I'm reading this Washington Times op-ed by Maggie Gallagher, and it's ridiculous. I already know not to take it seriously, since it is in the Washington Times. She talks about how the media "jumped" at Bristol Palin saying that abstinence isn't realistic for teenagers in a recent interview. At one point, Gallagher states,
But there is something strangely dehumanizing about the way so many adults are so eager to insist that sexual self-control is actually impossible.
She never goes on to name these adults, so they probably don't exist. But that's not the point of this post. The point is the contradiction that Gallagher demonstrates when talking about Bristol's comments. She goes from decrying this "dehumanization" that "so many adults" are exhibiting to today's youth to saying this,
I wonder if Bristol really thinks sexual virtue is harder these days than it was, say, 30 years ago when her mom and I were teenagers. That would be circa 1979. I could tell Bristol some stories - the sexual revolution has been swinging pretty hard for a good long time now.
She doesn't take that step further and realize that maybe abstinence-until-straight-marriage was never all that realistic for many people. But that's not what this post is about either. I think Gallagher comes off as a bit of a jerk here. The belief that teens having sex was invented yesterday is a common misconception among America's youth. That's due to two reasons, in my opinion: 1) The judgment center in the brain in teens and young adults isn't fully developed yet, and 2) Our parents and other adults are reluctant to discuss with young people the realities of sex. And abstinence-only education, which is what Bristol Palin was exposed to, certainly doesn't try to clear the air on that big secret. I guess wanting to know more about sex than the kids is some sort of pride thing.
But there's more! Gallagher ends her, let's face it, useless editorial with this,
Is it really wise for an entire society to adopt the point of view of the average inarticulate 18-year-old kid?
Yes. Let's instead adopt the point of view of a machete-juggling clown. He really speaks to me. Maybe we should listen to teen parents when they talk to us about teens having sex and babies, instead of the grown-ups who supposedly know better. Because they don't know better.
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"Self control" really only means anything when it's something you don't want to do or honestly think you shouldn't do. Trying to teach someone to control themselves out of doing something they want to do is an exercise in futility. They're never going to convince (most) teenagers that having sex before marriage is something they don't want to do, and certainly not without lying and getting abusive. Regardless of if you think the teens are amoral or not, it means that abstinence-only education is unrealistic and a waste of time and money.