It is a simple formula for both comedy and political commentary:

Take a public figure (Sarah Palin) who holds disagreeable views (abstinence-only education). Zero in on an aspect of her personal life counter to those views (her own teen daughter, Bristol Palin, becoming pregnant). Reveal the comedic irony and/or hypocrisy of the public/private contrast. Repeat ad nauseam on blogs, 24-hour news channels, and late night talk shows.

We should all beware this construction. Though very easy to pull off—and often journalistically and comedically sound—it is a trap. And it will render us all hypocrites. Three lessons from history, after the jump.

Read More “Sarah Palin And the “Hypocrisy” Trap” »

Over at Reproductive Health Reality Check, Wendy Norris writes of one possible scenario that could result from Obama’s proposed cut of abstinence-only funding: Some Republican will fuck it up. She titles her piece appropriately:

Abstinence-Only Funding Not Dead if Congress Plays “Hide-the-Salami” Again

Norris then proceeds to shower her analysis with a slew of sex puns. Count ‘em (emphasis mine):

ONE. “the real test of wills comes in the Congressional conference committee on the federal budget where one Democratic member has a penchant for playing “hide the salami” with funding for the controversial chaste-until-marriage program.”

TWO. “As we’ve reported previously, the labyrinthine budgeting process Congress has been giving it away big time — to the tune of now more than $1.3 billion for abstinence-only programs in the past 10 years.”

THREE. “We’ve long-documented the fancy footsteps of Rep. David Obey (D-WI), chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, who slipped additional funding into a 2007 report prepared by the conference committee.”

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE: “Obey, a fierce proponent of “just say no to sex education,” repeatedly crossed sword with reproductive health advocates in 2007 when he first attempted to boost funding for the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program to $141 million, a 25 percent increase over last year.”

From Talking Points Memo’s “Ten Magical Things You Have to Believe to be A Republican“:

Being a Republican means believing that teenagers today will have less sex than they did when you were a teenager if you just spend enough money telling them abstinenance is good.

Headline via Mike Riggs via commenter.

Waiting for the dough: Tsubata and children Lan Lee, Kensei Tsubata, and Mie Smith

Kate Tsubata is not your typical abstinence advocate. She wants you to choose one person to have sex with for the rest of your life, but her fidelity to the movement’s traditions ends there. She refuses to draft no-sex pledges, forge promise rings, stage purity balls, or cite scripture. She doesn’t care if the sex you’re not having is straight or gay. She likes sex, actually, as long as you only do it with one person ever—no wedding required. The stakes are lower, too. In Tsubata’s abstinence movement, sex won’t lead you down a road of eternal damnation—all it will do is kill you.

Read More “Why the Chaste AIDS Movement Can’t Get Paid” »

Oops. March 8th to the 14th was “DC Abstinence Awareness Week,” and most District residents probably unknowingly had sex through the whole thing. The Washington Aids International Teens (WAIT) group, “a performing arts group that emphasizes abstinence education through entertainment,” entertained; the Ultra Teen Choice group chose “Character, not Condoms.” For those who, instead, engaged in regularly scheduled sex, some deets:

In a city dominated by the safe sex doctrine, abstinence advocates receive seven guaranteed days annual during the second week of March to spread their message—Abstinence Awareness Week.

Read More ““DC Abstinence Awareness Week” Passes Us By” »

Actually, this is enough to make me not want to have sex ever again.

The Washington Post’s editorial board published a piece today arguing that “Pope Benedict XVI Is Wrong on Condoms.” An understatement, sure, but I was still glad to see our newspaper of record take God’s gift to Africa down a notch. Until I got, oh, four sentences in:

In a perfect world, people would abstain from having sex until they were married or would be monogamous in committed relationships.

Now, at long last, we know what a perfect world would look like!

Read More “Washington Post Employs Faulty Pope Logic” »

Bristol Palin appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s show last night, and Van Susteren actually asked her if she was “lazy about or not interested in” contraception. Palin replied, “I don’t want to get into detail about that,” which probably means, “The condom broke, and you can’t buy emergency contraception from the Wasilla pharmacist if you’re the teenage daughter of the Alaskan governor who doesn’t even support emergency contraception for victims of rape, or yeah, maybe I’m just fucking lazy, Greta.”

She also says abstinence doesn’t work, which is pretty awesome.

The full transcript after the jump.

Read More “A Palin Denies Abstinence Works” »

Little girls who recently pledged their abstinence until marriage: I’ve got bad news and I’ve got good news. The bad news is that some study just came out saying those pledges don’t work. As it turns out, girls who pledge to stay chaste—even those who ensure their virginity through collectible tween-sized silvercrafts or ornate pre-prom daddy-daughter purity balls—are having sex anyway (that’s the good news).

Conservatives are up in arms about the implications this study has on the sex lives of you girls—oh no, they’re totally doing it, and not to have babies! But what of the deeper psychological compulsion this study has exposed in daddies and daughters alike: The need to pledge?

Sure, I’ve pledged. I’ve pledged plenty. And some of those pledges I’ve even kept! In high school, I put on a pair of Beer Goggles and pledged not to drink and drive to Prom in hopes of winning a raffle for a $100 Fashion Square mall gift certificate. These are the best types of pledges—ones with time limits and cash prizes.
Read More “Abstinence is Out: What Little Girls Should Pledge Instead” »