What's on Katie's Mind? Katie: The artist, teacher, and social commentator.

Bristol Palin could surely be the girl next door.

I haven’t been watching “Dancing with the Starts”.  However, I have seen enough of it this season through small clips to wonder what’s going on with Bristol Palin.  We all know the story about Bristol and who her famous mom is and all the problems that may go with being a child of politics.  The show has used Bristol for the obvious reasons of obtaining ratings.  What is sad to see is the way this child is being put into some fairly risqué dance routines that don’t seem to fit her personality at all.  She is being used and abused by a system for a monetary gain.  It makes me wonder what this young woman would do for money?  I think Bristol could easily have been on this show and not have been put into the sexy situations and the show could still have great ratings.  For some unknown reason the show executives have decided to portray Bristol in a fairly raunchy way which I think undermines all young women and surely portrays Bristol in the poorest light possible.

I feel she is being forced to do the opposite of what she is really about.  I saw the first dance where she was dressed like her mom and then her coat was ripped off to reveal a rather sultry, flashy, hooker type dress.

This dress is so un-Palin like and highly suggestive.

This may have been a statement that Bristol was trying to make, but I highly doubt it.  What troubles me is seeing mom in the audience whooping it up when Bristol looks to be rather uncomfortable in her own skin.

Some people probably have no sympathy for Bristol because she is getting paid to do this show.  However, I wonder if this young woman realizes how she appears to be some comic parody.  She is supposed to be representing “abstinence”.  In every aspect of the show that I have witnessed she has been portrayed more like a harlot than a confused teen.  She is fairly young and inexperienced.  She made a mistake as a youngster and she is living with the consequence of her mistake.  This new Bristol seems to have given up something precious from the old Bristol.  That would be the “self respect” thing.  I don’t believe for a minute that this young woman really wants to be portrayed as she is currently is or else she is just clueless to the image that she is playing.  In the most recent dance she wore seamed stockings and a shirt.  She actually pulled off the shirt of her dance partner as though she was so full of lust she had to have him right there and now.  This is a new level of trash TV and I’m appalled that Bristol has been put in this position and doesn’t seem to realize how she is being made fun of in many ways.

I think it’s a way to make fun of her and probably her mother’s stance on some issues.  However, mom has “bought” into this because money seems to trump anything else that really matters. The fact is it is tough to see Bristol as an abstinence proponent as it seems to be a case of “Do as I say, not as I did.”  However, she could be a great spokesperson to show young teens that there are consequences for having sex that you may have to live with in the future.  However, Bristol’s life seems to be better than ever.  She gets to be on a TV show.  She’s making a lot more money than any other kid her age would be making if they were in the same situation, young, unwed with a child.  It’s really about the education of Bristol and this education seems to be about making money while the press still thinks you have value.  There is a certain amount of sleaziness to all of this.  What won’t Bristol do for money?  She obviously gave up some of her virtuous clothing choices to appear on this show but more than that she seems to be willing to try to appear to look like some unrestrained sex kitten for ratings.

I am troubled by all of this.  I look at Bristol with the eyes of a mother and also with the eyes of a woman.  I see her as being betrayed by her female qualities for the sole purpose of selling a product and the product is sex.  It really is abusive to all young women to see her portrayed in this manner.   We are back to the Madonna/Whore phenomenon.   A woman must be portrayed as the good girl or the bad girl, the Madonna or the whore.  Bristol is a “fallen” woman as she had sex without marriage and she wasn’t able to cover it up like most young women because she got pregnant and chose to keep the baby.  I guess now that she is a “fallen” woman it’s okay for her to be portrayed as a slut.

This is how Bristol is being portrayed on the internet. This is fake for now.

Bristol’s mom is so busy campaigning and selling her own books that she doesn’t seem to mind the image that her “fallen” daughter is sending out to other young women and of course living with while she dances and prances on this show.  This is poor parenting from my point of view.  I know we have little control over what our children do in life but mom doesn’t have to sit there acting like everything is fine and dandy talking about “Bristol the Pistol” as though she’s just a sweet little girl from Wasilla, Alaska.  No, Bristol is getting an education but it’s not the kind of education most of us want for our daughters, nieces, friends, sisters or any young woman we really care about to get.  Bristol is discovering her worth is related to what her body can give her.  Right now her body is selling sexual fantasy.  It’s an image most of us wouldn’t want attached to our young ones.  Most of us want our children to get a real education by going away to college and learning about life under the bubble of the perfection and idealism that college can sometimes be.  Bristol seems to be attending some kind of college of hard knocks but the money is so good that she doesn’t see what she’s lost in the process.  Kids can be stubborn and sometimes they revolt from what their parents want but some how I don’t think Bristol’s mom seems to mind where her daughter is right now.  I just wish they could both see what I see.  Bristol may be having fun with all of this and maybe I’m an old stogie but truthfully there is more to being a woman than just trying to appear sexual.  This young woman saw two roads and she chose this one.  I wonder what the other one would have brought her.