I'm addicted to MTV's "16 & Pregnant" and "Teen Mom." I know the shows get a lot of flack for "glorifying" teen pregnancy, but I don't think they do that at all. I think they give a pretty accurate portrayal of how hard teen parenting is, even under the best circumstances.
I also think that they provide a little snapshot of the state of teen behavior in America today. And that state is depressing. On almost every episode, the girls have a discussion with their friends about what they were using for birth control when they got pregnant, and almost across the board the answer is some form of "what's birth control?"
No matter what their race, social class, or educational status is, these girls seem to know astonishingly little about contraception, and I put the blame squarely on the abstinence-only "education" that we continue to rely on, despite the plethora of evidence showing that it doesn't work.
Besides the contraception ignorance, the other thing that makes me crazy is the attitude of the boys on the show. I will say that some of the young men are decent, caring boys doing their best to rise to the challenge and be good fathers and partners. But by a sad majority, they seem to be foul-mouthed assholes content to sleep and play video games while their girlfriends do all the real work of parenting.
The way that some of these boys talk to their girlfriends is either bordering on, or all out, abusive. They say the most despicable, unacceptable things to these girls, and no one (including their own parents) seems to call them on it. I have two sons, and if I ever heard some of things these boys say come out of my sons' mouths, I think I'd have to give them a swift slap across the face (not that I advocate child abuse or anything).
Maybe along with comprehensive sex ed, we need to start teaching a class on basic respect and social behavior since so many parents don't seem to be teaching that anymore.
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Let's keep it civil people.