Sex and the ‘Secret Life’
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“Teen pregnancy is 100% preventable,” Ken Baumann says in the public-service spot that airs after each episode of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” which began its second season last week. On the show (ABC Family, 8 p.m. Mondays), Baumann plays Ben, the faithful, hypersympathetic, hard-up boyfriend of Amy (Shailene Woodley), who at the end of last season, at age 15, gave birth to a son. The son isn’t Ben’s; the father is Ricky (Daren Kagasoff), a swarthy teen Lothario with limitless libido and even greater abandonment issues.
So, of course, Baumann would be the cast member to issue that proclamation: He’s not having sex! Of the six main characters on this show, his Ben is the only one who remains a virgin, and this season, his understanding ways are beginning to morph into bitterness. Even Grace (Megan Park) and Jack (Greg Finley), the show’s most religious couple, gave in at the end of last week’s premiere. Grace drizzled her bed with rose petals in preparation for the deed.
“How do you feel emotionally?” Jack asked Grace afterward.
“I feel stronger than I ever have,” she replied, almost believing herself. “I feel satisfied. I feel no shame. It’s a natural and beautiful thing. And it’s fun too.”
(Photo courtesy ABC Family)