Teen pregnancy in media works to educate

When teen celebrities covered the tabloid magazines and made headline news for being pregnant, it began helping put the issue of teen pregnancy into everyday conversations.

“I think there has been an impact in that youths are watching those programs,” said Bree Anderson, program specialist for Pure Education program at Willow Teen Health Center. “‘16 and Pregnant’ isn’t glamorizing and it’s showing the full affects of motherhood, school and parenting. It’s assisting to be much more mainstream discussion.”

MTV’s “16 and Pregnant” and ABC Family’s “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” are some of the new TV shows that focus on teen pregnancy. Human biology junior Sarah Brown has watched a couple of episodes of the MTV show and said one of the episodes she watched was about a 17-year-old couple whose parents bought them a house, which Brown said isn’t reality.

“Teen pregnancy messes up plans for the future,” Brown said. “I think the show takes away from the seriousness. MTV makes it seem like it’s not that big of a deal.”

Although the teen mothers might have been put in the spotlight by TV shows and magazines, not all of the publicity has been for the best, Anderson said.

“Parenting is the most difficult job in the world. There are 75 percent of teens who don’t graduate high school — it’s a national fact,” Anderson said. “It’s frustrating that Bristol was on magazine in cap and gown holding her baby. It showed it was easy (to go to school and be a mom), but (it) requires hard work.”

Since the role-model aspect of teen mothers became a concern, these shows provide the real-life experiences of teens. English junior Kelesha Baber thinks that these TV shows are a good idea because they are informational and show that being a teen parent is difficult.

“I think it can be helpful for people to be able to learn about it in a different way than a parent telling them,” Baber said. “I think the function of the show is to present facts in a different way.”

While some may believe that these shows glamorize having a child at a young age, Baber thinks it does the opposite.

“It’s not saying it’s cool to get pregnant,” Baber said. “I think it does a good job showing the responsibility you have to take on. It’s not bashing the teens. It’s informational and it shows exactly what they’re saying. It’s just raw facts of what goes on.”