by We all know abstinence, as a birth control method, is not a good way to avoid pregnancy because the failure rate for abstinence is 100% if a tiny drop of a mistake is made — and many young people today have variable definitions of sex that goes far beyond simple penile penetration of the vagina. You have your sloppy oral sex. You have your crude anal sex. You have your various raw rubbings and rubbery gruntings in the back seats of cars and on den sofas. You don’t know when a drip or a dribble might take a turn for the worse and a baby is the made as the result of a quick-release lust. MTV has a terrific show called — 16 and Pregnant — and it is a magnificent piece of reality television that puts the truth to the lie that unplanned teen pregnancies, and unwed teen moms, are something to be celebrated in the media.
16 and Pregnant is a horrible show to watch because everyone is miserable. The pregnant teens always think they’ll be able to handle a new baby and they are always, and inevitably, 100% wrong. The “baby daddys” are unreliable, missing, or don’t stick around and sometimes even the parent of the pregnant girls are not to be found.
The lesson of 16 and Pregnant is clear: DON’T GET PREGNANT. There are no winners. It is lose, lose, lose every way you turn. Boys are cads. It is always best to not get pregnant in the first place and that means being on the birth control pill at the onset of puberty — because young girls must first protect themselves and never rely on a boy being responsible enough to do the right thing.
16 and Pregnant’s lesson is being heard: Since the series debuted in 2009, teenage birthrates are down by an astonishing 6%:
The nation’s teen birth rate plummeted 6% in 2009 and is now at a record low, according to new data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Rates declined for the youngest teens (down 17% among those 10-14), middle teens (down 7% among those 15-17) and down an encouraging 6% among those 18-19.
Teen birth rates are also down for all racial/ethnic groups. For example, the birth rate for Hispanic teens 15-19 declined 10%–that’s right, ten percent–and is now at a record low.
There is no such thing as a coincidence. 16 and Pregnant is getting across a harsh and brittle message — teen moms are miserable and foolish — and the rest of society is better for MTV’s thankless effort. Teen Mom is the follow-up show to 16 and Pregnant and confirms, even more harshly, that babies born to unwed teenage mothers are likely doomed to poverty and an uneducated life.
Kim Kardashian, of course, gets it all wrong with anecdotal evidence that proves she still thinks with her her head up her bum:
KIM KARDASHIAN is blaming MTV’s Teen Mom reality television show for the teen pregnancy epidemic plaguing a high school in Memphis, Tennessee.
RadarOnline.com reported that Kim Tweeted, calling the program “disturbing” and warned followers that teen pregnancy should not be considered “trendy”.
16 and Pregnant must be required viewing for every teenager. Make them sit and watch every moment of every episode. The girls are doomed. The boys, even when they try to do the right thing, always fail. The burden of the new life is 100% on these young, unprepared, mothers — and the sad fact is by the time to realize their failed fate, they already have a bundle of sorrow crying in their arms.
It really should be required watching — sort of like a ‘scared straight’ for possible teen mothers.
Yes, that’s exactly right, Gordon. I just sit there with my jaw ajar thinking, “How easily that could’ve been me.” Their lives are over. You sacrifice your life and your hopes and your dreams to your children. Period. You now live for them and not yourself.