It’s no surprise that Teen Mom 2 is giving MTV some pretty big ratings and has definitely opened up dialogue on an increasingly important issue. Teen pregnancy is a pretty big problem in this country so it’s certainly something on which people need to be educated; and the show provides a unique, up-close and personal perspective on said problem.
But at what cost?
A huge viewer demographic, intentional or not, is bound to be teenage girls (with a title like Teen Mom how could it not appeal to teenage girls?), and it’s common knowledge that teenage girls are highly impressionable. So while MTV might intend for the stories of its stars to be cautionary tales, that’s not necessarily how its young, impressionable audience might take them. As a matter of fact, I know that’s not how they always interpret the show. My cousin told me about a 13 year-old girl (13 years-old!) who, after watching the show, said she wanted to have a baby and name it Bentley after Maci’s, a character from the first season, son. Odds are that this girl isn’t alone in having these kinds of ideas.
And if MTV really wanted to send a clear message that teen pregnancy is not a good situation, then why would they glorify the behavior that often ends in pregnancy by advertising their new series Skins during the show’s commercial breaks? Ads for Skins appeared on nearly every commercial break before the show’s debut on January 17 and still appear frequently during Teen Mom 2. What kind of message does this send? “Look at how hard these young girls’ lives are with children for 7 or 8 minutes, then see how fun drinking, partying, and hooking up with boys can be in this commercial!”
I applaud MTV for shedding light on a tough issue that’s so often overlooked as just a ‘parenting problem’ rather than a sociocultural (now there’s a CCP word) problem. At the same time, however, they have to acknowledge the influence their shows have over their young, vulnerable audiences and absolutely have to be responsible about it. I watched MTV (TRL specifically) almost every day after school growing up, starting when I was as young as 10 or 11; and I clung to every word they said about being a ‘cool’ teenager (thankfully I have long since grown out of that, hence the nerdy title of this blog). It’s hard to imagine that girls today are much different.
So please MTV, be careful with your power of influence over young girls. Send a clear message that teen pregnancy is not a good thing.
But that’s just what I think.
hm.. are you aware of our sti, and teen pregnancy ratio in comparison to most European countries? And how on average individuals in Europe under the age of 21 have sex more times than american of the same age. Yet have a smaller number of cases of teen pregnancy and STIs. We are also one of the only two countries that promote abstinence.. just sayin..
ReplyDeleteI'm confused, are you saying we're 'better off' (for lack of a better term) or worse off than European countries in this case? Either way it's hard to deny that teen pregnancy is a considerable problem in this country. Over 2/3 of girls who get pregnant while in high school won't graduate and a lot of them will wind up below the poverty line too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm definitely not advocating abstinence-only education or anything of the sort. It's both naïve and outdated, and it clearly doesn't work.
Worse off. Because our sex education is so lackluster. Not to mention a lot of parents from the last generation came out of a generation that didn't promote safe sex (I'm talking parents of the late 60's early 70's), or even the potential issues of teen pregnancy, and thus it was learned in alternative ways. Now we have the social media advocating that being young and having children is to an extent glamorous, coupled with lack of proper sex education. It's almost a snowball effect that is beginning to roll out of control. There are sufficient programs set up in European countries that effectively teach sex ed. I guess I am saying proper sex ed is needed to combat rising teen pregnancy. I think it is crazy that out of all developed countries, the U.S. has the highest number of teen pregnancies (i think is something like 60/1000) and abortions(~30/1000). But I do not think we can blame it solely on the social media. But a part yes. You should do a study! and see if there is a definitive correlation. That would be interesting.
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