Dempsey 1 Michaela Dempsey 10/4/2011 Professor Lutz Exploratory Essay How Does the Media Impact Teen Pregnancy?

According to an article by Rob Stein in the Washington Post, The pregnancy rate among 15-to-19-year-olds increased 3 percent between 2005 and 2006 -- the first jump since 1990, (Stein). Prior to this spike, the pregnancy rate among teenage girls had been rapidly declining ending in 2005 with 69.5 girls out of 1,000 getting pregnant. In 2006, that number reached 71.5 teenage girls. That is 7% of the girls between the ages of 15 and 19. That is an astonishing number of young girls becoming parents. It made me wonder if the media was involved in the spike and if the trend was still continuing or if the pregnancy rate in teenage girls was beginning to decrease again. Do television shows such as The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Teen Mom, and 16 and Pregnant glorify teen pregnancy? Do they desensitize the importance of planning and protection? Does the prevalence of teen pregnancy make it socially acceptable? Or does the media deter young girls from having unprotected sex because they see the consequences? I was determined to find out. First I consulted with the libraries online research database to find out if there was a correlation between what teenagers were watching on television and whether or not they were having sex leading to a pregnancy. After many failed sources, I came across an article from a pediatrics journal written by Anita Chandra and multiple other professionals in the field that I found to be very helpful. The article detailed an

Dempsey 2 experiment done over the course of three years in which girls from the ages of 12 to 17 year olds were interviewed on their exposure to sexual content on television. Three years later they were interviewed again and it was discovered that those teenagers who were in the 90th percentile of exposure were twice as likely to become pregnant than those who were in the 10th percentile. Meaning that the more sex a teenage girl watches on television, the greater chance they have at conceiving a child. If you think about it, most television programs that are aimed toward teenage girls involve sex in some way. MTV is a popular channel for teenagers and with shows like Jersey Shore and The Real World, girls may tend to get the wrong idea about sex, believing that casual sex is something that everyone participates in. After watching these shows girls might come to the conclusion that going out and then going home with a complete stranger is perfectly acceptable when in reality it is extremely dangerous and can lead to sexually transmitted diseases or an unwanted pregnancy. So should these television shows be blamed for portraying sex as something that isnt a big deal or should the parents be responsible for how much exposure to sexual material a teenager has? Girls who watch more sex on television are more likely to get pregnant. Okay, we know this. What about the television shows that show the effects of teen pregnancy? 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are reality television shows (also on MTV) that follow the lives of teenage girls through pregnancy, childbirth, and while raising their children, or in some cases, the adoption process. While researching the shows I found an article from Time magazine called Baby Mamas by Feifei Sun about the show 16 and Pregnant and the girls of the show Teen Mom. Sun states that, 4 in 10 teenagers who watch an episode of 16 and Pregnant talk about the show with a parent afterward and that more than 90%

Dempsey 3 of them think that pregnancy is harder than they imagined before watching the series. That statistic really surprised me. My friends and I all watched the show in high school and to my knowledge not one of them ever talked to a parent about what happened on the show. Or perhaps I was the only one starting my homework after the episode instead of starting a conversation with my parents. Regardless though, I agree that the show shows some of the consequences and the hardships faced when becoming a parent at such a young age. Another shocking insight I gained from the article was the fact that Amber Portwood, a mom featured on Teen Mom and notoriously known for her anger management issues and abusive tendencies toward her daughters father, earned $140,000 off of a six-month contract with MTV. That is an enticing salary for anyone, including teenage girls who may not quite know what they want to do or be in their life. Along with the money, the girls of Teen Mom became extremely famous through the show. Their names and faces are featured in almost all magazines at the front of any grocery store. I feel as though finding out this information might encourage young girls to have unprotected sex in order to get pregnant and get on television to become rich and famous. Watching the show may encourage 4 sets of parents and children to discuss sex and pregnancy, but the other 6 girls might just be seeing girls on television who are rich and famous and think about how easy it could be for them to accomplish that. After deciding to take what I believed to be a much deserved break from research, I turned on the television and flipped to the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Author K.B. of Bitch Magazine described the basis of the show in her article, Reproductive Wrongs: The so-called secret life of baby-borrowing American Teens. The show works to counter the age-old myth that you cant get pregnant your first time

Dempsey 4 with the central character of 15-year- old nice girl Amy". While the show does feature Amy as a pregnant freshman in high school, getting pregnant after having sex only one time, I felt as though it took on more of a high school drama tone. After Amy gives birth, her baby isnt really part of the show anymore. The show is less about the trials of teen motherhood and focuses more on Amys social life and boy trouble. Upon first reading the description of the show I assumed it would be a good public service announcement and would show what it is like to have a child in high school but, unfortunately, the show gives girls the impression that after giving birth your life can virtually go back to normal. Which, of course, is false. I figured that if I was going to find out if the media really impacted teenage girls, then I should ask them directly. So I called up a couple of girls from my former high school, one who is currently pregnant, one who is having sex but isnt currently pregnant, and one who does not have sex. All of these girls are teenagers who have watched both 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom on multiple occasions. I first spoke with a girl who is currently pregnant. She told me that she did in fact use protection but it failed. She was adamant about the fact that the shows are extremely off. She told me that the shows dont actually show the struggles that girls go through. As she put it, I do not, in any way, shape, or form, think that the show portrays teen pregnancy in an accurate manner. It's fun to watch, because we all love a good drama, but the struggles one faces as a pregnant teenager go way beyond what those shows make it seem. I'd like to see a season where the girls don't get paid, so America can see how difficult it is to afford everything and what it looks like when a girl actually has fears for becoming a mother. As she approaches motherhood herself, she will face, and has already faced, many challenges

Dempsey 5 including financial difficulties. Babies are expensive, and to get paid so much to be on this television would discredit most of the issues that new, teenage moms have. Next I spoke with a girl who has sex but has never been pregnant. She said that a lot of the aspects of the show seemed forced, but that some of the issues were real, like relationships being tested and strained. The shows scared her a little bit too because she doesnt want to become a teen mom herself. So even though she is continuing to have sex despite the risk, she said that protection is always used to reduce the chances of getting pregnant before shes ready for it. Lastly, I spoke to a girl who chooses not to have sex. She told me that she did not think the shows affected her that much, aside from reinforcing her sophomore year health teachers urges to use protection when she decides to have sex. She also didnt believe that teenage pregnancy was portrayed accurately and overall the shows seemed to glorify girls for getting pregnant at a young age. The girls all seemed to agree that the shows were not realistic representations about what its like to get pregnant and have a child in high school considering they are receiving compensation while most young parents struggle to figure out how they will afford everything. By the end of my research, I was pretty convinced that television shows and the media do impact teenage girls but how depends on the girl. Most girls view the shows as a reminder to not have unprotected sex in order to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, but some girls see the shows and think that this could be a way for them to get attention and maybe even a spot on one of the shows. An article on the CNN health website said that the rate of pregnancies has dropped from 61.8 out of every 1,000 females being teenagers to 39.1 births out of every 1,000 females. Based on my research, these girls are in the

Dempsey 6 minority and for the most part, the shows complete their intended purpose; helping teenagers avoid pregnancies by showing the consequences and the struggles.

Dempsey 7 Works Cited B., K. "Reproductive wrongs: The so-called secret life of baby-borrowing American teens." Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture 41 (2008): 16-17. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.Chandra, Anita, Steven C. Martino, Rebecca L. Collins, Marc N. Elliot, Sandra H. Berry, David E. Kanouse, and Angela Miu. "Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth." Pediatrics. American Academy of Pediatrics, Nov. 2008. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/122/5/1047.full.html>. Hagan, Caitlin. "Teen Pregnancy Rate Lowest in Two Decades." CNN Health. 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. <http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/05/teenpregnancy-rate-lowest-in-two-decades/>. Stein, Rob. "Rise in Teenage Pregnancy Rate Spurs New Debate on Arresting It." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/ 2010/01/25/AR2010012503957.html>. Sun, Feifei. "Baby Mamas." Time 178.3 (2011): 58-60. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.