In today’s world, there is much emphasis on teenage pregnancy with shows such as 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom 1 and 2. I think that these shows keep people, mostly teenagers alert and knowledgable about what can really happen if they are not careful about sex. Many parents, researchers and other teenagers will argue that these shows and other forms of media that focus on teen pregnancy will glorify it rather than show the reality and all the hardships that the teens in the spotlight face. I think that this is wrong and that they do not glorify pregnancy what so ever. They document the lives of pregnant teenagers and they show the more graphic part of their labor, the hardships they face with their families, friends and their baby’s father, and the sacrifices that they have to go through such as dropping out of high school.
Take 16 and Pregnant for example. They follow teens during their pregnancy and show how their teenage lives can be taken away in a matter of months. It shows the girls losing their relationships with their parents and being kicked out of their family home since they are pregnant at such a young age. Several episodes show girls having to drop out of high school to have to get full time jobs to be able to support themselves and their babies and then later having to go back to get their GED. They also show the girls being left by their friends because they cannot go out and party with them like a normal high school student because they are pregnant or their friends are going off to college and moving away. They obviously cannot go off and have the college experience since they have a baby now. I would not say that any of those circumstances is glorifying pregnancy in any such way. One of the episodes showed a girl named Ashley that was not able to keep her child and she had to give it up for adoption which really tore her apart. She cried about her decision every day because she was not sure if she was making the right choice for her child and she wanted to keep her baby instead of giving it up for her aunt and uncle to adopt. That would make a teenager not want to get pregnant and have to deal with all the hardships that come along with it.
Another part of 16 and Pregnant is where they show the delivery process. They go into the labor and delivery room at the time the birth. The baby is shown on camera as it is just seconds old and is not all cleaned up and checked yet. This part of the show could make a teen think that having a baby is just disgusting and that they wouldn’t want that baby coming out of them like that until they are more mature to handle it. It shows how scared and nervous the girls are and how emotional they become during the time. There is much crying and yelling during this time in the show. What is also shown during this part of the show is all the different complications such as problems with the baby’s heartbeat and breathing and maybe premature issues that can occur.
When looking at the lives of the teenage mothers on MTV’s show Teen Mom 2, there is many other things that are shown that do not glorify teen motherhood and pregnancy. For example, Jenelle did not want to give up her teen party life and she went out a lot with her friends and therefore she lost custody of her son Jace to her mother. She would get in screaming fights with her mother very often and sometimes it would turn violent. Jenelle was also kicked out of her house and not allowed to see her son after all the constant fighting. She was moving around with her boyfriend, living with a different friend every couple days. Jenelle lost her relationship with her mom due to her young pregnancy and immaturity. I cannot see any teenager that would want to fight with their parents every day of their lives and risk being kicked out of their house on to the street with no where to go. That is a situation that is definitely not glorified in any way.
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