An Opinion on how Reality Television Glorifies Young, Teen Pregnancies
Reality television became popular not too long ago, but popular for all of the wrong reasons.
In June of 2009, “16 and Pregnant” first aired, and had such success that “Teen Mom” followed after. Documenting teenage girls through fights with their babies’ father, tears and changing of the diapers, makes these issues all seem okay. These type of reality shows solely glorify and misconstrue teen pregnancy.
“16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” are my least favorite reality shows. If I catch even an episode of these shows, I usually turn the TV off and feel like I just wasted my time on watching something that made part of my brain die off.
Some of the moms on this show do a great job taking care of their children, such as Maci and that is why they are the favorite teen mom amongst all the viewers.
I do think that they deserve a nice pat on the back for their performance, because all moms, regardless of age should strive to be responsible mothers.
On the contrary, other teen moms hand their baby off to be their family’s responsibility and go out to live an irresponsible teenage life, and this is where I get lost.
I don’t understand why people want to watch the pure stupidity that stems from these peoples actions. I do not believe that this poor behavior should be promoted as a positive way of life.
Sometimes it’s worth watching just for the phonetic translation. For example, take the time teen mom Janelle comes home, hung over from a night out with “Friggin’ hickeys all ova ya neck” as her mom said. It absolutely kills me when shows need subtitles to decipher what cast members are saying.
This show is not only reflecting young females in a poor manner, but the males in these television shows are an absolute disgrace.
JuJu Chang of ABC News refers to the teen moms’ partners as “dead beat baby daddies” in a news interview. These teens sit around playing video games and the majority of them do not help the teen mom with much of anything.
Some teen dads have been recognized for drug overdoses, rehab and parole violations. They continue to have screaming and crying matches. Typically he does not treat her or their baby well, yet she continues to stay with him. This again is another factor that I believe should not be promoted to anyone.
Fame and attention as a teen mom seems to have started with Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy when she was only 16 and then further glorified with Bristol Palin’s pregnancy when she was 17.
Bristol Palin was even recruited for “Dancing with The Stars” after her pregnancy. This, of course, is an example of a teen that was already in the spotlight because of mother Sarah Palin, former Alaskan governor.
There are teen moms who are famous for well, simply being teen moms who also graze the cover of tabloids as they skyrocket to fame.
Shows like “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” give these girls what Juju Chang refers to as, “six-figure incomes” and “tabloid fame”.
Amongst popular topics that have helped the teen moms rise to tabloid fame are abuse charges, drug position, jail sentences, custody battles, make-ups, break-ups, money struggles, sex tapes, plastic surgery, and the occasional good parenting.
You don’t even have to read these tabloids because they get plastererd all over the news and the internet.
The way in which MTV creates these pregnancy shows puts the wrong image of teen pregnancy in young girls’ minds.
They may show the trials and tribulations of becoming pregnant when not prepared, but it always turns out looking not as bad as it should when fame and money are added to the mix.
I’ll never understand why so many are sucked into the teen pregnancy world, but the attention seems to be something that these teen moms don’t need to worry about.
PHOTO TAKEN from thegloss.com
