exodus youth

What happened to the cute freckle-faced girl from The Parent Trap?  I don’t know Lindsay Lohan or any of the interpersonal dynamics that shaped her life.  My knowledge of Lindsay is limited to what I’ve learned through the media.  From that perspective, I will offer my point-of-view on LiLo’s chaotic life leading up to her relationship with Samantha Ronson.

Lindsay’s father was in jail for a significant portion of her childhood.  She’s now seeking a protective order against him.  It’s clear that LiLo doesn’t like MiLo.  And, although Michael Lohan now professes faith in Jesus and works with Teen Challenge, being a convicted felon didn’t make him much of a role model, at least not from Lindsay’s viewpoint. Parental role models are crucial in helping us develop into secure adults.  They provide boundaries for us and teach us how to relate to the outside world.  When those role models are insecure with themselves (or absent altogether), it is difficult for them to provide us with the direction we need. 

Dina Lohan, Lindsay’s manager-mom has issues of her own.  On the television show “Living Lohan,” Dina allows her 14-year-old daughter Ali to spend time alone in her room with a 21-year-old man, because they need to talk.  When Lindsay recreated Marilyn Monroe’s last nude photo shoot, Dina said they were “honored” for the opportunity.  She commented on the photos to People magazine, “So I don’t look at them like it’s Playboy; she was being a character. So if you look at it that way, you can look at it as a mother.”  Those are not exactly the actions of a mother who is concerned about the dignity of her daughters, or their sexual purity.

Whether we admit it or not, we all know that LiLo has been in and out of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers several times – three times prior to her twenty-first birthday, to be exact.  She’s been arrested for DUIs and cocaine possession, sent to jail, had numerous car accidents and she’s only twenty-two.

We’ve heard through the entertainment media that Lindsay has had relationships with at least 5 young men.  The last being a skateboarder she met at rehab who, when they broke up, proceeded to sell personal photos of her to British tabloids.  Prior to their break-up, Lindsay’s father described him on Extra as, “… a good kid.”  He elaborated, “I don’t think anyone has the right to judge Riley. They [Lindsay and Riley] keep each other in line. They go to meetings with one another.”  Again, more lack of positive parental influence.

When everything is going wrong in your life, supportive people need to rally to your side.  Ideally, those people should be your parents (or your spouse, if you’re married).  In the absence of parental support, it is easy to lean on anyone who will to be there for you. When that friend is compassionate in the midst of your pain, it is natural to want to spend more and more time with her.  An attachment bordering on dependence can form during emotionally trying times.  We all need understanding and support.  When that seems to be missing from our lives, we hunger for it.  We become motivated to seek out the type of understanding we crave.  When the provider of support, who gives us a sense of security, happens to be a lesbian-identified woman, it isn’t surprising that we could think about becoming sexually involved her.  After all, she makes us feel good.  We’re close to her and we’re stimulated by our emotions.  I know of numerous women who have become involved in lesbian relationships with supportive friends.  Not every woman who has a supportive friend becomes sexually involved with her, but it happens often enough to bear mentioning.

I don’t blame Lindsay for her lesbian sexual involvement, if that is indeed what is happening.  Her publicist was quick to say that Lindsay did not say she is a lesbian.  According to her publicist, LiLo was just playing along with the DJ from Loveline when he questioned her about how long she and Samantha have been together.  In any case, it would be easy to understand how she became involved in that sort of behavior.  For Lindsay, her sexual appeal has been a valuable marketing tool.  When your sexuality is a commodity rather than a gift reserved for your spouse, it loses its worth.  It becomes common, even base.

The sad part is that the lines have been blurred between right and wrong in our society.  Few people understand the true meaning of love and sex.  Sex has become a past-time instead of a life-long commitment.  Young girls are sexualized at younger and younger ages.  Just look at how little girls are “made-up” to look like grown-up women for beauty pageants.  Or how Bratz dolls are pressed into skimpy clothes and painted to look like drag queens impersonating Cher.  How many little girls have you seen walking around with “Juicy” and other inappropriate slogans written on their backsides?

There is a disturbing cultural trend to push children and teens into becoming sex objects.  At the MTV video music awards, British comedian Russell Brand scoffed at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings that represent their commitment to remain sexually abstinent until marriage.  The in-your-face message to teens and young adults is that you are “uncool” if you don’t have sex.  Thank God for 18-year-old American Idol winner Jordin Sparks who gave an impromptu defense of the Jonas Brothers after Brand’s off-color remarks at the VMAs, “I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It’s not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody – guy or girl – wants to be a slut.”  A few people in the crowd seemed thankful for her comments.  Brand later reappeared on stage to spew more words of home-spun wisdom, “Promise rings, I’m well up for it. [But] a bit of sex, it never hurt anybody.”  In a world ravaged by the AIDS pandemic, mounting STD rates and serial relationship woes, Brand comes across as offensively ignorant.

Like LiLo, we don’t all have picture perfect lives.  In fact, none of us do.  The best we can do is to spend our time pursuing activities that are worthwhile.  Youth groups offer opportunities to develop solid friendships while learning about God and serving the community.  We can add perspective to our lives by meeting the needs of people less fortunate than us.  Surrounding ourselves with people who want the best for us and are determined to uphold Biblical standards of behavior will allow us to develop into the people God intended us to be, with as little drama as possible.