The Political Becomes Personal
Posted on September 4, 2008 at 9:01 amIlissa Gold on Bristol Palin’s pregnancy:
For me, there is a certain poignancy in this whole sordid affair. You have Bristol Palin, a 17-year old who decided to have premarital sex, didn’t take the necessary precautions, and is now pregnant. But now, let’s say there’s another 17-year old girl (although in reality she was 17 five years ago) who makes the same decision. But before she goes through with it, she discusses it with her parents, with the boy she’s involved with, and with her doctor. In the end, before she carries out her decision, she goes on birth control, and takes it faithfully everyday. She has the peace of mind to know that when she does eventually decide to have a baby, it will be at a time when she can give it a stable and loving home situation. She also enjoys the added perk of not being in excruciating pain for at least a day and half once a month.
She’s not promiscuous (in fact, her own mother thinks she’s a prude compared to “how we were in the 70s”), and has never once in the last five years used birth control as a license to act stupidly. All she’s tried to do is act responsibly. But for a good segment of the population in this country, the first 17-year old is thought of as a saint, and the second 17-year old is thought of as a slut.
The now 22-year old could honestly care less what that segment of the population thinks of her life choices. But it does make her wonder where the country’s priorities are. There are plenty of both types of girls around who are not getting what they need (healthcare, jobs, homes, decent wages, a way to pay for college and for childcare, an end to the war that’s draining resources from all of the above), and here we are having a stupid debate about which one of them is following the “right” path.
RELATED: Tiny Cat Pants
Comments
4 Responses to “The Political Becomes Personal”
I have to take exception to this statemnet by Cat Pants…
“You have Bristol Palin, a 17-year old who decided to have premarital sex, didn’t take the necessary precautions, and is now pregnant.”
We do not know that Bristol did not take precautions, and it is misleading for anyone to suggest one way or another. There are plenty of instances of forms of birth control failing in their duties.
Now, she may very well have not taken the necessary steps to prevent such an occurrence, but that it not open to debate because it has not been released.
Matthew
But for a good segment of the population in this country, the first 17-year old is thought of as a saint, and the second 17-year old is thought of as a slut.
Nice straw man argument. But it’s wholely obvious what a different segment of the population thinks of the first and her mother.
There’s an episode of Family Guy where they start teaching abstinence-only sex-ed at Meg’s school. The speaker says something to the effect of, “Did you know that condoms fail 100% of the time and that they’ll make your penis fall off?”
That’s what the first comment reminds me of. Birth control works if you use it right. If they used it but used it wrong, that’s still not taking the proper precautions.
What’s funny is it used to be the conservative elements of society that would shun an unmarried pregnant teenager. Now, they are embracing teen pregnancy like I never thought would be possible.
You have to sit back and admire the social progress. The GOP this week is showing millions of young girls around the country that if you have sex before you are 18 and out of wedlock, you can be celebrated as a pinnacle of virtue and conservative values…not sure what the consequences are yet, but I bet teenage boys everywhere would be voting McCain ‘08 if they could.
Personally, I think its a bad idea to have li’l ones before you are old enough to drink, or have gone to college…and I won’t lie that I’ve made fun of family members that have done the same, but ultimately, we are all products of both good and bad decisions.
Bristol Palin is no better or worse than any other woman in America who has made bad decisions and been forced to deal with the consequences.