"You're probably wondering about my boyfriend's opinions. Well, as far as sex goes, he thinks it's all for fun. He rarely tells me he loves me. As a matter of fact, he told me that since we are only in highschool, our relationship isn't "serious"." . . .
(To read the whole blog and post comments, visit girlsgonemild.)
On one of the shows I've recently been on--thus preventing me from blogging the past week, sorry--I had a very eye-opening experience. I was relaxing in the green room when I overheard a producer coaching one of the many young women they'd assembled to oppose me in the segment. "Remember," she reminded the girl, "It's your choice to wear a mini- skirt. And you're gonna say to Wendy, 'It's my choice to wear a short skirt!" It was a rare moment of comedy amidst the stress and hustle of preparing for a TV segment.
After the segment, when this young woman realized that . . .
(To read more and post comments, go to the Girls Gone Mild blog.)
So, I just wrote about "Radical Honesty" today on my other blog. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one!
Also, a reporter from San Antonio is looking to talk to local teens or college students who value modesty. She seems pretty fair and reasonable (I've already spoken to her on the phone) so if anyone from Texas is interested in participating--or knows someone who might--please write to reporters@modestyzone.net.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Let's see. . . so many problems in schools today: violence, drugs, teen pregnancy. Hmm. What should schools crack down on?
I know! They should crack down on purity rings. Yes, that makes a lot of sense.
I became interested in this story when a reader, Jean, directed me to Miss Playfoot's website describing the controversy. (She has since lost her case.) Jean asked me what we here on Modestly Yours thought about the decision and so I thought I'd put the question to you, the reader.
I have mixed feelings about purity rings, to be honest, but no, I do not think they present a clear and present danger in schools.
Well, my book is supposed to be in bookstores today, and so I just wanted to publicly thank all of you for sharing your insights and for your support over the years. It has really meant a lot to me.
My book's website, including blog, news, updates & events, can be found here. So I hope you will drop by and pay me a visit--to say hello, to be part of this exciting new movement or at the very least, to keep up with all the controversy!
As Bette Davis says on the stairs at her party in "All About Eve" (1950): "Fasten your seat belts! It's going to be a bumpy night."
You can be sure of that, folks.
I was disappointed to hear Judge Judy yesterday. I was in someone else's living room where the program was airing, and I remember finding her funny so I sat down to watch. Who can resist the author of Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me it's Raining?
Well, Judge Judy happened to be berating a 19-year-old tenant who was sexually harassed in Huntington Beach by her landlord. The young woman was seeking her last month's rent back after she moved out. Her landlord allegedly turned off her electricity when she complained about the harassment, which included the man's uncle watching pornography whenever she was coming up (there were no window shades); asking her why she minds pornography--"Why, are you a virgin?"--and asking if the young woman was going to have "sexual relations" with her (girl) friend who stayed over night.
I am no certainly no legal expert, and it could be that Judge Judy was right that she couldn't legally break the lease based on this behavior alone. There was some question about whether the electricity stoppage was due to an accident or was malicious (although I'm inclined to guess the latter). But the way Judge Judy spoke to her, she was basically castigating this young woman for being overly sensitive, saying things like she needed to go to school to know how to respond to these characters; that "the fact that you didn't like the chatter, is not sufficient basis to break the lease." To me, the situation sounded like a bit more than mere "chatter."
Then Judge Judy advised her to rent from a "little old lady" next time, and asked her once again, to great comic effect, if she was currently renting "from a little old lady?" I felt it was unnecessary to repeatedly make fun of someone who had already endured harassment. (Indeed, it encouraged the landord himself to laugh at the young woman's face in the courtroom, which seemed highly inappropriate.)
Now, the grizzly-looking man did not escape her ridicule either--Judge Judy referred to him sarcastically as "God's gift." But I guess I've grown weary of adults telling young women that their instincts are bad.
The law is one thing, but if anyone deserved to be castigated, it was the man for his crude behavior, not this young woman for being too sensitive. Thoughts?
To my amusement, while outside the courtroom, the young woman told a reporter that she had drawn her own lesson from the incident: "Don't rent from weirdos on Craig's List," she concluded.
Supermodel Gisele Bundchen challenges the Pope: "Today, no one is a virgin when they get married. . . show me someone who's a virgin!"
Meanwhile, the Associated Press finds we're "Living in a Porn-Driven, 'Look-at-me' Culture."
At least they can now admit it. Also from the department of good news: the Orthodox Union just launched a new abstinence website for Jewish teens.
Thoughts?
A must-read piece from yesterday's New York Times: "Grade-School Girls, Grown-up Gossip," by Stephanie Rosenbloom. The author points out that
The prevailing wisdom is that exposure to vast amounts of gossip, particularly about Hollywood’s so-called bad girls — Ms. Hilton, Ms. Spears and Lindsay Lohan, to name the most frequently chastised — is leading America’s impressionable 8-to-12-year-old girls into the gutter. But the reality is more complex.
You think the article is going to be yet another tale of how our culture is going down the toilet, but then it takes an unexpected turn. One 8-year-old, Jessie Urvator of Manhattan, told Ms. Rosenbloom simply: “I don’t like Paris [Hilton]; I think she should go
to jail.” Surprisingly, Jessie's attitude is to some degree typical of her age group. Indeed, in general, despite the fact that young girls are deluged with increasingly
explicit tales of celebrity misadventures, it turns out that
the girls interviewed cited wholesome-seeming celebrities as their favorites: Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale, Hilary Duff, Dakota Fanning, Anne Hathaway and Ms. Spears’s younger, scrubbed sister, Jamie Lynn. Is it possible that today’s tweens have seen enough to inoculate them against the pressures of their teenage years?
OK, so I'm a little biased because this is basically the thesis of my new book, but I would love to know what everyone else thinks. Is it despite the culture or because of it that badness is no longer so appealing to tweens? Personally, I think it's a mixed bag. To be sure, some find it more appealing to be good because today that's so different; but a fair bunch of tweens and teens clearly do take Hilton and Spears to be role models, and I think to that extent they can still be damaged by their antics.
So I don't think everyone's escaping unscathed--although it is certainly great to know that the tide is turning. And today, as we honor those who fought and died for our freedoms, it's especially nice to think that perhaps, the younger generation has a deeper understanding of what true freedom--and responsibility--are about.
Don't miss this priceless piece about nudist camps having trouble recruiting the young and buff.
My first thought was, if everything is so non-sexual as they always insist, why should it matter that 90 percent of the members of the American Association for Nude Recreation are over 35?
But then I got it. The nudists, like all of us, don't want to die out:
"We don't want the place to turn into a gated assisted living facility," said Gordon Adams, membership director at Solair Recreation League, a nudist camp in northeastern Connecticut that recently invited students from dozens of New England schools to a college day in hopes of piquing their interest.
Despite the use of the term "enlightened" to refer to those who visit nudist resorts, the writer admits that "No one is quite sure why nudity, at least the organized version promoted by the AANR and similar groups, is such a tough sell for younger people."
Hmm, I bet that we can come up with a few reasons. Anyone want to begin?
This just in, from a Globe and Mail reporter:
"I'm working on an article about how some people in this generation (16-25) seem to be less promiscuous than their parents were. I am very interested in speaking to young people whose parents believe they ought to be experimenting sexually but who feel for whatever reason that is not a choice they'd like to make at this point. I would also, if possible, like to speak to your parent/s. If you are interested in being interviewed for this article, please contact Alison Motluk at motluk@twohacks.com."
Now that's an article I'm going to have to read!
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