Media Effects on Teenage Pregnancy
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Media Effects on Teenage Pregnancy
“Each year in the U.S. almost one million teenagers become pregnant–at enormous costs to themselves, their children, and society” (Christensen). The media plays a huge role when it comes to exposing young teens to different types of TV shows and movies with teen pregnancy as their storyline, such as “Juno” and “Knocked up”. As the entertainment industry continues to portray the life of a teenager with a baby as glamorous, in which you can actually make it as a child raising a child, continues to let it be a passive issue, pregnancy rates will raise. Todays society is suddenly portraying teen pregnancy as “acceptable” or even “cool” which is causing the teen pregnancy rate to increase tremendously.
Teenage pregnancy is certainly not a new problem. The media may not always have been a huge contributor, but, that did not rid of the issue. “Pregnancy rates among teenagers and young women in the United States rose steadily from the early 1970s to the early 1990s, increasing by about 21% among all women younger than 20 and 17% among women aged 20-24 during those two decades” (U.S teenage). “Preliminary data on births for 2007 show
a further increase in the birthrate among all women, including teenagers and those aged 20-24” (U.S teenage). The staggering thought of teenage pregnancy continuing to rise is a scary thought for anyone. What is to blame for this? The media is the biggest reason.
When celebrities get pregnant it is a huge deal and all over the newsstands. Most teenage girls keep up to date on the “hottest” trends and what is going on. When actor Jamie Lyn Spears was pronounced pregnant it started a “trend” (teen pregnancy). Young girls started wanting to get pregnant. This caused the “Teen Pregnancy Pact” in Gloucester, Massachusetts. 17 teens at this high school made a pact to get pregnant and raise their children together (Lim). All of these girls were under the age of 16, when you are this age, a child should be the least of your worries (Lim). Some of them were looking for companionship and to not be as lonely anymore (Teenage Pregnancy Pact). “The bottom line is no matter what reason someone comes up with as to why the Gloucester girls got pregnant, the focus should be about irresponsible sexual behavior”(Teenage Pregnancy Pact).
The hit movie “Juno” is said to have an impact on the increase in teen pregnancies. It showed a “sunny side” to getting pregnant (In cluster). Research shows that girls who have had “heavier media sexual diets” are more than twice as likely to get pregnant (In cluster). When churches call it a “sin” and schools are saying to wait until marriage in their sex education classes; the media has become a huge sex educator in todays society (In cluster). “Part of that stems from teens natural curiosity about sex. Kids who are more interested in it seek information from a variety of sources” (In cluster).
The media needs to take control of the situation by removing some of the material they use to advertise young teens through TV shows and movies. Very few shows make a point to demonstrate safe sex and how to prevent pregnancy (Parent advice). Teenage mothers as a whole are at a greater risk to go into poverty and have lower intellectual knowledge (teenage pregnancy). Why would anyone choose this life? Who would not want the best possible education and outcome? Those are the questions that race through our minds when we hear about a pregnant teenager.