Actress and singer Jessica Simpson promotes her 2005 motion picture “Dukes of Hazzard” with a cola commercial. In the commercial, Simpson sings snippets from the motion picture’s soundtrack as she washes an American muscle car. Simpson is wearing cowboy boots and a bathing suit, and most of the suds meant for the car fall on Simpson’s bottom and cleavage. She wiggles and bounces for the camera. The commercial ends with Simpson dumping water on herself and the car. Millions of young adults across the country are exposed to sexually explicit material everyday. Bivonia Jimenez, a mass communication junior at Nicholls State, is one of them. While both experts and lay people generally believe the media is largely responsible for changing sexual attitudes of young people, Bivonia is stuck in a time warp of her own choosing. Bivonia, you see, is a modern girl with old-fashioned beliefs about sex.
Bivonia feels that sex is special and intends to save her virginity until she marries. “Abstinence is saving a very important and special gift for a future spouse. Virginity is something that can only be given to one person. Once it is gone, you can never get it back. I believe sex would not have the right meaning if a commitment is not made between two people to be together forever.”
In the fall of 2003, Bivonia was asked to lead the Governor’s Program on Abstinence Collegiate Club of Nicholls State. The club’s threefold mission is to promote an abstinent lifestyle, to advance high standards of social behavior and to inform students of the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. At the time of the club’s inception, no abstinence programs were available on the college campus.
Bivonia remembers her nervousness as she prepared to give a speech to a group of teenagers at St. Joseph Cathedral. “I wasn’t sure if I really got through to any of them or not. I made a comment about Britney Spears and her clothing, or lack thereof. This caused most of the boys in the audience to start whistling and commenting suggestively.” She was not pleased with their reaction but was able to use it to support important points in the speech.
Yes, Bivonia does have a boyfriend. She and Scott Olivier have dated since she was 19 years old. He supports her pledge to be abstinent. They met through a church and he is never far away from her. On her left hand is two rings – a promise ring that she displays proudly another ring inscribed “True Loves Waits, on her right hand”
“At 21 years old, I am sure that he will be the last person I date. The rings represent both our promises to each other and to our chastity,” she says.
Bivonia grew up in a strict Catholic home in Thibodaux where faith was instilled at a young age. “My family always believed firmly in abstinence and chastity,” she says. She attended Catholic schools until college and credits her upbringing to her strength to avoid peer pressure.
“In our society, I feel like sex is not only in everything, but it sells everything,” she says. “Sex is so common and prevalent in the media that it just seems abnormal to abstain. Television rarely tackles hard issues and consequences of pre-marital sex.”
Lloyd Chiasson, Nicholls mass communication professor and author of “Three Centuries of American Media,” has also noticed a shift in sexual morals throughout the past five decades.
“What we see from 1950 until today in television and movies is a watering down of the sexual mores,” Chiasson says. “Early sitcoms involved situational comedy. Today almost every sitcom involves sexual content. After being inundated with sex in the mass media, society has changed rather dramatically.”
Chiasson feels that Bivonia would have been in the majority in the 1960s. He says young people today tend to speak more openly than in past generations.
“No one would have dared talk about their sexual exploits in 1950. That was essentially the beginning of television and its influence on American society,” he says. “In today’s society, a young person is almost looked down upon if they have nothing to talk about (regarding their sexual experiences).”
In 1954, sexual situations were subtler. In that year, actress Dorothy Dandridge played the leading lady in the motion picture “Carmen Jones,” opposite actor Harry Belafonte. In one scene, Carmen walked past Belafonte in her seductive red dress and matching high heel pumps. She exuded sex appeal, but all was left to the viewer’s imagination. Enamored, Belafonte tried desperately for her attention and a kiss. Carmen preferred to play hard to get. They danced for a short time, but she didn’t let him get too close. The entire night she danced. He sat alone and wished that she would let him dance with her.
Now: It is Thursday night and a local bar has two-for-one drink specials. The dance floor is packed as the disc jockey plays a mix of hip-hop and rap music. The music is suggestive, as is the clothing. Young ladies dance close to young men in a rhythmic motion, so close it is hard to tell where one body starts and one body ends. To the far right, a young lady wears a mini-skirt and tank top. The young man she dances with holds on tight to her hips, slowly guiding her every move. Nothing subtle here as the music blasts away; just another Thursday night in downtown Thibodaux.
Bivonia also dances on Thursday nights.
“To be quite honest, I have never been to a club in my life,” she says with a smile. “I don’t think that makes me weird. I simply have no desire to go. On Thursday nights, I am across the street from the local bars at my dance class. If I’m not in dance class, I watch movies, play board games or eat out with friends in my leisure time. I am sure I have just as much fun doing those activities as I would in a bar.”
Bivonia knows that the number of abstinent young people is on the decline. That observation seems all too obvious because the abstinence club could not be formed due to lack of members. She hopes to get the club started in the fall.
A study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that over one-third of adolescents aged 15 to 17 reported having oral sex. Kaiser spokesman Julia Davis says the study reveals a lack of knowledge in young people, which results in sexual heath issues. “The youth do not realize that nearly one in four sexually active young people will get an STD this year,” she says.
Bivonia realizes that the commitment is hard because of peer pressure and the acceptance of pre-marital sex in mainstream media. “I have had my share of peer pressure and teasing,” she says. “I have been called names, but I simply take it as a compliment. I stand strong in my beliefs, and I am not ashamed to discuss them.”
As Bivonia flips through the channels on her television, a shampoo commercial comes on. A woman appears in a shower. She lathers the shampoo in her hands and rubs her hair in a circular motion. While rubbing her hair, she makes the sound of a woman having an orgasm. “Yes…Yes…YES!” the woman shouts emphatically. Bivonia says nothing. She simply turns the television off.
Students interested in joining should E-mail her at [email protected].
