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wendykhThis is a time when I feel really removed from the intellectual liberal ivory tower paradise in which I have immersed myself since leaving Nebraska.
If I have to read one more article about how "poor Bristol" is "forced" to carry her baby to term and get married, I might come totally unglued.
Clearly, people writing these opinions have no knowledge of 17 year old girls, particularly conservative small town values bum fuck nowhere raised small town girls.
I do.
And I'd be willing to bet my current gestation project's head that she's thrilled to death, about the baby and the marriage, and sees both as absolutely no big deal at all. It's just a very normal no BFD thing in small conservative communities. An unplanned baby actually isn't treated as the Total Massive Katrina Sized Disaster it is in... dare I say it... large urban academic circles. It's just not a big deal. You get married and move on.
And yes, those marriages often fall apart. But guess what? A lot don't. A lot of people, get this, aren't interested in leaving their teeny tiny town and being exposed to new ideas and such. (Someone cue up John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town" for me, will ya?) For a lot of people, that's the ideal life. It's sure as heck not mine, and I hope it's not the one my daughter wants, but to deny this, and to assume Bristol Palin is some poor oppressed liberal feminist scholar in training, locked in a moose cleaning cabin and chained to the kitchen sink against her will... is just.. well, to be honest, it's disrespectful of small town culture. Seriously. And it's starting to piss me off. Which feels weird and uncomfortable to me.
Honestly, the only time I ever saw small town people pissed about a late teen pregnancy after oh, 1980ish or so, was when they were already broke and didn't want to pay for raising a grandchild, or the babydaddy was a complete total no holds barred loser. Granted, it's not met the same way it would be if a couple were already married and fresh out of college with $22 an hour jobs, but it's just really not some Shakespearean tragedy. Particularly if the baby's grandparents are well off enough to have it not matter financially.
Most of the girls I knew (and know) from small towns in their late teens were happily anticipating and looking forward to getting married. They had no desire to go complete PhDs or honestly even go to college at all in many cases. I realize this makes my feminist liberal friends have convulsions, but it's just an entirely different value set.
So while bloggers and columnists weep for poor Bristol the political hostage, I sit back and look askance at them, and wonder if they even have a clue about the kind of people and culture they are talking about. For God's sake let the girl be happy, and don't assume she's sharing your value of teenage pregnancy and marriage being a tragedy.
If I have to read one more article about how "poor Bristol" is "forced" to carry her baby to term and get married, I might come totally unglued.
Clearly, people writing these opinions have no knowledge of 17 year old girls, particularly conservative small town values bum fuck nowhere raised small town girls.
I do.
And I'd be willing to bet my current gestation project's head that she's thrilled to death, about the baby and the marriage, and sees both as absolutely no big deal at all. It's just a very normal no BFD thing in small conservative communities. An unplanned baby actually isn't treated as the Total Massive Katrina Sized Disaster it is in... dare I say it... large urban academic circles. It's just not a big deal. You get married and move on.
And yes, those marriages often fall apart. But guess what? A lot don't. A lot of people, get this, aren't interested in leaving their teeny tiny town and being exposed to new ideas and such. (Someone cue up John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town" for me, will ya?) For a lot of people, that's the ideal life. It's sure as heck not mine, and I hope it's not the one my daughter wants, but to deny this, and to assume Bristol Palin is some poor oppressed liberal feminist scholar in training, locked in a moose cleaning cabin and chained to the kitchen sink against her will... is just.. well, to be honest, it's disrespectful of small town culture. Seriously. And it's starting to piss me off. Which feels weird and uncomfortable to me.
Honestly, the only time I ever saw small town people pissed about a late teen pregnancy after oh, 1980ish or so, was when they were already broke and didn't want to pay for raising a grandchild, or the babydaddy was a complete total no holds barred loser. Granted, it's not met the same way it would be if a couple were already married and fresh out of college with $22 an hour jobs, but it's just really not some Shakespearean tragedy. Particularly if the baby's grandparents are well off enough to have it not matter financially.
Most of the girls I knew (and know) from small towns in their late teens were happily anticipating and looking forward to getting married. They had no desire to go complete PhDs or honestly even go to college at all in many cases. I realize this makes my feminist liberal friends have convulsions, but it's just an entirely different value set.
So while bloggers and columnists weep for poor Bristol the political hostage, I sit back and look askance at them, and wonder if they even have a clue about the kind of people and culture they are talking about. For God's sake let the girl be happy, and don't assume she's sharing your value of teenage pregnancy and marriage being a tragedy.
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Date: 2008-09-12 07:57 pm (UTC)