Media does not effect teenage pregnancy

In today’s society, teen pregnancy has become an issue. If you step foot into a local high school, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a pregnant student. In fact, if you asked a student if they have a friend who is expecting or has already given birth, the answer would most likely be a yes. It seems to be that any form of contraception isn’t a priority for young girls today. Today, many girls search for love and attention. These girls believe love and attention could be found by becoming pregnant. Another big reason why girls are becoming pregnant is because of the people they see around them such as their peer, or people in the news. The media seems to be taking a big blame on the teen pregnancy epidemic, but truthfully, media is not the issue.
First, let’s go back in history. It was very common to see women straight out of high school, or even before then, marry and have children right away. Taking care of the family and running errands all day was the female’s only job. They were not expected to be independent. In today’s age, women are more independent. Females, in the present day, go to college and get a job of their own. Once settled on their own two feet they then take a role of balancing their careers and a family. So maybe, since teen pregnancy was once acceptable and common at one point in time, girls today have the same mind set. Some girls want the “stay at home mom” lifestyle, but do not realize in today’s age, a teenager is not that time to choose that career.
You may often now see it common for teen pregnancy to run in a family. For example, a teenager may have a mother only in her thirties meaning the mother was also a teenage parent. This could be a factor today in causing early pregnancy. Young girls look up to their mothers and when they realize they were had at a young age, teenage pregnancy may look a lot easier. A mother would not tell their own child that they regret having them because of the age, so they glamourize pregnancy causing young girls to take after their mothers.
Another factor to consider to be the cause of teenage pregnancy is teenage drinking. According to a website entitled Love to Know “Roughly 20 percent of the alcohol consumed in the United States is done so by young people ages twelve to twenty. When the drinking gets out of hand, inhibitions are lowered and anything can happen--and that includes an unwanted pregnancy.” An unwanted pregnancy can be considered unsafe sex with a partner, or even rape. There is a greater chance of one being raped when alcohol is involved because the effect alcohol has on a person. After a person consumes alcohol they are easily manipulated and taken advantage of.
It has always been said that kids and teenagers do the opposite of what their parents and educators say just to spite them. For example, a parent will say “Do not hang out with this group of friends, they are a bad influence.” Usually, kids will hang out with the group of friends anyways. Same with sex, I believe kids are simply being told to not have sex and like I said before teens do the opposite of what is told. Just being told not to have sex isn’t enough. Proper education needs to take place that there is a lack of. Students in high school are required to take a sex education class, but saying to practice abstinence is the only way to prevent teenage pregnancy isn’t enough. I think learning more about contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases, and the hardships of pregnancy is a better way of educating teenagers on teen pregnancy. Simply saying “Do not have sex” is not enough because teenagers often just do the opposite out of spite. A reason for a lack of education may be the absence of their parents. Without parents, a teenage girl has limited or no guidance to the danger so teenage pregnancy. When a teen does not feel that she can talk to her parents about sex either because they are not around, she will more than likely turn to friends for direction on whether or not to have sex, resulting in misinformation and possible teen pregnancy. Peer pressure may also a reason that teenagers are having sex and becoming pregnant. In highs school, there may be that one boy or girl who sits there and constantly brags about having sex and how it is the cool thing to do now. When he or she brags about their sex life a new door opens that draws other teenagers in to try sex. In 2008, an incident in Massachusetts has happened that may have involved peer pressure. Gloucester High School drew attention to the media that 18 teenage girls have become pregnant over the past year. This incident was known as a “pregnancy pact.” A pregnancy pact is a promise that a group of girls to make to allegedly become pregnant together in order to assist each other on raising their kids and raise their kids communally. A student from this school has said, “There was definitely no pact. There was a group of girls already pregnant that decided they were going to help each other to finish school and raise their kids together.” In order for this to happen, peer pressure had to of taken place. It’s hard to believe that all 18 girls willingly became pregnant. The girls more than likely became pregnant to fit in with the “cool” crowd. Even though it seems the media is blamed for the cause of teenage pregnancy, facts and statistics say otherwise. Bill Albert, a chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, has done a poll on teen’s reactions on MTV’s hit shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. The majority of the teenagers that have participated in the poll say, in those shows, teenage pregnancy is not glamourized whatsoever. They believe that show truly shows the hardships of becoming pregnant. Also after watching the show, teens have said that it is easier to discuss teenage pregnancy with their parents than it was before. Not only is there teenage opinions about these shows there is also a statistic to protect media from taking the blame. According to Centers for Disease, Control, and Prevention, , teen birth rates in the U.S. dropped last year to the lowest they have been in about seventy year. According to the latest teenage pregnancy data, birth rates have steadily decreased from 2008 to 2010, with 34.3 births per 1,000 teenagers. Those numbers have recently dropped by nine percent. The media is said to be a medium that has the power to influence everyone especially kids and teens. The media seems to be taking a big blame on the teen pregnancy epidemic, but truthfully, media is not the issue. If parents and mentors educated our youth more thoroughly on teenage pregnancy, the teen pregnancy rates will be decreasing. Saying the media is the blame for teenage pregnancy is untrue because there are many other factors causing teenage pregnancy that seems to be a bigger issue than the media.

Works Cited

"LoveToKnow: Advice You Can Trust." LoveToKnow. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

"Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV 's 16 and Pregnant on Teen Childbearing." The Brookings Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Cited: "LoveToKnow: Advice You Can Trust." LoveToKnow. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. "Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV 's 16 and Pregnant on Teen Childbearing." The Brookings Institution. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.