Strollerderby

Talk about freaking mixed messages - she talks about how her baby is the "best thing that ever happened" to her, but thinks she'd be an effective messenger against teen pregnancy? "Wear sexy shoes, but don't have sex - babies are the best thing ever, but don't have one." Ok, Bristol, thanks.

This was so well written.  Loved it.

Well DUUUUH Bristol, but even though eating absolutely nothing is the only 100 percent foolproof way to lose weight, I doubt you're going to persuade many people that it's the best way.

It's like making Chris Brown the new face of domestic violence.

Oh my goodness, the hypocrisy it burns.

Give the girl a break. Isn't it better to have someone who messed up and has "been there" saying, "Hey, I messed up, don't do what I did." It's like if someone was really fat, or an alcoholic and was able to give testimony such-and-such had a huge impact on his/her life. Maybe someone who DOES abstain has more street cred when saying, "Be abstinent!", but as a living example, a teen mom DOES have a certain amount of street cred saying, "This is hard, don't do it." I think Candie's is more hypocritical than BP, as they totally market sex(iness) to sell shoes.

And abstinence not realistic? Give me a break. It "wouldn't be realistic" if we were all animals controlled by our impulses; we're not!

gee i wonder what made her change her mind. unfortunately im not surprised by the hypocrisy. yours either chilaura.

We are animals. Yes, we have self control and free will, but it's silly to think that we aren't animals.

It is absolutely unrealistic to expect kids to keep from having sex until they're married when most people don't get married until their mid- late 20s. And, in my opinion, totally unhealthy.

ChiLaura, Bunny said it best above.  You can't stand around and say how awesome it is to have a baby and how fabulous being a mother is and then say...oh, but don't you do it!  I'm not saying she should stand up and say - "hey look!  I ruined my life!  Don't ruin your life either!"  I think she should just show an ounce of common sense and stay out of the fray.  [But that's not going to help Mommy's campaign in 2010, now is it?]

Do as the twit says, not as she does.

Up next: Octomom scores gig as spokesperson against fertility treatment.  I can't wait!

Mistress Scorpio, I nearly fell off the sofa laughing at your post. Priceless!

anna, whether or not we're classified as animals, we're NOT controlled by our impulses; that's what keeps civilization at least halfway civil. Also, I and many of my friends didn't get married till our mid-20's and guess what? We were virgins! It's possible! (Not all of my friends, mind you, but a great number of them.) And, no, we weren't repressed or unhealthy.

Betty Wu, from what I've read of BP's comments (not just what's up above), she has said that she loves her son, BUT also acknowledges that it's hard work and has said that she wished that she could've had him later. Hardly sounds like she's talking about how awesome and fabulous motherhood is.

maeby, I love your opinion without explanation. Really.  

I have to back up ChiLaura here: I think we do teens an unbelievable disservice when we assume that expecting teens to abstain is unrealistic.  We tell them: reach for the stars--nothing is out of your reach if you put your mind to it!  (But don't even attempt to control your hormones--it's pointless and we don't even expect you to try.)  Yes, it takes self-control, but it really can be done.  Hubby and I were both virgins until our wedding night: I was 28 and he was 34.  And there are lots of benefits to waiting besides preventing STDs and pregnancy.  (For instance: I could send my husband into a room full of naked supermodels without worry: I know that he can control himself and he knows that about me.)  While I'm no fan of her mother, who, no doubt plans to trot out her newly-abstinent daughter during her 2012 campaign, I think it's perfectly legitimate for Bristol Palin to say, I made a mistake, I love my son, but being a teen parent is really hard and I definitely want to wait until I'm married to have another.  The Candie's connection is definitely a head-scratcher, though...  

OK...I suppose I'm a hypocrite too.

I had my first child at 21, and I was too friggin young, and his birth father wanted nothing to do with him.  And I was "smart" about my birth control.  Took my pill everyday at the same friggin time.  Would never take even an asprin because I was afraid it would decrease the effectiveness of the pill.  Boyfriend wore a condom all three times we had sex.  Got pregnant anyway.  

I love my son.  LOVE HIM.  More than words can say, but I was not the mom I wanted to be, mostly because i wanted to be 21 and have fun.  And I wanted to be with him, but when I was with him, I wanted to have fun with my friends, and when I was with my friends, I wanted to be with my son.  I would have been much better off waiting.  But this was the hand I was dealt so I did what I could.  

My friend had a younger sister who was 12 at the time.  Her mom did not want me around her baby because I was a "bad influence".  This girl had been having sex (yes, at 12).  I was the one to tell her she shouldn't do it.  She needed to stop and yes, I do love my son, but this was not the way things should have turned out in my life.  And I wish I would have waited.

I understand that everyone wants to arm their children with all the information possible, and that information includes birth control, great.  But I'm wondering why someone who has been there and done that and regrets things now (even though she loves her baby) wouldn't be able to get her point across???  Why wouldn't someone who can look at these kids and say, "I didn't think it could happen to me either." would be less credible than a girl who is wearing a purity ring???  Why is asking them to try to wait and making abstenance an alternative such a bad thing???

Or is this more about Sarah Palin and your overall dislike of her??

And yes, I can see that Candie's would probably not be the best sponsor....

This will be my last post on this subject, promise! I would just like to point out that if BP were, let's say, a black 18 y/o in the inner city who had maybe planned to ygo to college (or even if she hadn't) who got pregnant, had the baby and told her peers, "Abstinence is the only way that I could've guaranteed that this wouldn't have happened; please don't have sex," I'm willing to bet that most everyone above would be commending her, not calling her a hypocrite. They'd probably say, "Hey, she wised up, maybe a few less girls will be pregnant because of what happened to her." I'm no fan of Sarah Palin, but that doesn't mean that I can't see that maybe her daughter actually does have a decent position from which to speak, seeing as how she's been there, done that.

And let's not ignore that as much as people hate abstinence campaigning because, good lord, every child has the right to have sex!, it actually factually THE ONLY 100% fool-proof way to not get pregnant. (Let's assume for the sake of argument that one is in good reproductive health.) Why don't we tell kids this? As Anon2 pointed out, we do kids a great disservice by assuming that abstinence is out of their control.

Obviously BP is in a less than ideal situation.  But I do applaud her for making the best of it.  Having a baby at any age is daunting and I don't envy her having to do it in the spotlight. But I'm skeptical of any teen mom telling any kid that abstinence-only education works.  I'm guessing that BP received abstinence-only talks and well, it didn't quite work out for her.

She is hot. Just saw her sexy photos on a celebrity and millionaire dating site called ++My Rich Match . c o m ~~~~~~~~~~~~. Don't know if it is her.

I don't think anyone's saying that teens CAN'T abstain from having sex; I also don't think anyone's saying we shouldn't tell kids that the only foolproof way to avoid pregnancy is to not have sex. What people (myself included) have a problem with is ONLY teaching abstinence in schools; there will always be a percentage of teens who "can't contol themselves," and they'll have no idea how to lower the risk of getting sick or pregnant.

I think it's great that Bristol Palin is telling girls that she should have waited, and that she's telling them to learn from her mistake. What I have a problem with is if she starts saying that abstinence-only sex education is the way to go when it obviously didn't work so well for her.