is a recognizable face like Bristol Palin's posing on the cover of a widely distributed publication like People glaring at you in the grocery encouraging you to, "Try teen pregnancy! It works! It's great! Just look at me...." Glamorizing teen pregnancy is not the right message to be sending, and no one should know that better than Bristol Palin, whether her actions are intentional or not. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

1 comment:

Bonnie said...

What I don't understand is the quote from Bristol at the bottom - that if girls "realized" the consequences of having sex, nobody would be doing it. Almost seems like an argument supporting sex education to me...