Is there anything more abnormal than being a mid-teen virgin in the year 2009? Not if you’d hear Hollywood tell it. After watching a slew of teen-movies this weekend, I feel quite pathetic. It seems that all this time, I’ve been trying to follow my convictions and make a difference in this world, when I really should have been spending my time scoring with chicks. Has anybody else out there come to this realization as of late?
In the same breath, ladies; You simply haven’t been empowering yourselves as young women unless you’ve been riding the old bone rollercoaster. Purity is for losers, don’t you know…
From TV shows aimed squarely at young dames such as “Gossip Girl” or “90210,” to hit teen films like “American Pie” or the recent “Adventureland,” the message in regards to sexuality is quite clear; If you’re still a virgin at 16, there must be something wrong with you. Sure, it would be bad enough that all of these programs are laden with super-model-turned actors having sex like banshees (the parents are never around, mind you), but Hollywood doesn’t stop there. No, the good old folks in Tinseltown feel the need to twist the knife and go out of its way to point out the abnormality of abstinence.
The truth is that even in the most liberal of statistics, over 40% of kids remain virgins through their teen years. Keep in mind that a good percentage of those poll’d in these “blind studies” are men and let’s be honest… A good 30% of them are probably lying, so you can bet that the real statistics would favor the lonely little virgins even more.
If you were an alien dropped on to planet Earth however, forced to deduce the sexuality of the human species solely from what Hollywood pumps out, you’d probably think that nobody made it past 16 without having schtupped a myriad of partners.
One would have to wonder how much different that statistic would be if Hollywood WEREN’T pressuring teenagers to engage in the horizontal mambo. If Hollywood put all of its “virginity is for suckers” energy into promoting “saving sex till marriage,” I bet we’d see a very different, much more lopsided statistic. Of course Hollywood could never do that, as they don’t believe in “forcing ones beliefs on others”… Unless of course said beliefs include situational ethics, then it’s time to preach it father, preach it!
Women, correct me if I’m wrong, but there doesn’t even seem to be that “dime store floozy” stigma attached to being the “town pump” anymore. Girls who choose to save themselves are often portrayed as the “ugly-pretty shy girl” who only comes into womanhood once she gives it away. Do you feel more femininely empowered now that sex is expected of you at an early age?
So just to get things straight… Upholding traditional values when it comes to sex and marriage = judgemental and unrealistic. Making fun of the quirky abnormality that is a young-teen virgin = that’s just good TV.
With the soaring STD/STI rates, one would have to wonder if going back to the “unrealistic views of teenage sex” might not be so bad after all. The painful truth is that in its attempt to remain “morally neutral,” Hollywood is causing us to raise a nation of cads and harlots… Thanks again Sean Penn!
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