Is TV Glamorizing Teen Pregnancy?

I watched the season premiere of MTV’s Teen Mom last night and it got me thinking about all the TV shows out there that are making it seem like all these teens are having sex.  I began to wonder if some of these TV shows were even helping to “glamorize” teen pregnancy.

Between 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom and ABC Family’s show The Secret Life of the American Teenager, it seems like there is more teenage sex and pregnancy on TV than ever.

I’ll admit that I watch Gossip Girl from time to time and obviously I am admitting to watching Teen Mom, but I draw the line at the Secret Life of the American Teenager; however, from what I hear, it is very popular with younger girls and contains a lot of sex and switching of partners. Um, I am pretty sure that most of those characters aren’t older than 16. Is that realistic?

While some may argue that the media and society are making a problem out of nothing, I would disagree. Granted you can’t blame TV shows for American teens having sex and getting pregnant, but you can look at how maybe some of these shows are making it seem “cool” to be pregnant or, at the very least, creating teenage ambivalence towards getting pregnant.

According to a study released in January, teen pregnancy rates have risen three percent after a decade of decline. In addition to that sad news, I recently read an article that talks about how some teenagers (1 in 5 females and 1 in 4 males) would be “happy” if they or their partner got pregnant.  There is something wrong with these statistics.

Although, many people feel that preaching abstinence is the best form of birth control for teens, it seems not to be entirely effective.  We should also choose to inform them about sex and preventive measures and follow up by making contraception easier to access. A lot of people disagree with comprehensive sex ed and making birth control and Plan B available to teenagers, but the facts are staring us right in the face, so they may need it. 

But another part of slowing this trend down involves de-glamorizing teen pregnancy so that if you provide easier access to contraception and information about safe sex to teens, they will want to use it. Shows like Secret Life of the American Teenager and even Glee can make being a teenage mom look much more glamorous than the reality of most teenage parents. These shows and the attention that people like Bristol Palin get are not helping teens understand that starting a family at 15 and 16 is not easy and that it’s often best to wait till you are older to become a parent.

Now I am not at all saying that being a teen mom is always a bad situation and that it never ends up good, but I think there has been a recent shift in how we portray being a teen parent that is doing more harm than good. And now with Forever 21, a very popular clothing store for teens, putting out a Maternity line in the states with high teen pregnancy rates, it would seem that marketers are taking notice of this trend and are helping make it “cool” to be pregnant.

After watching the premiere of the second season of Teen Mom, I think I would say that it does a better job of showing teen pregnancy in a realistic way.  It certainly doesn’t make it look easy or “cool” and maybe it’s not a bad thing for teens to watch, but I get the feeling that maybe teens are missing the point. And really, with all of the sexualized shows out there for teens to watch, can we really expect them to think differently?