The foundation is currently pushing their new t-shirt design, created in partnership with Seventeen, which reads: "I'm Sexy Enough To Keep You Waiting." A number of other designs were considered, shown on the website in this charming graphic, with girls in flirty tees surrounding text that reads: "Be Sexy! It Doesn't Mean You Have To Have Sex!"



No, it doesn't. But as Lisa at Sociological Images points out, why aren't there any boys wearing these t-shirts? Why is it only girls who are expected to "be sexy!" but remain chaste? Why are we pushing this ridiculous "I'm so sexy," bullshit slogan as a means to really address the issues behind teen pregnancy rates? Why aren't there any references to condoms, or safe sex, or birth control pills? It seems a bit disturbing that the foundation's main method of reaching young girls is to tell them to "be sexy" but remind them that having sex might lead to "devastating consequences." Mixed messages much?

I suppose this fits in with the company's current split between its retail spokesperson, Britney Spears, and its recent foundation spokesperson, Bristol Palin: they push a sexy image on consumers, and hope that teens will buy into their sexy brand, but then expect young women to push their sexuality aside (or apologize for it) and abstain, or else face "the consequences." Are there consequences of having sex? Yes. But it seems as if pregnancy is the only one this foundation wants to address, and abstinence is their main method of doing so, all while reminding girls that they can still "be sexy!" It's disappointing and frustrating, and just feeds into the bizarre culture that wants young women to exude sexuality, as long as they don't dare to actually claim some sort of control over their own.

If the Candie's Foundation really wants to fight teen pregnancy, perhaps they should tone down the "sexy" angle and focus on the actual sex. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to note that teen pregnancy isn't a female issue alone: turning it into the sole responsibility of young women, who have too many mixed messages thrown at them as it is, simply makes it easier for the world to expect them to remain both sexy and sexless, an unfair notion that will only lead to more confusion. It's education, openness, and honesty that's the key, not pushing girls away from their own sexuality while slapping the word "sexy" across their chests.

[Candie's Foundation]
Sexing Up Abstinence [Sociological Images]
Bristol Palin's New Gig [NYTimes]

First off, John McCain supports the so-called Mexico City Policy, also known as the "global gag rule", which prevents international organizations that talk about or perform abortions from receiving family planning or population funds from the U.S. government. Although the Bush Administration was initially going to extend its global gag rule to its HIV/AIDS program (PEPFAR) in 2003, it eventually relented in the face of fierce public opposition. Despite the fact that PEPFAR funds may go to groups which also provide abortion services, the evidence shows that the gag rule as applied to family planning organizations in Africa, has had significantly detrimental effects on women's access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. It also doesn't help matters that a significant portion of the money in the President's HIV/AIDS program goes towards treatment, not prevention, and what prevention money is available is heavily weight in favor of — you guessed it — abstinence-only education.

When asked last year about funding contraception programs to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, McCain hemmed, hawed, admitted he didn't "know" his position on the issue and finally admitted that he deferred to Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma on such issues. Oh, you mean the Tom Coburn who is fighting to tell everyone how "ineffective" condoms are to promote his abstinence-only-for-life agenda? The one who calls "the 'safe' sex myth" a "lie", even when all research shows that proper condom usage can help stem the transmission of disease? The one who led a Senate fight to hold up funding the President's HIV/AIDS program this year because it was expensive and didn't focus enough on treatment instead of prevention — after the Democrats coincidentally adjusted the formula to give more money to non-abstinence prevention program? That Tom Coburn? Now I feel totally better about what McCain will do when it comes to HIV/AIDS prevention programs here and abroad.

Study Pushes Back Origins of AIDS Pandemic [Reuters]
Philadelphia Inquirer: McCain Is A Good Friend To The Unborn [McCain-Palin]
USAID's Family Planning Guiding Principles and U.S. Legislative and Policy Requirements [USAID]
Bush Administration "Breaks the Promise" by Expanding Global Gag Rule to HIV Funding On Eve of World AIDS Day [Africa Focus]
The "Mexico City Policy" And Its Effects On HIV/AIDS Services in Sub-Saharan Africa [Boston College]
How Bush's AIDS Program is Failing Africans [The American Prospect]
McCain Stumbles on H.I.V. Prevention [NY Times]
Bush's Abstinence Man [The Advocate]
Public Health Advocates Say Campaign to Disparage Condoms Threatens STD Prevention Efforts [The Guttmacher Institute]
Coburn Places A Hold On HIV/AIDS Prevention Bill [Think Progress]

Report: Abstinence Programs Don't Work [ABC News]

• The man convicted of killing Brandon Teena has recanted part of his confession and is now claiming he was the lone murderer. (Teena's story was the inspiration behind the 1999 film Boys Don't Cry, for which Hilary Swank won the Best Actress Oscar.) One thing kinda irks us about this news story: CNN insists on using his birth name "Teena Brandon" even though he lived and died as Brandon Teena. [CNN]
  
• That Planned Parenthood in Aurora, IL that was at risk of never opening because of some silly regulation violations? Well, a judge has ruled that the clinic will remain closed. As PP said after the ruling, "We wouldn't be here if this was a foot-care clinic." [Feministing]

• New York State has given the heave-ho to the abstinence-only education-funding the Bush Administration will not stop ramming down our throats. [NY Times]
• A judge in Kansas rejected State Attorney General Phil Kline's mission to require health care workers and counselors to report all underage sexual activity, including kissing. Seriously, dude, just read Penthouse Letters to get your rocks off, okay? [Ms. Magazine]
• Isn't the BBC supposed to be of higher quality than the junk we watch on American TV? The news network has decreed that only good-looking women will be reading the bite-sized news bits aimed at their younger audience. [Daily Mail]
• Donald Trump has hired Miss Teen South Carolina to model for Trump Model Management at a rate of $25,000 a day. Because everyone knows that there's nothing prettier than an empty brain cavity. [WorldNetDaily]