I think any person who has ears and/or eyes knows Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s daughter is knocked up. And the country is freaking out. As a warning, if any readers are offended by the topic of sex between two people who aren’t married, you might not want to read anymore.
I am very aware this isn’t just another pregnant teenager. This is Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of John McCain’s running mate, and people are afraid that if Palin can’t control her daughter from having sex, she can’t control aspects involving the country. Having had the experience of being 17, I know, for example, when my mother or father told me not to skip school, no matter how stern they were, I did it anyway. It doesn’t mean my parents aren’t good at their jobs, and I believe the same applies to Sarah Palin (most readers know that teenagers are as easy to control as a wild lion is.) The actions of a 17-year-old girl are mostly out of the hands of parents after a certain point.
The country needs to decide if it cares about sex outside of marriage or not, and by this I mean when someone like Bristol Palin gets pregnant, it’s the worst thing and her parents are irresponsible. When Ellen Page or Katherine Heigl gets pregnant, it is one of the best movies of the year.
You might say this is because it’s a movie, but teenagers are watching this and seeing that in the end everyone is happy and all is well. This might have something to do with the relationship between sex and teenagers, but this has nothing to do with how Palin raises her daughter or her ability to do her job.
Sex is just sex. It’s a physical action between two people who want to get sexual pleasure. It’s our animal instinct to want to engage in intercourse with another human being. It’s not against the law unless there are certain circumstances, such as living in Mississippi. Yes it’s a sin, but so are a lot of other things that people do every single day.
I know some people say, “Bailey, it’s supposed to happen when two people love each other.” And I respond with “exactly.” You might think that doesn’t make sense, but let me clarify myself.
There are a lot of things two people do to show their love for each other. There are also plenty of people in this world who are in love with each other and for one reason or another aren’t married. Does this mean that they too aren’t “allowed” to have sex to express love? Who is to decide when two people love each other? Can this not happen at 17? And even if they aren’t in love and were experimenting with each other, the people who are judging Bristol for being pregnant need to take off the white powder wig.
The bottom line is, why is this our business? Is it because Palin could possibly get nominated into office?
If Sarah Palin was pregnant with someone other than her husband’s child, this might raise a question about her ability to make correct decisions. There are possibly many politicians who have chosen to have their daughter’s babies aborted. Palin could have asked her daughter to do the same thing, contradicting her stand on abortion to prevent the media from feeding on the subject of her daughter being pregnant. Wouldn’t this situation have been worse than her having a grandchild?
Instead of focusing on Palin’s daughter being pregnant, the speculation that her child Trig could possibly be Bristol’s child, what animals can wear lipstick or the clothes that Palin wears, let’s focus on the actual campaign itself.
At the end of all this controversy, at least Bristol plans on getting married to the father of the baby because, after all, everyone knows that makes it OK in God’s eyes.
Bailey Singletary is a senior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected] .