I hope the TV was wearing protection

Journalists have a tendency to get over-excited when reporting the results of scientific research. So I wasn't surprised yesterday when I saw the following headline:

Study links sex on TV to teen pregnancy

Just when we thought we could keep our kids safe at home!

According to CNN:

Researchers at the nonprofit organization found that adolescents with a high level of exposure to television shows with sexual content are twice as likely to get pregnant or impregnate someone as those who saw fewer programs of this kind over a period of three years.

So is it time to turn off Gossip Girl? Perhaps not. Studies like this are good for showing correlations, or the fact that a relationship between two variables exists. They are less apt at proving what causes what. Consider this critique from the Tara Parker-Pope:

"...a closer look at the data shows the relationship between television, sexual content and teen pregnancies is complex. The same study, published today in Pediatrics, also found that teens who watch a lot of television in general are less likely to become pregnant. How can that be? The answer may be that kids who watch a lot of television obviously aren’t out dating and socializing with friends. So as unhealthy as it may be to spend hours in front of a screen, the behavior appears to be oddly protective against teen pregnancy...The link between television and teen pregnancy only shows up when a high proportion of the television shows watched by a teen are filled with sexual content."

So TV has two potential effects on teen sexual behavior. But it is also possible that there is some unobserved factor out there, which is actually at work. It is quite likely that teens who are more sexually active have a preference for more sexually explicit shows. This might make sense given the fact that while TV overall has gotten steamier, the overall teen pregnancy rate has gone down.

Either way, the authors conclude with a point that's hard to argue with:

“If the type of sexual portrayals that teens see on TV are the only messages they’re getting about sex, then they’re likely to approach sexual relationships in a way that might not be the healthiest way,” said Steven Martino, study co-author and a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, the nonprofit health care research firm that conducted the study. “It’s important to talk to them about that and see how they’re reacting, and offer other perspectives to them about sex that they might not be getting on television.”

What's a feminist to do?

By now the news of John McCain's nomination of Sarah Palin for his running mate is well known and the Republican camp is touting it as an enlightened pick that furthers the cause of the feminist movement. I've hear several right-wing pundits declare that although Palin is pro-life and a former beauty queen, as the mother of five and a female governor, she is a role model on par with Hillary Clinton for the "average female voter."

So far, I have seen no record that Palin's history of leadership has supported women in America. Particularly not to the extent that Clinton's investments in Head Start, healthcare, prenatal care and sexual health education supported women for nearly two decades. Palin's views on the choice movement alone suggest she is intolerant of the rights of women who disagree with her views on reproduction and morality. In fact this nomination has also been criticized as an insult to women.

What I have seen in the media is in-depth coverage of Palin's personal life. Reports that her 17-year old daughter is expecting and will marry the father of her unborn child surfaced today. The choices that teens make about their sexuality and their fertility are often debated (I'm recalling the media circus that Jaime Lynn Spears faced recently) in American culture. However, speculation around how Palin handles her own daughter's pregnancy has no place in speculation on how she will lead and advise our country's political policy. One would hope that faced with this public scrutiny she would understand the need for privacy and personal choice in reproductive matters.

More importantly, this is a chance for pro-choice feminists to use the incident as a platform to judge Palin not as a mother or a soon-to be grandmother, but respect her right to choose and advice her own daughter privately --judging her own her own record as a politician, which up until now is fairly unimpressive.