(related video at bottom of post)
How can I resist this story?
Some of my favorite discussion topics—Sarah and Bristol Palin and pseudo-reality television—are essential components of this bit of news:
Bristol Palin to Star on ‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’
The fictional television series, which airs Monday nights on ABC Family, focuses on teen issues and teen pregnancy in particular. Bristol Palin will not play a fictional character, however, but will be playing herself—as a young woman who befriends one of the show’s main characters. The episode will air this summer.
“I am thrilled to be on this show and to be a part of a program that educates teens and young adults about the consequences of teen pregnancy,” Palin said in a statement.
In my last post about Bristol Palin some commenters called her a hypocrite for speaking out against premarital sex, but I happen to think she’s the perfect spokesperson for abstinence programs.
No one knows the consequences of premarital sex better than a teen who became a mom before she planned to. No one knows the risks and sacrifices of single parenthood better than someone who faces those kinds of stresses daily. Bristol is an attractive young woman who can speak first hand about the value of saving sex for marriage and the pain you can cause yourself and your loved ones when you choose otherwise.
We live in a nation where, despite the fact that studies prove abstinence education works, President Obama has allocated zero dollars for abstinence education in his projected 2011 budget.
In a world where that kind of inconsistency and divorce from reality exists, I am grateful to have brave young people like Bristol Palin who are unafraid to share their experiences honestly and speak the hard truth, despite its political incorrectness.
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I’m glad that Bristol is doing this but her Mother is an obvious hypocrite on so many levels. I don’t believe for a minute that Sarah Palin is the Christian that she claims to be. She’s doing all of this for politics. Just like when the younger George Bush all of the sudden became a Christian when he was up for re-election to secure the Christian vote.
“We live in a nation where, despite the fact that studies prove abstinence education works,...”[Citation Needed]
@C. David Dent, The citation is in the link that follows: http://www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/abstinence_education_works_for_high-risk_youth/
It’s very frustrating to hear people talk about how abstinence doesn’t work. Of course abstinence works. The problem is we allow teens with hormones to be alone together. Kissing leads to other things very quickly, and being immature those hormones are very difficult to control. Heck, they’re difficult for a grown adult to control. We need to teach our children to not get themselves in those situations in the first place. They need to be taught that they are worth more than what they’re being offered by today’s sex, sex, sex culture. Both my husband and I were virgins when we married at 24 and 25 respectively. It does happen, we are out there. God helps us all.
I agree with Anna’s post. One of the challenges with abstinence is it’s very hard to do in isolation. It requires support of parents and especially peers. There’s a good book by Jason Evert “If You Really Loved Me: 100 Questions on Dating, Relationships, and Sexual Purity” that my older teens have read. It’s good at answering “why wait?” The other key aspect is “how?” So it’s important that we help hold each other accountable through prayer and asking each other “how are you doing at remaining chaste in your relationships?” And we follow that up with helping our brothers and sisters by walking along side them and sharing in those struggles.
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