Teen Mom Is Glamorizing Teen Pregnancy

Reality shows that are based on teen pregnancy like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom sheds light about the troubles on becoming a teen parent, finishing high school and struggling to buy the baby’s need and wants. Lately, these shows are stirring a debate if they are trying to support or avoid teen pregnancy. And this topic is important to the public, because it relates to the young community’s future. Young girls and boys can watch these shows and have different outlooks about having a child. Sometimes, glamorizing teen pregnancy on television might confuse the young community, because they can be fickle at times. They might think it is acceptable to be pregnant so young and others will consider waiting until marriage. Reality shows can either encourage or discourage teen pregnancy based on the individual’s mentality.

We all have seen many young women between the ages of fourteen to eighteen years becoming pregnant. Teen Pregnancy is something that has been around for ages, and isn’t all that uncommon now day in our society. Teen Moms are often portrayed in a negative light in popular culture media. Consequently, reality TV shows have been around for a while, but has changed completely. The first “reality” shows were considered good for almost everyone. Today many of these shows are not appropriate for children. Even though reality television may seem to be unconscious, it has created a culture where people are presented what is really happening in the society. Thus,

In the motion picture The Pregnancy Pact a group of high school girls, no older than sixteen, make a pact to become pregnant. Their goal, instead of graduating together, was to have only girls and raise them together. Throughout the movie the girls make references to the pregnant Jamie-Lynn Spears and the movie Juno stating that being fifteen or sixteen and pregnant was the most glamorous thing that could happen to them and not one thing would top being pregnant. This didn't end that way though. Instead the girls realized that having a child so young is not a walk in the park. The media’s perception of teenage pregnancy has changed over time from being a social taboo to a glamorous after school activity. This change

Teen pregnancy rates have dropped during the 1990s as a result of the fact that the authorities implemented programs meant to instruct teenagers concerning the risks associated with unprotected sex. The fact that safe sex-related programs have also experienced progress thus means that teen pregnancies should have continued to drop throughout the 2000s. "Controversies are battled out over whether or not television shows such as "16 and Pregnant" or "Teen Mom" are warnings of this phenomenon to others in the same age group, or if the premise of the shows manages to glorify young motherhood instead" (Fenster). The authorities consider that the success experienced by safe-sex programs during the 1990s means that it would be wrong for them to invest more resources in these agendas.

They also found that the show ‘16 and Pregnant’ led to more searches, tweets and Facebook posts on abortion and birth control…Hopefully educating teens on how not to get pregnant! The question “Could exposure to these media images of pregnant teens and very young new mothers have had an impact on how teens think about pregnancy and ultimately on whether they become teen mothers themselves?” does present itself. The timing of the introduction of ’16 and Pregnant’ could have helped the rapid decline of teen pregnancy over the past few years. An economic study argues that ’16 and pregnant’ may have contributed to one-third of the decline in the 18 months after its release. The researchers also looked to see whether high viewership in certain areas corresponded with a bigger drop in teen births…yes it did! “The results of our analysis indicates their exposure to ’16 and pregnant’ was high and that it had an influence on teens thinking, regarding birth control and abortion” the researchers write. That’s all well and scientific, but could a television show really have that big of an impact on teen birth rates? “It’s an extraordinary study done by two very cautious economists” said Bill Albert, chief programme officer at the national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. While the researchers said they did a lot of” fancy economic work” to make sure their conclusion was one hundred percent accurate, the most compelling evidence came from the teens social media. The researcher had quoted some of findings to CNN. “This reminds me to take my birth control” and “watching sixteen and pregnant, going to take my birth control”, she said she had remembered reading…of course no one is crediting MTV alone for the declining teen birth rate, “About half of the recent dramatic decline can be attributed to the recession” the researcher said.

Many believe the children are solely responsible for their carelessness that results in early pregnancy. Looking at this problem more broadly, one can see all of the social changes that influence teen pregnancy. For example, the media promotes sex and relationships. According to the RAND Health researcher, Jeffrey Wasserman, children ages 12-18 who saw the most sex on television were twice as likely to initiate intercourse within the next year as to those who saw the least amount of sex in the media (2017). Many television shows and movies contain sexual scenes, but most of them don’t explain the risks of sexual activity. Moreover, teen pregnancy has become more widely accepted. While many still believe it’s wrong, this problem has become unfortunate but acceptable. With shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, the mass media even rewards these teenages for their early pregnancies. The acceptance of early pregnancy has increased, but people are still embarrassed to talk about sex to children and teenagers. Teen pregnancy can be prevented, and it starts with a change in

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 86 percent of mothers who give birth out-of-wedlock are teenagers. MTV’s show “16 & Pregnant,” which has only been on air since June 2009, is already reflecting the rapid boom in teenage pregnancy across various cities in America. Since the early eighties MTV has been considered somewhat of a cultural phenomenon for American adolescents and its depiction of gender has a strong impact that continues to this day (Holtzman 2000). Created by Morgan J. Freeman (director of teen shows Dawson’s Creek and Laguna Beach), the show “16 & Pregnant” has been said to be guilty of exacerbating, normalizing and even glorifying teen pregnancy. Perhaps, it’s just reflecting a current social dilemma

Teen pregnancy is a growing epidemic in the United States. Teen girls are becoming pregnant at an alarming rate, with a lot of the pregnancies planned. With television shows broadcasting shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”, it is giving teenage girls the idea that it is alright to have premarital sex and become pregnant. It is in a way condoning teen pregnancy.

Popular media submits many teens to sexual content and influences their views on subjects such as teenage pregnancy. The article Evaluating the Impact of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant on Teen Viewers’ Attitudes About Teen Pregnancy takes a closer look at the relationship between the viewers of the show and their attitudes towards teen pregnancy. Three major weaknesses found after the review of the study are listed as follows; The study has several confounding variables, the sample group is rather small and taken from a single state within the US, and lastly, it makes claims without having sufficient evidence from its own findings as well as other studies. However, the way the study was conducted is relatively very

I. Attention getter: (show slide of pregnant girls) How many of you have ever seen television shows like “16 and Pregnant”, “Teen Mom”, or “The Secret Life of an American Teenager”?

The Article “UA Researcher Finds Negative Impact of MTV Show ’16 and Pregnant’” proves that the show doesn’t have the impact it hoped to have. In the article there are two groups, one group of girls watched an episode of “16 and Pregnant” and the other an episode of “Made.” Aubrey, head researcher, states “Girls who watched ‘16 and Pregnant,’ when compared with the control group, reported a lower perception of their own risk, for pregnancy and a greater perception that the benefits of teen pregnancy outweigh the risks” (Harwood). MTV thought teens would see the hardship of the girls starred in “16 and Pregnant” but all they seen where the benefits of having a baby. The group of teens that seen “16 and Pregnant” didn’t care about how having a baby would change their

Three in ten American girls get pregnant at least once before age twenty, making it approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. About twenty five percent of teen moms have a second child within twenty four months from their first pregnancy. More than fifty percent of teen moms never graduate high school and less than two percent are able to earn a college degree by age thirty. The United States is known to have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates spending seven billion dollars each year towards teen pregnancy costs. Teen moms are amongst one of the most stereotyped populations, being criticized for their actions, image, and high school dropout rates. They are constantly labeled negatively with terms such as slut, reject, bad mom, and single mom. Many of these stereotypes are seen throughout media and advertisements, support services offered to teen moms, and the abstinent religious perspective. Although many feel this is the right way to go about the situation, hoping to reduce the teen pregnancy rates, it is cruel, unfair, and not okay.

The media glamorizes sex and unknowingly encourages teen pregnancy. I come from a school with the majority are minority and generally we listen to Rap, Hip hop and other sexually explicit music. I feel that this is sending a misleading message to the upcoming generation. Almost 750,000 U.S. teens aged 15–19 become pregnant. At my school in the year of 2012 six high school females became pregnant. Then 2013 school year eleven female students got pregnant. Last year 2014 a staggering twenty-four girl got pregnant six had a miscarriage. This number is alarming. And even though this school has just started

By eliminating the glamorous lifestyles of teenage parents, we will help teens face the reality that being a parent is ultimately difficult. The teen parents should help send out the message that it is hard to live life as a teenage parent and that television shows don’t fully depict the hardships that come along with raising children. Instead of having shows that glamorize pregnancy, we should have shows that educate teens on the real facts of being pregnant. Too many shows out there demonstrate how teen moms have help from their parents, baby’s father, and their friends. By showing teens that such outcomes are rare, and the truth is most of them don’t have the cash flow that celebrities have, they’ll end up struggling and facing the fact that raising children is complicated. Many of the teen moms have parents and nannies to help care for their children and this wouldn’t be the case for most teens. Cases such as Jamie Lynn Spears show how a teenager can be put into the spotlight while making pregnancy seem fun and cool. Teens want to replicate celebrities if they see that they are living a fun lifestyle. Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol Palin, was on the cover of many magazines during her pregnancy. After the pregnancy, she participated in the show, “Dancing with the Stars.” This leads teens to believe that being a mom might

Kids also have mistaken this show for an excuse to experiment with sexual desires. While high school students are taught to abstain from sex in numerous health classes, they learn from MTV that a lot of teenagers participate in sexual intercourse. This gives them the idea that sex is normal for young teens and that they should join the bandwagon too