Sunday, December 13, 2009
16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom
As much as I might try to ignore it, the television show "16 and Pregnant" caught my attention earlier this year. Now, MTV is showing a new series following moms from "16 and Pregnant" and showcase their daily struggles with parenthood. And as much as watching some particular spoiled moms make me very angry, I think that this is one of the more important shows on television. It really shows teens how much their lives change when they have a baby and tries to teach responsibility. However, I wish I saw more diversity on the shows in regards to both race and socioeconomic classes. The 6 girls in the first season consisted of 5 white girls and one girl who is half white, half black (and she is dating a very immature white boy). I found it interesting that she was the only girl who had real dreams- to enlist in the ROTC. I wonder if it was intentional of MTV to try to show any diversity in as good a light as possible in order to avoid planting negative stereotypes, but I feel that the show was sometimes trying to be a little too PC. She and another girl have not continued on to Teen Mom. I feel that the plight of the urban pregnant teen needs to be brought to attention, as they often can only depend on themselves for support for them and their child. I wonder if anyone else has seen the show and agrees with me, and any thoughts you might have on "Teen Mom."
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I saw a commerical for the show in which one of the young mothers said "people don't realize how difficult it is to be a parent at such a young age". Well actually you are wrong. Most people understand that if they had a baby at 16 then it would me unimaginble difficult which is exactly why they take proper precautions to ensure that they don't have a baby while they are in the 10th grade. You have to be pretty ignorant to not considered the strain a baby will put on you, ESPECIALLY at such a young age. Idiots.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen this show, but i'm getting kinda sick of the format. people have been having babies at 16 since the dawn of mankind. get over it!
ReplyDeleteI have seen this show. Like you, I tried to ignore it, but I got sucked in. I didn't notice the lack of diversity or the role reversal that you mentioned, with the one girl fitting into a minority role being the only one with real goals. That is an interesting point though.
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