AlterNet: The Christian Right's Slick Campaign to Make Abstinence Seem Trendy

[marmar]

The Christian Right's Slick Campaign to Make Abstinence Seem Trendy

By Vanessa Valenti, AlterNet. Posted August 28, 2008.

Conservatives finally learned that moralizing doesn't keep teens from having sex. Now they have a creepy new tactic.




Magazines. Fashion. Dating. Comedy. These are all large parts of contemporary teen culture. Who would have thought they could also become the latest weapons in conservatives' war against sexual autonomy?

But after a decade of the Bush administration pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into abstinence education programs, only to see them fail, that's exactly what's happening.

Study after study has shown that those schooled in abstinence rhetoric are just as sexually active as those who aren't, leaving the right wing with virtually no credibility on the subject. Now, conservatives have to be a little savvier if they want to lie about condoms' effectiveness against sexually transmitted infections, make bogus claims about a link between abortion and breast cancer, or manipulate teens into thinking that premarital sex is damaging to one's self-worth. That's why conservative ideologues have taken abstinence-only discourse outside of the classroom and are trying to woo students through a different strategy: by making abstinence the teen trend of the year.

To boost the no-sex-'til-marriage cool factor, conservatives are co-opting everything from teen magazines to fashion to comedy routines. But behind the trendy talk are the same shame-inducing tactics and medical misinformation that could potentially put teens' self-esteem, health and lives in danger.

Abstinence Chic

The 2008-2009 edition cover of J4G (Just 4 Girls/Just 4 Guys) magazine features a close-up of a smiling girl with a fashionable fur-collared sweater, surrounded by brightly colored headlines like "The Inside Scoop on Guys!" This is a pretty familiar image for teens -- no different than what you'd likely see on the cover of Seventeen or YM. But what a young reader may not know is that J4G's "Inside Scoops on Guys" is really a lesson on dressing modestly. The feature tells the young reader that "guys are visual, so when a girl is dressing to show off (wearing tight pants, low-cut shirts, etc.), it is hard for guys because they are stimulated by what they see." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/95249/the_christian_right%27s_slick_campaign_to_make_abstinence_seem_trendy/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. The Jonas Brothers. The Christian Right could be getting such mileage on this act and they

seem to defer on this option.

The guys aren't hard to look at, their music marketable. They have been homeschooled and wear Chastity Rings. Perfect poster boys and yet their handlers don't use this as a selling point and the Christian Right doesn't claim them as one of their own.

Miley Cyrus got a free pass on her "I love Jesus!" comment and it seems so have the Jonas Brothers.

[thunder rising]

3. Who cares. Psycho killer Christians need to slither back under that rock they came out from under

to help Bush and Cheney create a mercenary army to kill Arabs.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. The Jonas Bros are not a religious act

And the make millions and have teeny bop careers that are far beyond the reach of so called Christian music. The Jonas Brothers are secular teeny boppers. Not 'faith based'. They do not promote a religious message in their music in any way.
Performers are not there to be used by any who wish. Sucessful-Billboard Top 10 right now- far beyond the money and sales of religious tunes, which are sold only to religious folks and played only on religious radio and by the way. You say they are marketable, the fact is they are huge hits now. And frankly, they've been at it for years already. Broadway veterans and the works.
The Jonas Bros and Ms Cyrus are not options for some religion to co-op. They would sue if such things were done to them. Their images and music are not free for the taking to be used as promotion for other's agendas.

It just ticks me off when people think that billion dollar performers are available for rent to Rick Warren or whatever. If the religious right claimed them, they would litigate, o k? The Christian right is not 'deferring on the option' to use the Jonas Bros. They do not have access to them, control of them, and if they did, they could not afford them. How many top ten recording artists can you name that went to work for evangelits while selling millions of records and filling huge halls?

Sorry. But young performers with young audiences are not fodder for the use of adults. Those boys and Miley have lawyers that would make your head spin. Chritian music is a tiny segment of the industry and those kids sell more copies in a week than entire 'christian' labels do in a year...
Just saying, kiddo. Miley is richer than Ricky Warren. Maybe she will pay him to shut up, but the reverse is not possible.

[thunder rising]

2. guys are stimulated by what they see. (smell, taste, think, read, imagine...)

Indeed skimpy clothing keeps guys dumb, since they don't have to use their imagination at all.

I'm for the good 'ol modest days of the mini/micro skirt and hot pants, see through!!!

[TooBigaTent]

4. I say let them waste their money (as long as it is not tax money) on this effort. No one will ever

be able to stop teenagers from fucking.

Talk about pissing into the wind.

[zbdent]

5. I encourage the Christian Right to practice abstinance

throughout their entire lives ...

[blondie58]

7. this is almost as bad as blaming the victim of a rape- she was

asking for it- did you see how she was dressed?:sarcasm:

It upsets me on how much of the blame is put upon the girl. Having teen girls myself, I know how important fitting in and wearing the latest fashions is to them.

[Felix Mala]

8. Sadly, abstinance as a form of birth control has a miserable failure rate.

I'd say somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. If condoms or the pill performed that poorly they couldn't be marketed for pregnancy prevention. Kids who are taught abstinance only are less likely to use any kind of protection when they do become sexually active. I agree kids are pelted with sexual messages. I don't know what can be done about that, but leaving them unprotected isn't a solution.

My mom has a catholic friend with 20 grandchildren who were taught abstinance only. Over the years, nine have had children. None of them married the babies' fathers. And the poor woman has yet to attend a wedding for any of her granchildren even though she's a grandmother many times over.

[Demeter]

9. And Madison Ave. Spends Millions Pushing Oat Bran

because if it had any marketable qualities, they wouldn't have to make any effort.

I abstained until I met my husband through my personal, natural selectivity. I have no regrets, except for choosing a man unsuited for a life-long venture due to a character flaw that developed long after marriage. I would be feeling much more a fool had I engaged in multiple liaisons that were equally fatally flawed.

I see no value in sex without marriage for women. Nor for men, after consideration.

[Demeter]

10. The Problem Is, Abstinence Is SMART

and Christians especially don't want their offspring developing critical thinking skills which will lead the kids to repudiate their parents and their church. So they try to make it trendy--well, trends have a way of not lasting when the funding goes away.

[Marrah_G]

11. I have no problem with them pushing abstinence among their own

What I object to is trying to keep real sexual education out of school.

Is it better for a girl to wait and avoid pregnancy. Absolutely. But she damn well needs to have all the information and protection possible if she chooses not to abstain.

This goes for boys also, but reality is that any pregnancy falls on the girl and her life will be the one most effected. Having children young stagnates your growth and earning potential. There are girls who still go on to succeed but they are not the rule.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

12. Heterosexism is the number one offender

By saying "no sex 'til marriage" in a world where gays can't get married (except CA and MA) they are effectively saying "no gay sex." That bugs me more than anything.

That and the fact that our TV/movie/gaming/musical rating systems are much stricter with sex than with violence.

[Marrah_G]

13. By abstinence I wasn't using the term as waiting until marriage

But rather waiting until you are grown up a bit and can handle the consequences that come with sex. This goes for people of all orientations.

I hadn't thought of it the way you have and I can definitely see your point.