Rachael Palinkas

I didn’t watch the Video Music Awards this year, and I can’t remember the last time I did. Regardless, I heard all about the scandal of the Jonas Brothers and their promise rings.

I thought it was ridiculous when the host, Russell Brand, was criticized for making jokes about the fact that the group wears promise rings, promising to abstain from sex until marriage.

More bizarre was that others who were given awards or presented them, such as Jordin Sparks, spoke out on behalf of the Jonas Brothers and others who wear promise rings,
including herself.

I think they must have forgotten that Brand is a comedian and it is his job to make people laugh, and I am sure that plenty of people were laughing. You see the same thing on any awards show: People are made fun of for their differences and unique quirks and that is just the way it goes.

I couldn’t believe that Brand had to give a public apology for the things he said about the Jonas Brothers and their rings. For example, he held up a similar ring and remarked about how he had stolen their virginities. Perhaps people are so upset about this because they think it is admirable that these young kids decided to make this promise.

Let’s face it, the idea of waiting to have sex until you’re married is pretty outdated. Look at the new ABC Family hit show, “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” where a young girl has sex for the first time and ends up pregnant. It just goes to show that sex is a part of life for many teenagers, and we shouldn’t go on pretending that it’s not.

I think that their personal decision to wear promise rings is no different than someone’s personal decision to be a
Scientologist or to be Republican, and plenty of people publicly make fun of others for these decisions, yet I have never seen someone made to give a
public apology for such jokes,
so why now?