Tag Archive for "Abstinence-Only Education"

Posts Tagged Abstinence-Only Education

Most American women don’t trust Palin.

Yes, most women have brains and can figure things out, like policy that will ruin their lives. A new poll shows us that most voting women trust Planned Parenthood, over Sarah Palin along with disagreeing with her on abstinence-only education.

via Politico.

The survey, conducted for Planned Parenthood by Democratic pollster Hart Research Associates, found that just 24 percent of registered voters choose Sarah Palin as trustworthy on women’s health issues, versus 54 percent who consider Planned Parenthood trustworthy.

Forty-three percent of all registered voters polled described Palin as “out of step” with their views on the issues; 31 percent say she is in line with their beliefs.

The poll reached 802 voters split evenly across ...

By Jos Truitt • 13 years ago

Twilight, tweens, and abstinence

So you might have noticed the latest installment in the Twilight film series came out a couple weeks ago.
A lot has been written about the anti-feminist messages of the Twilight books and films. Stephanie Meyer wrote a very thinly disguised book about Mormon dating from a fundamentalist pro-abstinence perspective. Her books normalize gendered violence, present their young female protagonist as unable to think, defend herself, or even be a whole person without a man, and hammer home an abstinence message. And don’t even get me started on the anti-abortion, pro-sexual violence, pro-pedophilia mess that is Breaking Dawn.
These messages are being targeted at tween girls, Twilight’s intended audience (obviously its popularity has grown beyond this ...

By Jessica • 13 years ago

Nearly half of U.S. pregnancies are unintended

Did you know that 49% of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended? I sure didn’t.
Thankfully, people like Krystale Littlejohn and Professor Paula England of Stanford University’s Sociology Department – are looking into how we can change that statistic:

With studies indicating that lower-educated women and women in their 20s account for more than half of all abortions, the Stanford researchers want to know why more women in those groups are not consistently using birth control, especially when they don’t want to get pregnant.
“We’re trying to figure out where the system is breaking down,” England said. “You need to get to the point where contraception is so convenient and user-friendly that people who don’t want to get pregnant ...

By Vanessa • 13 years ago

Abstinence-only pusher Rep. Mark Souder caught in affair with staffer

This is just too perfect. After years of pushing abstinence-only education in the name of family values and the “sanctity” of marriage, Indiana congressman Mark Souder (R) has announced his resignation after an affair with his staffer, Tracy Jackson, has come to light.
What’s truly amazing about this is that Souder and Jackson actually recorded a video together on the values of abstinence-only programs. Via TPM:

Because sex outside of marriage is bad! So, so naughty…
Souder’s resignation is great news for sex advocates in Indiana, but what’s almost as ironic as the lovers’ video is that we have Fox News to thank for breaking the story. Who woulda thunk.
We’re in the process of looking ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

“Queer Sex Doesn’t Count” And Nine Other Myths Uncovered- And Debunked- at the Harvard “Rethinking Virginity” Conference

Yesterday, Chloe and I had the privilege and honor of speaking at the Rethinking Virginity Conference at Harvard University. The conference was organized by Lena Chen, blogger extraordinaire and recent Feministing Five interviewee, and brought together an incredibly diverse and impressive group of feminists, who dropped some serious knowledge on all things virgin-themed. One of the most interesting parts of the panel was learning how much misinformation exists around issues of virginity, sex, and our bodies. This isn’t exactly breaking news- in fact, our very own Jessica Valenti wrote an entire book about it. But the quest to educate and rethink harmful cultural norms and standards is never finished. So I’ve compiled ten myths ...

By Chloe Angyal • 14 years ago

Boston area Feministing fans: Don’t miss the Rethinking Virginity conference!

Next Monday, Lori and I will be speaking at the Rethinking Virginity conference at Harvard. Hosted by Harvard University Queer Students and Allies and masterminded by Lena Chen, the subject of last week’s Feministing Five, the conference is a whole day of panels and workshops that will cover everything from the historical roots of our obsession with virginity to what that obsession means for queer folks to what healthy sexuality looks like in practice. Lori and I are both very excited to be a part of a stellar line up of speakers that includes respected academics, professional activists, sex educators and kickass feminist bloggers. It’s not every day you get a professor from Harvard Divinity School and the editor ...

By Jessica • 14 years ago

Bristol Palin does not support abstinence-only

Despite the widespread media attention teen mom Bristol Palin is getting for promoting abstinence, her actual message is a lot more nuanced.

Take, for example, this latest Fox News headline, Bristol Palin Sends Message of Abstinence for The Candie’s Foundation.

Yet check out what Bristol actually says in the segment when asked about the rising teen pregnancy rate in the U.S:

“I think it could be any number of things. There are different programs reaching out to teens, anything from changes in the economy to changes in availability of contraceptives or comprehensive sex education. It is really a number of things that are going on.”

So perhaps in addition to noting that Bristol does advocate waiting to have sex, the media could also ...

Despite the widespread media attention teen mom Bristol Palin is getting for promoting abstinence, her actual message is a lot more nuanced.

Take, for example, this latest Fox News headline, Bristol Palin Sends Message of Abstinence for ...

By Jos Truitt • 14 years ago

Bristol Palin: Don’t get pregnant unless you’re privileged

Bristol Palin has shot a new PSA for the abstinence pushing and just generally creepy Candie’s Foundation. And it is so not OK:

Transcript after the jump.
Even entertainment website E! Online recognizes that this add is messed up, saying the message is:

“I’m privileged, so it’s OK that I got pregnant, but you’re not, so don’t.” (We paraphrase…but just barely.)

Apparently you should keep your legs crossed (Candie’s Foundation’s preferred method of birth control) if you’re poor, don’t have family support, or are not a celebrity. What a despicable, classist approach.

Bristol Palin has shot a new PSA for the abstinence pushing and just generally creepy Candie’s Foundation. And it is so not OK:

Transcript after the jump.
Even entertainment website E! Online recognizes that ...