Thursday, April 28, 2011

Morality on 16 and Pregnant OR Teen Mom

Me personally I dislike the show because of how it depicts the people involved especially the mothers before the pregnancy and after. As we discussed in the class Wednesday the issue of morality, when the show first comes on the teens are portrayed in this positive light. Then all of sudden you hear those tragic words,BUT "I'm pregnant" after they just shed this positive image on us as them being all goodie goodie. Is it not possible to still be positive and pregnant. It's like they don't give a lot of the mothers a alternative motive. After their image is "destroyed" for having a baby is when all the problems come along for instance Leah and Corey who are now in a custody battle for their twins or Jenelle who has been on youtube fighting and all has a record (http://elektroradio.com/leah-messer-and-corey-simms-inside-the-breakup-and-battle-for-the-twins/ )

1) Do you think the pressure of being in the spot light is to much pressure for these youth mothers like Janelle, Leah, and Amber?

2) Do you think MTV takes into consideration what effect they will have on these families when they cast these people?

3) Could the fact that the Teens are receiving money play a factor in their deviant actions?

Dorsey

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

OctoMom and the Duggars

Below is a video of an interview with the OctoMom Nadya Suleman.  If you are not familiar with her story, you can view the video below and get a little look into her story.  She currently has 14 kids which she had artificially inseminated through en-vitro.  She used the same man for every procedure but he has not been involved at all in any of the children's lives.  Although she has help from friends and family it is clear that she struggles being a single mom.  Also, being involved in the media she often deals with rumors about her obsession to look like Angelina Jolie, her welfare checks, her inability to care for her children, and her relationship with her babies daddy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkKslz42k5E&feature=related

On the other side of the spectrum there is a family, with a hit T.V. show, named the Duggars.  They are a very religious family that do not believe in contraception.  They currently have 20 children and may have more.  Having seen a couple episodes, it is surprising to see how loving the parents are toward each other and their children.  They have a clear concise plan laid out each day for each child and, with the occasional 'fit', they are very well behaved children who respect their siblings and parents.

1. These two stories are similar in a lot of ways, but also very different in the way they are portrayed.  Do you think that because Nadya, the Octomom, has no father figure in her children's lives that they can never have a life like the Duggars, or is that just circumstance?

2. When you hear of friends or family having twins or triplets, you tend to think of all the hard work that lays ahead of them.  Do you think having that many kids, like the Duggars and Nadya, is just too many to be able to give all of them enough attention and care?

3.  The Duggars religion plays a huge role in their family.  Regardless of religion do you think it would be appropriate to consider the option of contraception or that it is important to stay strong to your beliefs no matter the situation?

-Lauren Bellm

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sex Ed, STI'S and Contraceptive use

I found the following article discussing the types of contraceptives. Please read over the article and answer the questions please.

http://www.avert.org/birth-control-contraception.htm

*If it won't let you click on the link, copy and paste the link into a new window browser and it should work than*


1. Some states require that in order for you to obtain contraceptives you must have parental consent. Do you feel that this would possibly increase teen pregnancy in these states because many teenagers would be too afraid to ask their parents for consent? With that being said do you think all states should make it legal to obtain condoms or any other contraceptive without their parents knowledge?

2. Many people don't know about the alternative contraceptives besides the pill and a condom. How important is it that schools emphasize the other types of contraceptives besides the condom and the pill? the schools that  Where you personally thought about the other methods listed in the article?

3. Who do you feel is responsible for teaching sex education?

4. At what age should sex education be learned?

5. Do you believe sex education encourages young people to have sex or does it actually reduce the chances of the person wanting to have sex?

-Chris M.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Not So Secret Life of the American Teenager

ABCFamily has a series titled Secret Life of the American Teenager. The show began with fifteen-year-old Amy finding out she was pregnant by the school player, Ricky, after her first time having sex. Ricky initally denies being the father but eventually assumes responsibility. Throughout her pregnancy her friends abandon her to a certain extent and she forms relationships with other people, mainly Grace, a Christian, and Adrienne, Ricky's on-again-off-again girlfriend. Grace attemts to support Amy by urging her to have the baby. Amy also meets Ben, who is romantically interested in her and wants to help her with her baby. Ben also wants to marry Amy but everyone goes against it, saying he is not the father of her child so she shouldn't do that to him. Later Amy has the baby and  Ricky says he'll be there for his son, John. To get up to date, I'm skipping some of the information. Currently, Grace lost her virginity to her boyfriend and her dad died in a plane crash. Ben and Adrienne had sex to get back at Ricky and Amy and are now expecting a daughter. Now, Ben wants to marry Adrienne. He says he doesn't want his daughter to know her parents weren't married. Amy and Ricky are currently dating and being a family, despite any lingering feelings that may exist for Ben and Adrienne respectively.

Click here to see the trailer for next weeks episode.

In the three seasons this show has been going, there have been different sexual encounters that have all had serious consequences. Amy became pregnant after her first sexual encounter; Grace's father died after she broke how vow of virginity until marriage; Adrienne, someone who was sexually experienced, became pregnant after having sex out of revenge. While Grace's situation was out of her control, Amy and Adrienne have had serious consequences of sex without a relationship. They become outcasts in the school and among their friends. Is the show sending bad messages about premarital sex to younger viewers of the show?

Marriage is also a big issue in the show. When Ben wanted to marry Amy, no one agreed because he wasn't the father. Now that Adrienne is pregnant, Ben wants to marry her, despite his dad protesting he should wait to get to know her. Ricky was showing interest in other girls, but suddenly decided he should be with the mother of his son. ABCFamily even has a poll where thrity-three percent of responders said they should get married because "they are having a baby!". Should getting married for the sake of a child be pushed over getting to know the person your marrying?

The show advertises the website stayteen.org as a resource to prevent teen pregnancy. However, there is no guarantee that viewers will visit the site. And even if they do, there is no way to know how much they will read and how much they will retain. Currently the show only discusses condoms and birth control pills as forms of birth control. However the show has two cases of where neither method worked. Should this show and others like it discuss more ways to protect against pregnancy and STIs or leave it to the viewers to learn on their own or from other sources?

Sloane H.