Pop culture affects views on teen pregnancy

by Beka Rutledge, entertainment editor

 

Media and the superstars it trails have continuously had a major impact on society, and it is usually not the best of influences.

Lately, in the world of the rich and famous, everywhere you turn you see glamorous mother after glamorous mother. Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Alba are among the recent celebrity moms.

However, it is not only adult women celebs who are seen with a bun in the oven. Recently, Jamie Lynn Spears had a baby girl. Spears was only 16 when she announced her pregnancy, and she was 17 when she gave birth.

Along with these real-life pregnancies, there have been a few hit movies that are centered around pregnancy. Movies such as “Juno” and “Knocked Up” have taken away the stigma of unplanned and teenage pregnancy. There is also a television show called “The Secret Life of an American Teenager” that deals with teenagers, sex and pregnancy.

In other words, pregnancy has become quite fashionable in the public eye. Unfortunately, the idea has caught on in minds where it shouldn’t.

Earlier this year, there was a big fuss about a supposed pregnancy pact between teen girls in a small town in Massachusetts. It was announced that 17 girls had become pregnant at approximately the same time. Almost half of those girls admitted that they had agreed to the pact.

These girls did not have the mindset about pregnancy that most do. Instead of believing “it won’t happen to me,” they are actually saying, “I hope it happens to me.” Why would a teenage girl want to get pregnant? The main answer to that question has been that it might seem to the girls that carrying a baby would give them more independence and an opportunity for unconditional love.

Many people disagree that the media had much to do with planned teenage pregnancies such as this. However, every time a person turns on the TV, he or she is hit by images and stories of celebrities who have become pregnant or have had a baby. Also, these women who are expecting see a boost in their popularity.

If people believe that girls do not notice this, they are wrong. Although they are only an average teenager and pregnancy may give them negative attention, it is still attention they may have never received before.

I believe that what many of these girls don’t realize is how much their lives will change once they bring a child into this world. Celebrities have loads of money to provide a home, clothes, and food for their child. Not to mention the nannies they hire to watch the child when needed. Most young girls do not have such luxuries.

There are young mothers who will not hesitate to tell anyone how difficult the road of motherhood is, especially for an unmarried young woman.

Media can make motherhood as glorious as it would like, and it can be if you really are prepared for it. If you are mature enough to make that decision and can fully prepare for the changes that are going to occur, then it is a miraculous journey. However, if you are a young girl who has other motives for conceiving, it will be one of the toughest journeys you ever take.

Parents need to stay involved. They need to have the same policy toward underage sex that they do about minors drinking. Teens need to be talked to, even though it is a difficult and possibly embarrassing topic to discuss. It has never done anyone any good to be ignorant.

If teens are shown the huge difference between being pregnant in Hollywood and being pregnant in small-town America, maybe these teenage pregnancies, unplanned and planned, could be largely avoided.