Anyone else think shows like Teen Mom are contributing to the problem?

Rapture

Rapture

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So I've been watching the show Teen Mom for awhile now on MTV. Really it is an interesting reality show ...even if it is a bit on the heartbreaking side to watch at times.

Here is Teen Mom on MTV, for those of you who aren't familiar with the series, as well as 16 and Pregnant:

http://www.mtv.com/shows/teen_mom/season_2/series.jhtml

http://www.mtv.com/shows/16_and_pregnant/season_2/series.jhtml

Basically the jist of these shows is teenage girls having babies..and following them around for the befores and the afters of childbirth. 16 and Pregnant focuses more on the just befores of having the baby and the short period of time after. Teen Mom is more about dealing with the effects of having a child at a young age and how it affects their relationship with their baby daddies and their family...high school and their social lives...

So my question to you is do you think shows like this are contributing to the glorification of teenagers having babies???

I personally think shows like this have their benefits and their downfalls. I think its a good idea that other teens see how life-changing having a baby is at such a young age and how it DOESN'T save the relationship that they may have with their boyfriends. However, I've looked at how one girl out of the last season of Teen Mom 2 ended up marrying her father of her children (Leah). The girls don't end up staying with the boyfriends and the ones that do end up having really unhealthy relationships with the father of their children...like Chelsea and Kailyn.

Still, the appearance of this show doesn't seem to have stopped teens from wanting babies. Hence, the pregnancy pacts in the high schools here in the south...and the abundance of new seasons of Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant on MTV. I can't remember exactly how much these girls are getting per season but I thought it was like over $50,000.00 to say the least. So they get paid quite a bit...and they get famous from it too... :monster:

Anyways, thoughts?
 
Well in all honesty I don't think its really contributing to the trouble... It just took an issue that is happening in America and went with it. I mean teen pregnancies are not a new thing, and they always have been an "issue". Teen mom just saw for a chance to jump on it, and show what happens to people before and after the fact, and how teen moms deal with certain problems. So it might not stop people from wanting babies, or teens having babies, but it at least shows some situations that occur from it. Even if some of it is over exaggerated for it is tv afterall and they want people to watch it.
 
So my question to you is do you think shows like this are contributing to the glorification of teenagers having babies???
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I don't think this sort of T.V. show would glorify having babuies too much to be honest.

I don't think it's contributing to the teen pregnancy problem majorly.

Sure some girls may see the show and think, 'Oh yeah I want a baby.'

But that's the minority. Most girls having babies are doing that just because they want to. Having a T.V. show about this issue won't be the main thing that suddenly changes a girls mind about whether or not they want to start procreating in their teens.

I actually think it would scare more off, which is what I like about this show.

It's helpful for new mums to see that you can get through everything and try to make something of yourself careeerwise in the end, regardless of whether you have a baby or not and that your life is not over.

But for those not pregnant, and who do not have any other children, it would show just how hard it really is to be a teen mum.

It's up to the individual but I think shows like these are awesome!

They're so interesting. Even I had no idea about the things these young mums go through until I watched a few episodes.
 
:hmmm:
I don't think, as such, that they're contributing to the problem - but to be honest, I hate them.

I once saw a group on facebook that was called 'if I was '16 and pregnant' I'd get a slap, not a TV show' - and this about sums it up for me. The girls have had babies at 16 - not something I would ever want to do - and they get a TV show for it? My family would be so, so angry.
Some girls could see that and go, hey, it'll get me famous - I'll have a baby. They are the minority though.

So yeah, I can't bear shows like that, but I don't think they contribute to the problem - I think they're just as likely to put people off having kids at that age as they are to make girls think 'I want one'.
 
Kandy-Sugar said:
But that's the minority. Most girls having babies are doing that just because they want to. Having a T.V. show about this issue won't be the main thing that suddenly changes a girls mind about whether or not they want to start procreating in their teens.
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I always figured young girls were having babies because they were young and reckless (stupid). I don't personally know of any teenage mothers I've met who planned it.

I don't think people watch these kinds of shows because they're interested in the lives of teenage moms. I think most people watch it because Drama gets views. The amount of soap operas and CW programs that are on the air kinda proves that. People watch these types of shows because deep down I think they like to see people suffer.

But back to the subject. No, I don't think it contributes or helps in anyway. Think about all the "don't smoke" little videos they showed you in Elementary school. Programmed at a young age to know the harm of smoking. Yet there's a shitload of people that still smoke. Same thing with this show. Nobody over the age of like 10 doesn't know how babies are made. I knew how it went down when I was like 6 (my dad wasn't good at hiding his porn). People do stupid things because they're... Well, stupid. And human. And I don't think that television has a lot to do with our choices. Atleast, most people anyway.
 
Charlie Sheen said:
I always figured young girls were having babies because they were young and reckless (stupid). I don't personally know of any teenage mothers I've met who planned it.
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Well I dunno what it's like over there, but a lot of young girls here just want babies so they get the baby bonus and so that they don't have to get a job.

It's not that they want the baby all that much, they just want the benefits. =/

So yeah it is planned for most here. Lazy lazy girls.

But the majority are young and just think 'Oh yeah it'll never happen to me.'

And then it does. >.<
 
I don't think it's contributing to the problem. At least that show is realistic about how much stress it is to have a baby.

No the problem is abstinence. It doesn't work. Even if by some off chance it does, that child is going to one day need to know all about sex and protection. So why not teach them?

Blaming TV for all our problems is so irresponsible. It's an easy way out. Oh, no the TV told to have sex with my boyfriend without protection and now I'm pregnant. No it didn't, your hormones did. Oh wait, you don't know what those are because your school didn't teach you about sex, they just said don't have it.

Sorry if that got ranty,
 
Its funny people think that the show is causing teen pregnancy to go up but in reality its causing it to go down.

Here is a quote:
"But according to a new government study that shows the U.S. teen birthrate falling dramatically in 2009 after a five percent increase from 2005 to 2007, experts say the network may have redeemed itself with its gritty "16 and Pregnant" documentary series, which many teens credit with opening their eyes to the consequences of unprotected sex and early parenthood."

"After leveling off in 2008, teen pregnancies declined by 6 percent in 2009, to a record low, according to a Centers for Disease Prevention and Control study released Tuesday. The reduction cut across all ethnic and racial lines, with Hispanic teen pregnancy rates going down by 10 percent, also to a record low."

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/a-force-behind-the-lower-teen-birthrate-mtvs-16-and-pregnant--2023
 
I think there was just a weird teen pregnancy fad, at least at the school where I was. I can't speak for every teen in the nation during that time. I had to do volunteer work at a high school and some girls were trying to get pregnant because babies were cute D: you explain how difficult raising a child is and they would say "well I'm mature!" There were also adults acting as enablers and would babysit any teen mom's children any weekend and their parents basically raised the child anyway. There babies were mostly an accessory.

Tyra Banks even had an episode of her show that featured pregnant teenagers. Two were purposely trying to get pregnant. One was a 14 year old who thought having a babyshower would be fun and her mom was rightly stressed out. The other was a 16 year old who was worried about not finding the right man before she hit menopaus XD.

It's hard to say about the teen mom shows. I've only seen 16 and pregnant once. And the girl was a bit... stupid? It's hard to describe her, but she kind of seemed like white trash. The guy she was with was a douch bag. I couldn't believe she would even agree to kiss this guy let alone let him into her pants. The show ended up with the couple breaking up after the kid came.

I don't see how that particular episode would make any teen want to have a baby. I can't speak for the rest of the show or the show teen mom.

I remember there being speculation that Britney Spear's sister was the cause of a rise in teen pregnancies. Take of that what you will.
 
It's sort of like a "scared straight" deal. Televising a show that focuses on teenage pregnancies on a TV station that has a high teenage demographic will scare them into not being so wreckless about sex. Even if it gets teenagers to wait until they're older before they even have sex, then I'd say it's a good thing.

And as Charlie Sheen said, teenage girls have no intentions to get pregnant. The only case where they may want to get pregnant is to trap the guy to make him stay with her. Even then, that's a pretty rare and extreme case. Hell, even women in their early 20's usually don't want to get pregnant. Girls in their teenage years are almost never thinking about having children, or getting marriage and having a family.
 
I'm really glad MTV is airing this show; not only 16 & Pregnant, but what comes after with Teen Mom. It's extremely important to show both sides of the picture--being a teenager and being pregnant and the struggle of everyday life when you're bringing up a baby at such a young age. It's very real and I believe has hit home for a lot of girls who watch the show. However, it is not a means to an end for teen pregnancy. It's good to see that the percentage of teen pregnancies has dropped, so I can't really say, according to the statistics, that it's glorifying or contributing by any means.
 
I've got a question. Have any of you actually seen a full episode of the show, much less seen a whole season?

Stell, I'm with you on this. I've seen every episode of all the seasons and spin offs and I can see where she's coming from on this.

If you watch the show, you see these girls through every moment. They had struggles (Farrah got scammed for her truck), and some got lucky (Leah married her boyfriend), but 90% of these girls don't end up with the dad. However they STILL manage perfectly fine without them.

Sure there's drama (Chelsea and Adam) and it never completely goes away, but they have the support of their family, their friends. Most of them don't have jobs, however they live on their own (few still live with their folks) and get along fine.

The way I see that this contributes to the problem is that these individual stories paints the picture that it's perfectly fine to go along in your fairy tale life because everything will work out okay. Very rarely have any of them had to deal with any major issues like paying bills and almost being homeless (except for Janelle but she's a stuck up bitch). Life isn't like that.

I think that it contributes to the problem because alot of teen girls watching it, think that their family will help out no matter what. This isn't the case. Nobody knows how their family will react to a child, much less how they can help take care of it. So a lot of them would jump in head first, not knowing the consequences because they saw this show and thought "well it would be the same for me, it'd work out honkey dorey."
 
That's not the case though, about family always taking them in, and that was portrayed through Kailyn's story with Jo's parents. Kailyn couldn't live at home due to issues with her mother so her boyfriend's parents took her in (it's a place to live, but it's not technically her family). Plus, when she and Jo broke up and were living in the same house, it was so odd. And now they're battling for custody of the child.

This in no way glorifies teen pregnancy and motherhood. Many of the girls are facing a lot of issues, if not financially, emotionally, mentally, etc. It's not pretty what they have to go through and pretty much all of them I've heard say they'd do things differently.
 
That's just one story though. I think over the two seasons the one who had it the worst was Janelle. You have others like Catelynn (season 1) who lived with her folks, and although they had issues (what teen doesn't, regardless of pregnancy?) they were fine. Farrah had her parents practically buy her a place after she had drama with them. Amber was fine and living on her own, never brought her parents into the picture, everything was honkey dorey. These girls were just.. living on their own, acting as if we can all accomplish that.
 
I'm sure there's way more to it than is actually being seen. None of these girls want to have to go through the turmoil with their families. They get enough earfuls about getting pregnant in the first place. The help comes only after they've been told they screwed up (and sometimes it just continues). That shit is hard to deal with. I can't imagine how they feel or how their families feel. But in most cases, if a child is that young (16-17) it's obvious their family is going to help them. But we shouldn't disregard the one instance with Kailyn just because it was one view. What I'm saying is that it does happen and probably a lot more than these girls think.
 
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