The other day on facebook, one of my friends had wrote a status about a young girl saying she was 16 and pregnant and how she is very happy and that it is normal to have a baby at her young age. Then he went on to add his two cent to the situation and made a statement that stuck out to me. He stated that he blames the MTV reality show "16 and Pregnant". His reasons were that the show glorifies teen pregnancy, it makes teens excited to become a parent in hopes of being a cast member on the show. To a certain degree and only a degree is where I agree with the above statement. I do think that it makes a teenage girl think that if she becomes pregnant at 16, she will automatically be apart of the show and get her 5 seconds of T.V. fame, but to just BLAME everything on this reality show, I'm sorry but I just can't and will not agree with it.
I am so tired of people blaming a T.V. show for something that has been going on for years and will continue to go on even after the show. Sad to say but it is the truth and the world that we live in today. I feel like the show gets toooooo much credit for something that has been going on for years and years. Way back when before my mama was even born. I wasn't really trying to compare the two because young woman back in those times was forced into marriage by their fathers and had children in wedlock at the age of 13. Even in the upcoming generations, it was happening but it was considered to be a folkway, meaning that society accepts it but thinks it's morally unacceptable. That's just how it was, people never spoke openly about it, girls wasn't even allowed to stay in a regular school.. In those days!! But my point was just because a show is based on a topic DOES NOT mean that it just magically started. It just wasn't any light shed on it, until now. We're in the expose everything, leave nothing to the imagination period. Look at all these reality shows going into a person's home and digging into their personal lives. Nobody believes in what is my business stays my business. Those morals is out the door completely.
At the end of the day, It all depends on that teen and how they are raised. Some of those pregnant teens came from a parent that had them as a teen, so that's the example that was set. There are also situations where a parent has been an active part of their childrens lives and taught them and raised them to the best that they could, but peer pressure is a mother, you know the rest!! Peers is the number one influence on a growing teens life. We can prepare them, we can threaten them, do anything in our power to prevent certain things but the bottom line is that we can't stop everything. Especially now, because I seen so many little girls being fresh, dressing and looking older, developing beyond their age and acting grown. Then you have these little boys telling them what they want to hear, making the girl feel if she has sex she will be popular and important. The girl gives in and BAM, they engage in sexual intercourse and some don't know anything about protecting themselves or they do but naive to the thought of anything bad happening to them. There are many consequences, not only pregnancy but STI's.
There has been some very positive things about the "16 and Pregnant" reality show. It shows the hardships that each teen faces and scares some of the teen viewers. I even heard a young lady state that this show has became her form of birth control and she will not have sex until she was old enough to not only have sex but to be able to handle anything that might happen when it's over. So in this case, we should thank the show for this reason alone. Some young women don't have parents that talks to them about sex and teen pregnancy so, watching this show is kind of like an eye opener to them and it shows them that having a child is not only about dressing them up and making them cute. What you going to do when they cry all day and night, when they are sick, when it's time for you to go to school, pampers is not cheap, how are you going to afford it with no job etc. It gives young teens a lot to think about. As i'm writing this blog, I think this show has it's pros and cons, no doubt it all depends how the information is translated to a person.
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