A self-described "good Southern Baptist girl," 15-year-old Shelby Knox of Lubbock, Texas has pledged abstinence until marriage. But she becomes an unlikely advocate for comprehensive sex ed when she finds that Lubbock, where high schools teach abstinence as the only safe sex, has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the state. Read the rest.
I was struck because I could imagine what it would be like to fight that kind of fight in an all republican christian world. I imagined what I was like at 15 and how scared I was then. Shelby is a brave 15 year old. Much more brave than I was. I am stunned that the town had a youth commission. I'm pretty sure the rural republican town I grew up in only had things like FFA (future farmers of America) and FHA (future housewives of America).
I also felt glad after watching the movie realizing how I've grown, especially to become more open. When I was in high school I was so entrenched in the "Why wait" abstinence activities of the church that I would have never thought to learn about, or fight for something like comprehensive sex ed. And I'm sure there were students that were gay in my high school but if there were they never came out, let alone formed a gay straight alliance.
Was I that blind in high school that I never saw anyone different than me or was my town that cruel to anyone different that we deemed anyone different in terms of race/ethnicity or sexual orientation invisible.
I know there isn't time travel but sometimes I wish I could go back as me now and see my old high school and church world through new eyes.
1 comment:
Wouldn't you love to see a sequel? She has a MySpace page. I did see Jesus Camp, but couldn't bring myself to write about it... it turned my stomach.. and i figured anything I wrote about it would likely only offend people - maybe just half as much as it offended my higher senses... but that would be too much.
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