I was just watching Bill O'Reilly (yeah, I know, HE is a pinhead at times, but he keeps me up-to-date on people who are worse), and he did a segment on Planned Parenthood's latest disgusting attempt to takeover parenting our kids.
Apparently, they produced a condom ad for MTV--I searched online for a copy of it, to no avail-- and Bill showed it repeatedly on the show. I was so offended on so many levels that I almost puked up my recently consumed dinner.
If you weren't watching, and don't watch MTV to see it for yourself, here's the gist of it:
- A girl (somewhere between 16 and 19 years old) appears on the screen wearing a hard hat, jumpsuit and wielding a jack hammer (Disgusting double entendre #1).
- The voiceover says: "My Dad always told me to use the right tool for the job." (Disgusting double entendre #2)
- We see the girl using a drill that is much too large on a spindly piece of wood, splitting the wood (Disgusting double entendre #3)
- We see the girl use a huge pot of boiling water--poured out of an equally ridiculously oversized spout--to attempt to solder a pipe (Disgusting double entendre #4)
- Finally, we see the girl walking through the door of her bedroom--presumably after work at her "job." Her jumpsuit magically tears from her body, revealing a skimpy tank top with something printed on it--I was too disgusted to read what it was--and she dives (I'm not kidding, DIVES headlong) into bed with her "boyfriend" (hey, not my call, Planned Parenthood admits this is not her husband) in such a way that her head is under the covers while his (still covered by a hard-hat for some reason) is propped up against the wall. He has a stupid grin on his face.
- We see the girl's hand reach out from under the covers and open a toolbox filled with sex toys and colored condoms. She grabs one hastily, sits up ON TOP OF the guy (but with her head still under the covers) and says: "NICE TOOL!"
PUKE! GAG, BLECH, ICK!
Mind you, I am no prude. I may be pro-life and have two daughters, but I was a teenage girl once, I had desires and "urges," but there is no way I can view a commercial such as this as anything other than what it clearly is:
- An enthusiastic endorsement not just of teenage sex, but of CASUAL teenage sex. The commercial clearly depicts "sex as entertainment."
- A clear depiction of woman as aggressive supplicant. Contradiction you say? Well, how do you describe a female who is barely old enough to be called a "woman" who dives headfirst into bed with a guy in such a way that it's clear her head is where his nether-regions are, but she's EAGER for it to be there? Nothing against women giving pleasure, but with all we know about rainbow parties and the unlikelihood that teenage boys are, shall we say, "returning the favor," I'd call it a subservient pose, despite the aggressive body language and slutty attitude inherent in her posture and tone of voice.
- A final message that is FLAT WRONG. It says "Safe is sexy." Problem is, wearing condoms does not ensure "Safe sex," it merely renders some sexual activities safER than they would otherwise be.
What galls me about the ad--aside from how grotesque its visual messaging is--is that it misleads the very audience it claims to target (i.e., "kids who are going to do it anyway") while at the same time leading the audience it claims not to target (i.e., kids who are inclined not to do it anyway, or who are inhibited, or who want to wait for love or monogamy or adulthood at least) to believe that sex is NO BIG DEAL. By painting a picture of sex as something akin to a "job," for which you need the "right tools," and by clearly stating that those "tools" include a penis and a condom, the ad tells teenagers, "Hey, if you have a penis or know someone who does, all you need is a condom and you're ready to go to 'work'!"
Not only is this misleading in terms of its lesson about "safety"--condoms do NOT prevent all sexually transmitted diseases (can you say herpes?)--it is a misleading lesson about the import of sex to the psychology of the average teen! I don't care how disturbing our mores have become (thanks in large part to Planned Parenthood and their partner in crime, MTV), the psychology of human beings--especially those of the teenage persuasion--have NOT changed so dramatically since I was a kid. Teenage girls still want to be "in love," and still mistakenly think sex will get a guy to love them. Guys are still pressured NOT to fall "in love" with their conquests, and are still encouraged to seek out a wide variety of partners. Both are desperately seeking a way out of the cognitive dissonance of their true feelings and what their peer group is pushing them to do. Enter this ad. Now the "culture" at large (which to them translates simply to "the adults who wrote and produced and paid for this ad, people who've been down this road already and must know what's what...") has seemingly given them a way to rationalize away any remaining inhibitions, or excuse physically and emotionally risky behaviors they're "doing anyway."
How is any of this "educational?"
The irresponsibility of Planned Parenthood in producing this ad is so egregious and unapologetic, it amounts to criminal negligence in my opinion. Parents be forewarned. If you don't want your kids--daughters in particular--being convinced (by adults who ought to know better) that sex is not only "no big deal," it's nothing more than recreational fun-with-colorful-rubber, do whatever you can to stand between them and MTV.
My worry isn't that kids watching this ad won't get Planned Parenthood's message, it's that they will.
Deb--
What you said. In spades. And speaking from the male point of view.
Posted by: Pete (Alois) at April 22, 2006 11:12 AM