Miss America Asked To Abstain From Abstinence
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Strange things happen in American culture.
The most recent strange cultural turn of events is brought to us by none other than the venerable Miss America pageant.
You know, the Miss America pageant officials really ought to take it easy.
They just can't seem to avoid controversy.
If they don't have some contestant embroiled in a nude photo flap, they're firing their CEO.
They canned Robert Beck, their CEO of a little over a year, because of controversial rule changes he proposed.
He thought the pageant should allow divorced women and women who have had abortions to enter the pageant.
Pageant officials disagreed. They said they didn't fire Beck because of the proposed guideline changes, but, coincidentally, the new guidelines were put on hold right after Beck's involuntary career change.
And the decision on Beck came just a couple weeks after the proposed rule changes.
Anyway, it seems that fresh on the heels of that little guffaw, the pageant tried to stumble again.
This time they sought to censor the platform of current Miss America Erika Harold.
The former Miss Illinois was crowned this month. She won the pageant by advocating prevention of youth violence.
She urged kids to stay away from drugs and alcohol because those are pretty risky behaviors.
Lots of teens who do drugs and drink alcohol end up in violent situations.
I guess that part of it was OK with the pageant committee. No argument there.
But then there was that other thing she advocates which caused a problem.
That's abstinence.
You see, studies show that teens who are sexually active are more prone to be victims of violence than their counterparts who abstain from sex.
Just as booze and drugs make you more likely to be involved in a violent situation, so does sexual activity, the studies show.
Now, maybe Miss America Erika, 22, is a little biased. After all, she works with a program called Project Reality that promotes abstinence to teens.
She practices abstinence herself and wears her own virginity as a badge of honor.
But this, you see, is a problem for the Miss America organization. They actually tried to forbid her from talking about abstinence.
Apparently, abstinence is politically incorrect when it comes to pageant winners' platforms.
How interesting.
Especially interesting when you consider the Miss 1998 winner, Kate Swindle, had a platform of AIDS awareness in which she advocated passing out condoms to public school kids.
Of course, abstinence isn't the end-all and be-all of teen sex education.
Teens must be told about all the options.
But one thing remains clear. The only 100 percent effective method of avoiding unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease is abstinence.
Many people take the "throw-up-your-hands" approach and say things like, "Well, they're probably going to be having sex anyway so we should at least tell them to have safe sex."
Or, "We don't want you to have sex, but if and when you do, please make it safe sex."
Would you tell your kid, "Well, we really don't want you shooting up heroin, but if you do, please use a clean needle?"
Of course not.
But somehow, when it comes to teen sex, we view things differently.
And I guess the Miss America organization sees it differently, too.
Ah,but all's well that ends well. According to a Friday Associated press story, Harold wouldn't be bullied into backing off her abstinence platform.
Good for her.
AP reported that after two days of discussions with pageant officials, Harold said she finally prevailed prevailed. She will talk about abstinence - from drugs, alcohol and sex - as it relates to youth violence and peer pressure as she travels the nation on a yearlong speaking tour.
'We have clarified the role abstinence will play in the advocacy of my platform,' she said in a statement released by the Miss America Organization on Thursday. 'I have discussed these issues with Miss America officials over the past two days and we now understand each other.'
What in the world are pageant officials thinking? It took two days of discussion to allow Miss America to tell teens to do the right thing.
Pageant officals actually tried to censor Harold's attempt to be a positive role model for young people who want to choose abstinence from premarital sexual activity.
What message is that sending to teens?
And what does it say about our culture when Miss America is nearly forbidden from telling teenagers to do the right thing? [[In-content Ad]]
Strange things happen in American culture.
The most recent strange cultural turn of events is brought to us by none other than the venerable Miss America pageant.
You know, the Miss America pageant officials really ought to take it easy.
They just can't seem to avoid controversy.
If they don't have some contestant embroiled in a nude photo flap, they're firing their CEO.
They canned Robert Beck, their CEO of a little over a year, because of controversial rule changes he proposed.
He thought the pageant should allow divorced women and women who have had abortions to enter the pageant.
Pageant officials disagreed. They said they didn't fire Beck because of the proposed guideline changes, but, coincidentally, the new guidelines were put on hold right after Beck's involuntary career change.
And the decision on Beck came just a couple weeks after the proposed rule changes.
Anyway, it seems that fresh on the heels of that little guffaw, the pageant tried to stumble again.
This time they sought to censor the platform of current Miss America Erika Harold.
The former Miss Illinois was crowned this month. She won the pageant by advocating prevention of youth violence.
She urged kids to stay away from drugs and alcohol because those are pretty risky behaviors.
Lots of teens who do drugs and drink alcohol end up in violent situations.
I guess that part of it was OK with the pageant committee. No argument there.
But then there was that other thing she advocates which caused a problem.
That's abstinence.
You see, studies show that teens who are sexually active are more prone to be victims of violence than their counterparts who abstain from sex.
Just as booze and drugs make you more likely to be involved in a violent situation, so does sexual activity, the studies show.
Now, maybe Miss America Erika, 22, is a little biased. After all, she works with a program called Project Reality that promotes abstinence to teens.
She practices abstinence herself and wears her own virginity as a badge of honor.
But this, you see, is a problem for the Miss America organization. They actually tried to forbid her from talking about abstinence.
Apparently, abstinence is politically incorrect when it comes to pageant winners' platforms.
How interesting.
Especially interesting when you consider the Miss 1998 winner, Kate Swindle, had a platform of AIDS awareness in which she advocated passing out condoms to public school kids.
Of course, abstinence isn't the end-all and be-all of teen sex education.
Teens must be told about all the options.
But one thing remains clear. The only 100 percent effective method of avoiding unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease is abstinence.
Many people take the "throw-up-your-hands" approach and say things like, "Well, they're probably going to be having sex anyway so we should at least tell them to have safe sex."
Or, "We don't want you to have sex, but if and when you do, please make it safe sex."
Would you tell your kid, "Well, we really don't want you shooting up heroin, but if you do, please use a clean needle?"
Of course not.
But somehow, when it comes to teen sex, we view things differently.
And I guess the Miss America organization sees it differently, too.
Ah,but all's well that ends well. According to a Friday Associated press story, Harold wouldn't be bullied into backing off her abstinence platform.
Good for her.
AP reported that after two days of discussions with pageant officials, Harold said she finally prevailed prevailed. She will talk about abstinence - from drugs, alcohol and sex - as it relates to youth violence and peer pressure as she travels the nation on a yearlong speaking tour.
'We have clarified the role abstinence will play in the advocacy of my platform,' she said in a statement released by the Miss America Organization on Thursday. 'I have discussed these issues with Miss America officials over the past two days and we now understand each other.'
What in the world are pageant officials thinking? It took two days of discussion to allow Miss America to tell teens to do the right thing.
Pageant officals actually tried to censor Harold's attempt to be a positive role model for young people who want to choose abstinence from premarital sexual activity.
What message is that sending to teens?
And what does it say about our culture when Miss America is nearly forbidden from telling teenagers to do the right thing? [[In-content Ad]]