Kara Beth Borden Update.

Anyone remember poor little Kara Beth? She was one of the seminal (sorry) influences leading to the creation of the SEX IS DEATH series and the Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Book of the Day.

It seems little Ms. Borden is (or was, before the double homicide) quite the little independent thinker and champion of the sexual rights of little girls.

From the Lancaster, PA Sunday News:

Not long after Pam Stenzel led a series of abstinence education workshops in Lancaster County last year, she got an e-mail from a ninth grader who attended one of her talks.

The girl wrote that Stenzel was wrong to contend that ninth graders are too young to be dating. She said she could handle her relationship with an 18-year-old boyfriend who loved her.

Weeks later, Stenzel found out that the 18-year-old boyfriend had shot the girl’s parents to death.

The ninth grader was Kara Borden, whose parents, Michael and Cathryn Borden, were killed in their Warwick Township home by David Ludwig in November.

Sex does have consequences, Stenzel argues. This case, extreme as it may have been, is one of them.Stenzel will be back in Lancaster County next week to lead sex programs in five public school districts and two private schools and a parents’ night.

Kids are inundated with media messages about extramarital sex, she said. One result is that for people younger than 30, the average number of sexual partners now is 27.2.

Due to time constraints, we now move to further action.

The ninth grader later identified as Kara Borden, who had been at one of the faith-based events Stenzel led, wrote twice, “telling me I was off base.”

Stenzel replied that what Kara thought didn’t really matter: “The fact that your parents have told you not to should carry some weight. Biblically, you have to listen to your parents. Your obligation is to honor them.

HOLY CRAP! THAT'S CHILD ABUSE, YOU NAZI!

“... I wasn’t ‘fine’ for her. She wrote me trying to argue with me, and I didn’t back down. I stood by my statement that I didn’t think ninth-grade girls should be dating, and especially 18-year-old boys.

“... Three weeks later I find out the girl has spent a night away from her home with her boyfriend,” and the boyfriend, David Ludwig, shot and killed Michael and Cathryn Borden during a confrontation at their home.

Ludwig pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced to life in prison.

Borden’s argument that she was mature enough to date isn’t the first time Stenzel has heard that line.

“Ninth grade is a really difficult year for girls,” she said. “... That’s why ninth grade girls can’t be expected to make judgment calls for themselves.”


MySpace, again.

Another factor in the Borden case resonated for Stenzel: Kara Borden’s MySpace and Xanga pages.

MTV in the 1980s, with its pairing of music and visuals, drastically changed how kids get information, Stenzel noted.

“I think that exact same shocking change and impact happened in the last couple of years with a new generation with a little invention called MySpace. It radically changed the way kids are communicating with each other.”

Borden and Ludwig both maintained pages at the social-networking sites.

“A lot of kids are putting images of themselves out there that are not true,” Stenzel said. They think, “ ‘In order to be cool, I have to put on my MySpace that I get drunk on a regular basis, that I have sex with multiple partners.’ ... How long does it go from ‘we’re talking about it’ to actually participating in it?”