Teen Pregnancy: Media Influence or Bad Parenting?

 

           

     Last weeks lecture on sexuality in media reminded me of one of my pervious posts that can be found here  on the pop culture phenomenon Sex & the City. As found in that post, popularized television series are being blamed for teen pregnancies, abortions and teens having sex at a young age. As mentioned by Professor Harris, 13 of every 1000 pregnancies in Canada involve a teenager, whereas in the United States, 41-42 pregnancies of 1000 are teen (820, 000 in 2010 alone), with the US having the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world. With television programs such as MTV’s Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant, the hardships of teen pregnancy are being undermined by the glory of actually being on television. Something to keep in mind is that the teen stars of the series will eventually have their babies and turn 20. This means that eventually MTV will need a new crop of teen moms auditioning for the show. 

         In June 2008, seventeen girls at Gloucester High School north of Boston intentionally got pregnant after agreeing to a pregnancy pact with none of the girls being over the age of sixteen (in Grade 10). Even more scary, MSNBC reports that the reason for they becoming pregnant is that it was ‘the glamourous thing to do’ due to movies such as Juno and Knocked Up. Additionally, MSNBC reports that usually a quarter of that number (17) is the number of average teen pregnancies at the school. To add to the glamorization of teen pregnancy, Lifetime, has created a made-for-TV movie entitled Pregnancy Pact that is inspired by this story. On primetime, Law & Order: SVU had an episode in season 10 called Babes that followed an investigation of a group of girls who made a pregnancy pact. Liz Goodwin, the assistant editor of The Daily Beast, reports that in 2010, the teen pregnancy rate has actually risen by 3% and is on the rise for the first time in fifteen years. Goodwin mentions the influence of Jamie Lynn Spears, Glee and Bristol Palin, but the lack of television speaking of abstinence, birth control and abortions.

            Last year, my aunt who is an elementary school guidance counselor in Torontp, asked her grade eight girls where they see themselves in five years. Four of the twenty five students answered with a baby. After getting over her initial shock, she then asked why they would want to have a baby in high school and they answered because they would receive ‘free money’ (i.e. welfare) from the government just like their moms did when they had them.

            This begs the question, is it the media that is influencing these girls to get pregnant or rather a lack of guidance from parents, school guidance counselors or is teen pregnancy a vicious cycle with teens being influenced by their mother and grandmothers? 

                              How to tell your parents you are pregnant - a HowTo YouTube video

Is MTV causing teen pregnancy rise? - Liz Goodwin Interview

What Happens When Children are Being Parented by Children? - An Interesting Look at Teen Pregnancy