or, The Irony of Ignorant Palin-Bashers Bashing Gov. Palin for Being IgnorantAs I noted yesterday, “echo-chamber types are once again pushing the canard that this is all because Sarah Palin doesn’t believe in teaching contraceptive use in schools”; today saw a particularly egregious example, courtesy(?) of Bloomberg’s Margaret Carlson, who smugly declares,
This isn’t an argument for abortion, but one for reality—drop abstinence only, make contraceptives available and consider adoption, relying on grandparents, or single parenting until the child herself grows up.
OK, so if we’re making a parade about “an argument for . . . reality,” let’s consider what the reality actually is here, shall we? Unfortunately for Carlson, if we do that, she doesn’t come off very well.First, she says, “drop abstinence only.” One problem:
Abstinence-only education doesn’t actually exist. It’s a term used by critics of abstinence education rather than purveyors, who prefer, simply, abstinence education. The term “abstinence-only” attempts to create the perception that abstinence education is a narrow and unrealistic approach. While such loaded terms are to be expected of activists, the media usage of the term is regrettable.
In other words, Carlson’s beating a straw man, asking conservatives to drop something that we don’t advocate; she’s busy feeling smugly superior to people who do not in fact exist. Good for her ego, bad for her argument, and worse for her understanding of what’s actually going on (which might be a trade she’s happy to take, for all I know).Second, as Mollie Ziegler Hemingway also points out, the smugly superior types like Carlson not only don’t know what abstinence education is, they don’t understand what it’s about.
The liberal caricature of abstinence education is of school marms rapping the knuckles of teens and telling them—day after day—not to have sex. In fact, a review of curricula for abstinence education programs shows surprisingly little about sex—and a lot about building self-esteem, understanding risky behavior, finding responsible partners, and growing a family.ReCapturing the Vision, one abstinence curriculum used for girls-only education, begins with a unit designed to help students see their bodies as beautiful and to accept themselves as they are. Other units teach them how to define their morals and values, resist negative influences, manage conflict and understand their emotions, and determine how to achieve personal, academic, professional, and financial goals. The final unit uses mock interviews, job searches, and résumé writing to help girls transition to adulthood.In other words, abstinence education isn’t only, or even primarily, about preventing teen pregnancy. It is about learning life skills, encouraging the formation of families, and taking responsibility for your behavior, which helps explain the cultural chasm between its supporters and those who saw Bristol Palin and screamed “hypocrisy!”
Third, when Carlson says we should “make contraceptives available,” she might be surprised to know that Gov. Palin agrees with her. This isn’t speculation, either, as the governor is already on the record on this subject—and not in the way that her ignorant detractors assume from their bigoted stereotypes:
In a widely quoted 2006 survey she answered during her gubernatorial campaign, Palin said she supported abstinence-until-marriage programs. But weeks later, she proclaimed herself “pro-contraception” and said condoms ought to be discussed in schools alongside abstinence.“I’m pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues,” she said during a debate in Juneau. . . .Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella said the governor stands by her 2006 statement, supporting sex education that covers both abstinence and contraception.
The irony of the whole thing is, that position put her at odds with both the GOP platform and her running mate, which is why the Los Angeles Times titled its story on this “Palin appears to disagree with McCain on sex education”; but when the MSM decided it was more politically advantageous to stereotype Gov. Palin and beat her for something she doesn’t actually believe than to use what she does believe to try to drive a wedge between her and her running mate, the truth was conveniently forgotten.Fourth, the implicit assumption that since Bristol Palin got pregnant, she must have been taught about sex in a non-liberal-approved fashion is just that: an assumption, and an unwarranted one, at that, as Hemingway points out.
No one bothered to find out what type of sex education, if any, Bristol had received and assumed her mother—despite on-the-record comments supportive of teaching both abstinence and contraception—opposed sex education.
(As Hemingway further notes, even if the assumption were correct, “it is empirically laughable to judge the effectiveness or utility of abstinence education based on one teen pregnancy”; but folks like Carlson who are pushing an agenda don’t care about inconvenient truths like that.)Finally, Carlson asserts that people should “consider adoption, relying on grandparents, or single parenting” rather than allowing/encouraging teens to marry. Her sweeping unfounded assumption here is almost too grandiose and simplistic to answer; this doesn’t qualify as an “argument for reality” because it shows no effort to understand what the reality is. To wit, who says people don’t do all those things? No evidence I’ve seen, certainly; and in the case of the Palin family, it’s been crystal-clear ever since the news broke that family support, not just from grandparents but also from great-grandparents and others, was very much a part of the plan for the care and support of little Tripp and his parents. (As for her suggestion that single parenting is a better option than marriage, I can only conclude two things: one, Margaret Carlson has never studied the issue in any meaningful way; and two, she probably wasn’t a single mother as a teen.)Taken all in all, I can only conclude that Carlson’s column on the Palins would be a good deal better if she actually had a clue what she’s talking about. It’s a pity that the media we have now don’t care enough about such things to enforce them.
Good post, Governor Palin’s position on contraceptives is probably the one thing I disagree with her on. I can deal provided she supports abstinence as well and acknowledges that should be the standard – which I believe she has.
But as a youthworker I have seen the disaster of contraceptive-based sex ed. It simply gives license, and kids are often not told the truth about failure rates of condoms, as well as, the uncertainty that exists as to whether they are truly effective in stopping HIV.
*yawn* Sorry, but abstinence-only does exist. Perhaps not where you live but it does exist. One of my friends does work with pregnant teenagers, many of whom have no idea what contraception is and how to use it because their school district only teaches “abstinence.” The “abstinence education” you describe certainly didn’t stop them from having sex.
As a formal educational policy, no, it doesn’t. As anything advocated by educational groups of any stripe, no, it doesn’t. What you’re referencing, HoB, is not “the ‘abstinence education’ [I] describe,” nor is it what Gov. Palin is talking about. Your experience does highlight the point that “just say no” isn’t enough with regard to sex any more than it is with regard to drugs, but it isn’t relevant to any discussion of Gov. Palin, or of any of the actual abstinence-education curricula out there.
Shane, yes, Gov. Palin is a firm advocate of curricula that promote and encourage chastity (which is really a better word here than “abstinence”); she simply believes (and I tend to think she’s right, honestly) that withholding other information doesn’t serve to further that goal. I agree with you, certainly, about contraception-focused curricula; the biggest problem with them, I think, is that their underlying agenda is to promote sexual activity, and as a consequence they skew the information they provide (as you note) in order to further that agenda.