LikeTheDew.com

A lot of people think news organizations only report the bad news. Some reporters I know object to that argument on the grounds that if someone does what she or he is expected to do — do a job well, for instance — it’s not really news. Their argument is that doing good work is what we should expect of people, whether teachers, politicians, flight attendants, plumbers, cops, or, let’s just say for instance, reporters.

But here at likethedew.com, we don’t take good work for granted, and we really do want to spotlight wonderful stories about people doing good work when we come across them.

Here’s one of those stories. If you are a parent of a teenager and you’ve been worried about helping him or her act responsibly when doing what people of a certain age do — the age when hormones really kick in and start raging — without wreaking havoc on your kid’s life or someone else’s kid’s life, you can now rest easy.

A new super hero is on the scene to explain the facts of life to your kids.

I am speaking, as you must have guessed, of Bristol Palin.

Ms. Palin is the new teen ambassador for Candie’s Foundation, which campaigns against teen pregnancy, and she is going to tell kids once and for all that — wonder of wonders — abstinence works.

“I just want to go out there and promote abstinence and say this is the safest choice,” Bristol told “Good Morning America” shortly after Candie’s Foundation came up with this great idea.

Bristol is, of course, absolutely right. Abstinence does work. Science is on her side. Theology is, too — except for the most fundamentalist versions of the story of the Virgin Mary.

Yes, we all know the painful story of Bristol. Abstinence didn’t work for her, but that’s only because she didn’t abstain. Yes, she did become pregnant and, yes, she no longer gets along with the father of her baby, after they never quite got around to marrying. But don’t blame that on the idea that abstinence is the message that teenagers really need to hear. Forget condoms. Forget birth control pills or other devices. Forget sexually transmitted diseases.

Just tell the kids not to experiment and not to get “carried away” in moments of passion.

It’s a message they need to hear, based on the best statistics I can find. When we’re talking about sexual activity, the truth is all statistics are just a tad suspect.  People don’t always tell the truth about their sexual behavior. Imagine that. But, for whatever they’re worth, here are some figures from sources that are as reliable as any:

— Almost half of all 15 to 19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once.

— About 70 percent of 19-year-olds have had sex.

—  Three of 10 young women in the United States become pregnant during their teens.

Most teen girls who become pregnant and have babies don’t wind up being national spokesmen for sexual abstinence. Instead, they have exceptionally high dropout rates and the majority never graduate from high school. They have reduced earning potential for life and they are much more likely to depend on public welfare programs than the population as a whole.

But please don’t let facts like that worry you. Once Bristol Palin tells your teens to just say no to sex, all of us can feel confident that this problem is solved.

1. Dean says:

   May 11, 2009 at 8:42 am

   Any effort made to councel young adults/teens about the pitfalls of sexual activity outside of marriage should be welcomed. Unfortunatly. the majority of our news media being liberal left wingers, want to attack anything decent. This is especialy true if it involves someone who’s mother should be a leader in this country. The majority of the public have willingly bought into and fed the liberal views that freely flow from the majority of our media, ultimatly we are to blame, but it does not make it right.
   Yes, this young lady made a mistake, yes she did what she is telling others to avoid. Has anyone in the media ever looked into whom are the best spokes persons for drug, alcohole, physical, etc. abuse? The people who have been there, the ones that have experienced it.
   If this young lady can help even one other teen/young adult see the light and help them to avoid unwed pregnancy, then we all win. Why can’t you write a story that says here are the statistics, lets applaude those that have practiced abstinence and listen to them and lets also listen to those that have not and learn from both.
   Why is it we always have to put down someone for seeking to do good, or is the liberal media just trying to find one more nail to make the Palins look bad? I think this has more to do with all the negative reporting on this subject then rather Ms. Palin doing a good deed to actualy trying to help others by being open about her mistakes.
   why is

   Reply
2. Jane P says:

   May 11, 2009 at 8:53 am

   I think you are advocating birth control in addition to (or in lieu of) abstinence, no?

   The problem with birth control in teens is that by the time a woman gets married, she has slept with so many men that her self esteem and ability to bond via sex has been diminished. This can’t be good for marriage. This can’t be good for women.

   Reply
3. Dean says:

   May 11, 2009 at 9:19 am

   Nope, advocating abstenence, your comments are true, for men and women. We need to recognize that… hopefully that is part of the story Ms. Palin is telling.

   Reply
4. Billy Howard says:

   May 11, 2009 at 9:19 am

   If only liberal writers would show the same restraint of a Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fox News, etc, etc, etc….
   Teenagers don’t have a chance when they enter a very adult world uninformed. When the information they are getting comes from other teenagers we can expect the statistics in Keith Graham’s essay to be more of the same. While Jane P has a point, the trouble with not teaching well-rounded sex education, including information on contraceptives, is that teens self esteem and ability to bond in a good marriage may be diminished by the fact that by that time they may already have a baby. Ms. Palin is a case in point.

   Reply
5. Chris Wohlwend says:

   May 11, 2009 at 9:25 am

   As long as there are humans there will be teen sex — with all of its wanted and unwanted consequences. And there will always be those who deny that the drive to procreate is as fundamental as the drives for food and shelter.

   Reply
6. Dean says:

   May 11, 2009 at 9:27 am

   thanks for pointing out all the right wing conservatives who are also misleading our country (as we let them). Ms. P may only teach one aspect of the best practices, others may teach the other aspects, not everyone is capable of teaching all that is needed to be know, why trash out one good effort even though the effort is not complete. Why not say this is one good aspect and to make it complete we also need to give out youth the entire picture. What she is doing is not wrong, it is perhaps just not complete.

   Reply
7. Jane P says:

   May 11, 2009 at 10:04 am

   Dean, sorry I was not clear. I thought the writer (Mr. Graham) was advocating birth control.

   Reply
8. Lindy Lou says:

   May 11, 2009 at 10:12 am

   Dean, I think what the writer intended to point out here is the hypocrisy involved. As Chris pointed out, as long as there are humans there will be teen sex, and the often losing battle to deny the natural urges God gave us all.
   Those urges are never stronger than in the teen years when they first come upon us.
   We must teach our children how to handle this powerful force appropriately (to the best of our abilty) and that does not involve burying our heads in the sand and hoping they won’t give in to what is (during those years) an all consuming force. Abstinence is one way, providing information about the results of “giving in” and how its consequences can be prevented (birth control & condoms to prevent disease) is also essential.
   The Palin’s charade was hypocrisy of the worst kind. If you read any of Levi’s comments on his Facebook page, you instantly became aware that this marriage wasn’t going to happen. Yet, the young couple were paraded around the Republican convention with the promise that they would soon be wed (what were they waiting for??). Perhaps if the Republicans had won, Levi and Bristol would have had the proverbial shot-gun wedding that has ended sadly for almost anyone I know forced to endure one. Perhaps if Bristol’s mother had taught her daughter more about the consequences of unprotected sex, versus abstinence (which like the withdrawal method, rarely works) there would not have been a story at all.

   Reply
9. Dean says:

   May 11, 2009 at 10:17 am

   Hey, all those in polotics are liars, self absorbed do what the people who bought me wnat not what is right or what the people want….. we all know that, the question is who is the best of the worst…. you don’t get ahead in politics without selling your soul. I think she was used, i think now she is trying to do some good….. rip her Mom for what her mom does not her……

   Reply
10. Dean says:

    May 11, 2009 at 10:18 am

    sorry about the misspellings, I was in a hurry…..

    Reply
11. Lee Hatling says:

    May 11, 2009 at 10:55 am

    The problem with isolating B.Palin from her Mom is that her Mom made B an integral part of her campaign and has horned in on TV interviews that B has had. As the Mom of 2 teenage daughters I can assure you that I have little to no control over what they do, and they have and will continue to, make mistakes. But I do have frequent and direct dialogue with them, and if I can help them not make all the same mistakes and have the same scars I do, then I will have suceeded. I am sure that Gov. Palin feels much the same as a Mom and I am sure that her heart aches for her daughter who has had a truncated adolescence. The biggest problem here is the insatiable public appetite for celebrity suffering.

    Reply
12. Cliff Green says:

    May 11, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    I refuse to piss on the legs of Bristol. She is a young human being who fell for a dimwit hockey player whose goober is bigger than his IQ. I will piss on the legs of her mama, who was off being governor and having an affair with her husband’s business partner, and her father, who was off racing sleds, or something. I will also piss on the legs of the Republicans who put big dick in a suit and paraded him around the convention when everyone who can read and write knew that this was not going to be a long and happy marriage, if it happened at all. We should take the target off the kid’s back and put it where it belongs.

    Reply
13. Jane P says:

    May 11, 2009 at 9:51 pm

    In another time, a girl like Bristol would have slipped off to a girls’ home and had the baby, and right now a loving couple would be raising their newly adopted baby. If the Palins had pursued this option, think of how differently things would have turned out.

    Palin’s alleged affair with Brad Hanson is about as credible as Obama’s alleged affair with Vera Baker.

    Reply
14. Lee Leslie says:

    May 12, 2009 at 9:32 am

    Cliff, this is an all-audiences’ site. I’d really appreciate it if you would please refrain from using words, such as, “dimwit”. And, just a suggestion to a friend… you really should get that bladder control issue looked into by a urologist. I saw on TV the other night that there are some really good drugs that will help you with it, if you don’t mind the side effects (constipation, confusion, forgetfulness, dementia, dimwittedness, and blurred vision).

    Reply
15. Lindy Lou says:

    May 12, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Jane, I must respond to your allusion to another time when girl’s were shipped off to have their babies in shame and then forced to give them up. Surely, you didn’t mean that was a good thing. I have read accounts of these girls who were terrified and alone in an institution when they needed their families around them most. Then, after giving birth their babies were ripped away from them whether that’s what they wanted or not. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to give up your newborn child, or the horror of having to do it if that’s not what you wanted (and were forced by your family).
    Your reference earlier that birth control causes women to sleep around is hyperbolic. Modern birth control provides women with the freedom to control their own bodies. In ages past, women were forced to endure backstreet abortions or the shame of being shipped off—-all for a moment’s transgression (if that’s what you believe it to be). Usually, the men walked away with little or no consequences. I certainly don’t advocate young people having sex before they understand its emotional consequences, and I don’t endorse promiscuity for
    men or women. But modern birth control has literally saved the lives of countless young women. Educating our young people about it should be a fundamental part of teaching them how to be responsible, mature adults.

    Reply
16. Jane P says:

    May 12, 2009 at 11:09 pm

    Lindy Lou, I did not argue against legalized abortion, nor against the use of modern birth control. I only pointed out that birth control has a down side.

    Parents will always rip babies away from their daughters — in birthing homes, in abortion clinics. I can match each horror story from a birthing home with an equal one from an abortion clinic. That does not make either option untenable.

    Reply
17. Lindy Lou says:

    May 13, 2009 at 9:10 am

    Jane P, agreed. All things have their up and down sides. But the alternative (no birth control or legalized abortion) is not tenable. The alternative leads us back to the “bad old days” when women had no choices but to risk their lives illegally or die in one of a series of multiple, unending childbirths without any options for prevention.

    Reply