Teen Pregnancy

May 13, 2010  
Filed under Opinion

Teen pregnancy has been a topic of discussion for years and even more so now with the topic being discussed on The Tyra Banks Show and in Seventeen Magazine as well as many recently popular TV shows. Statistics show that each year more and more teenage girls get pregnant, and I feel like the so called “reality” TV shows about this topic are completely misleading.

I go back and forth on whether or not Hollywood, television shows and movies have an impact on teen girls to decision to get pregnant. While I do believe that the shows like 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom and The Secret Life of the American Teenager are very unrealistic and make it seem somewhat noble to pregnant in high school, I will never see how one of those shows MAKES a teenage girl go out and have unprotected sex, causing them to get pregnant. However, I can see why it would make them not worry about it.

Way too many girls get their information from shows like those mentioned above, and the problem with that is that TV is edited! Those shows are not truly showing you how hard it really is; instead, they only show you the drama filled parts that are going to get them more viewers. While Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, portray real people actually living that life, the glamour remains because apparently their lives are compelling enough to get an entire nation to watch.

Then there are movies like Juno, which actually happens to be one of my favorites, but the entire movie is a joke with humorous lines and antics. It makes teen pregnancy seem like something to be proud of and that it is really not that big of a deal. The only good thing about that movie is that it does show that adoption is always an option.

The truth is, girls don’t really come back looking amazing, like Amy, on The Secret Life of the American Teenager and contrary to what 90210 may say, abortion is an option. I am not for abortion by any means, but when the idea of having an abortion was quickly dismissed on an episode of 90210 as if it was not a real choice for teen girls, I could not help but think REALLY?!?!

With shows like 90210, 16 and Pregnant, Gossip Girl, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Teen Mom as well as movies like Juno and The Pregnancy Pact, it comes as no surprise that “31 percent  of teen girls want to have a baby”(Seventeen Magazine), because all of those shows make it look easy. Well, the real reality is, it is not.

Yes, I do watch all of these shows, but the fact still remains that it is TV. TV is not reality; even the show The Real World is not real. With this influence it does not surprise me that America has accepted the fact that “750,000 teen girls get pregnant every year” (Seventeen Magazine).  I personally think that getting pregnant will make every possible road ahead more difficult and people need to look around and see how hard it is rather than watching it on TV and assuming you know.

The Facts: (Seventeen Magazine-May Issue)

• 31 percent of teen girls say TV shows and movies make them want to have a baby.
• 55 percent of teen girls say TV shows and movies encourage them to have sex.
• 20 percent of teen girls say TV shows and movies make teen motherhood seem normal.
• 48 percent of teen girls say that they get their information on sex, pregnancy and parenting from TV shows and movies.
• Less than 2 percent of girls even give their child up for adoption in the real world.
• The majority of girls who have a baby before the age of 18 do not graduate high school
• 80 percent of the fathers do not marry the teen mothers.
• 750,000 teen girls will get pregnant this year; do not be one of them.

—–
Danon Taylor

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