Posted on 01/27/2010 12:19:12 PM PST by NYer
Oprah Winfrey, the daytime television guru who encourages viewers daily by telling them they have the power to achieve any goal they might set for themselves, questioned Bristol Palin’s goal of abstaining from sex until marriage in a recent interview:
“In a Jan. 22 interview, Oprah criticized Bristol Palin, the teen daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, for recently telling In Touch Weekly that she was pledging abstinence until marriage. ‘I kind of bristled,’ Oprah began, ‘when I saw this—where you said, ‘I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. I can guarantee it’ ... I’m just wondering if that is a realistic goal. I think teaching responsibility, teaching, ya know, a sense of judgment about it, but is that a realistic position?’”
Bristol was unmoved by Oprah’s questioning, saying that abstinence until marriage was a good goal for all young women to have.
“But when you make the statement ... you don’t think you’re setting yourself up? Is that a realistic position?” Oprah pressed.
Bristol answered, “It’s a realistic goal for myself.”
I find Oprah’s “realism” here so old and tired. I wonder if there are any other goals a young woman could set for herself that would elicit this kind of “bristling” and “realism” from Oprah?
Going to college? Becoming president? Curing cancer? Go for it! But don’t kid yourself into believing you might be capable of doing something as difficult as abstaining from sex until you are married.
I’ll bet Bristol had big plans and dreams for her life that did not include becoming a mother at the age of 19. Seeing premarital sex as risky behavior with potentially devastating consequences shows maturity, not naïveté. Every one of us should applaud and encourage a young woman like Bristol Palin who dares to put chastity and life-long goals ahead of her hormones.
Apparently, though, the advice anti-abstinence types would offer young women like her is: Dream big! As long as those dreams don’t include anything unrealistic like waiting until you are married to have sex.
They can keep their advice and realism. I’d rather my kids put their faith in a different kind of “public figure” anyway:
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”—Philippians 4:13
With fame and fortune comes the false belief that one’s own statements are more eloquent than those of “lesser nobility”.
“abstinence until marriage” - back in the ‘hood, we nevah heard of such a thang...
If teaching abstinence is pointless because “kids will have sex anyway,” then one might also ask why teaching about birth control is any less pointless. Won’t kids just ignore that advice too, especially if they are told about the failure rates of all birth control methods other than abstinence?
And who knows whether Bristol Palin used birth control or not anyway? What would be the difference if she used it and it failed? She’d still be a Republican politician’s daughter, and therefore a punching bag.
Guess Oprah believes she should same as many copulatory organs as possible before making a selection. I was going to say “permanent”, but then corrected myself. In Oprah’s world, permanance in a sexual relationship is probably as quaint as absentence.
Funny how times change.
In the world I was raised in, “slut” was the term for people who thought like that.
Guess I should be more open-minded (sarcasm.)
‘With fame and fortune comes the false belief that one’s own statements are more eloquent than those of “lesser nobility”.’
So true.
or what a father is for that matter, other than a baby daddy. Truly sad.
We took/take our children to church and also try to teach them how to do the right thing and we make every attempt to follow those teachings ourselves.
Our daughter made it through college and got married last year. She said waiting until marriage was more than worth it. God bless her.
Because abstinence, waiting until marriage before engaging in sexual intercourse isn't *responsible*, a good *sense of judgment*??
It seems to only be unrealistic to anyone who can't envision being able to control one's impulses, no matter it be eating, rage, sex, talking in a movie theater, etc., etc., etc.
(Apropos of nothing much, I also think that of Guideposts magazine. And Weirdnetdaily.)
great example of sophistry and the left's high "moral" ground is built upon them
Better she was a lesbian like Oprah?
Provisions of the Hayes Movie Code [died 1967 and the race to the bottom began]
The Production Code spelled out specific restrictions on language and behavior, particularly sex and crime — though Hollywood developed ways to get around some of these restrictions and keep audiences coming back to the theaters. It prohibited nudity, suggestive dances, and the ridicule of religion. It forbade the depiction of illegal drug use, venereal disease, childbirth, and profanity. The language section banned dozens of “offensive” words and phrases, leading to the shocked outcry from many moviegoers when the film Gone with the Wind included the word “damn.” Criminal activity could not be depicted on film in a way that led viewers to sympathize with criminals. Murder scenes had to filmed in a way that would discourage imitations in real life, and brutal killings could not be shown in detail. The sanctity of marriage and the home had to be upheld. Adultery and illicit sex, although recognized as sometimes necessary to the plot, could not be explicit or justified and were not supposed to be presented as an attractive option.
What else would any thinking person expect from an atheistic socialist?
Or as we say in da’hood-Her do do don’t stink!
Anyone who in fact exhibits a set of standards and a willingness to practice self-control must be maligned and mocked in order for her to maintain any self-esteem since she doesn't possess the character to exhibit the same.
Oprah’s abstainence is involuntary.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.