A shocking Time article about an alarming teen pregnancy pact at Gloucester High School has left many people wondering about the impact on society of Hollywood's glamorization of teen pregnancy. Click here for more information on teen pregnancy numbers.
As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno and Knocked Up for glamorizing young unwed mothers. But principal Joseph Sullivan knows at least part of the reason there's been such a spike in teen pregnancies in this Massachusetts fishing town. School officials started looking into the matter as early as October after an unusual number of girls began filing into the school clinic to find out if they were pregnant. By May, several students had returned multiple times to get pregnancy tests, and on hearing the results, "some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," Sullivan says. All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," the principal says, shaking his head.
The Times article was published online to perfectly coincide with the child birth of famous former teen role model and Zoey 101 star Jamie Lynn Spears. Is Hollywood partly to blame for the rise in teen pregnancies? The indie film Juno about a plucky teen who gets pregnant and arranges for her baby to be adopted was a boxoffice hit. The film shows a neatly packaged "oversimplified" way to deal with teen pregnancy. The moral of Juno is that a teenager having a baby isn't morally wrong and doesn't have to be branded with a Scarlet Letter because everyone can be happy after childbirth. Juno puts her baby up for adoption and then she gets to be a regular kid again. The film earned an Academy Award and Independent Spirit Award for former stripper turned first time screenwriter Diablo Cody. Newcomer Ellen Page also became a household name and skyrocketed to mainstream superstardom.
Is the media sending the wrong message to teens when they send congrats to Jamie Lynn Spears for being an unwed mother at seventeen? Jamie Lynn may still have her lead role on Zoey 101 and will be paid millions of dollars to appear on the cover of OK! Magazine. Lynne Spears will also make a large sum of money from the release of her delayed parenting book & memoir. The news program Inside Edition featured a pregnant Coos Bay teen and called her "The Real Life Juno". The pregnant teenager was so excited by the media coverage she received in her small town that she felt like a famous celebrity.
Jamie Lynn Spears and Teen Pregnancy
COOS BAY - A Coos Bay teen mom is put in the national spotlight, as a tabloid talk show coins her as the real-life character Juno from the popular movie.
Last month, the pregnancy of 18-year-old Teka Steward and the birth of her daughter, Tailor, were highlighted in two episodes of the television show, Inside Edition.
The show chose the Marshfield High School senior after she appeared in a segment about teen pregnancy on a national morning program in mid-April, which found her through an advice web site.
The teen, who wasn't paid for her time, says the experience has been surreal.
"It was kind of weird but it was also exciting," says Steward. "Just because I'm from Coos Bay, just a little town on the Coast. It was nice to be able to help out. It always seems like big cities are where problems are occurring." source
The music industry sang notes of congratulations to Jamie Lynn Spears Thursday night at a Songwriters Hall of Fame event in New York.
Spears's infant daughter, Maddie Briann, made her debut Thursday morning.
"Congratulations Jamie Lynn. Wow, I've not had a baby yet," English singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield said at the soirée. "She'll be able to give us all advice when it happens to us."
The performers and songwriters told the Zoey 101 star not to get too discouraged by the overwhelming media coverage of her early pregnancy and engagement to 19-year-old Casey Aldridge, a Mississippi pipe layer.
"My sister had a child at a young age, too, and I understand what that is like," soul singer John Legend said.
"You just hope that her family supports her and helps her with the baby and she'll be all right."
Country singer-songwriter Blake Shelton echoed the sentiments of many of Spears' friends and family, saying he expects she'll be a wonderful mom.
"I'm from a small town in Oklahoma, and any time you have a teenage girl that is pregnant and has a baby that's going to be the focus," he said. "It doesn't mean she's not going to be a great mother." source
The libs have a hard pill (or not!) to swallow with this catastrophe.
The liberal sex manifesto is “abortion at any age, sex at any age.” So, why is everyone so surprised?
The liberals say, “screw now, and pay later”. Their little condom-distribution scheme didn’t work so well this time!! These children just said, “we will have sex without a condom.” The poor children (no one over age 16) now have to deal with childbirth.
But wait!!! The godless libs have an answer for this one too. It involves just cutting the babies out of them and throwing them in the trash.
Hmmm…..guess the libs got it all covered…
Don’t you get it??? These girls REFUSED birth control. They had access to it. Hell, they were in the high school health clinic all the time getting pregnancy tests to find out if Billy Bob hit their timing just right. NOTHING could have stopped their quest to get pregnant. These were not accidental pregnancies by naive kids. They are not retarded or braindead!! They knew what they were trying to do!!
These are not young newly weds. These tramps screwed over and over with any boy till they got pregnant. Even the news media said the pregnancy test requests at the school had skyrocketed!! Okay, then what is your definition of a slut. This is what the Webster online dictionary says: SLUT - 1 chiefly British : a slovenly woman 2 a: a promiscuous woman. Now, I am not judging these kids, but they fit the definition of SLUTS!!!!
Posted by: Heather | June 22, 2008 at 12:45 AM
The libs have a hard pill (or not!) to swallow with this catastrophe.
The liberal sex manifesto is “abortion at any age, sex at any age.” So, why is everyone so surprised?
The liberals say, “screw now, and pay later”. Their little condom-distribution scheme didn’t work so well this time!! These children just said, “we will have sex without a condom.” The poor children (no one over age 16) now have to deal with childbirth.
But wait!!! The godless libs have an answer for this one too. It involves just cutting the babies out of them and throwing them in the trash.
Hmmm…..guess the libs got it all covered…
Don’t you get it??? These girls REFUSED birth control. They had access to it. Hell, they were in the high school health clinic all the time getting pregnancy tests to find out if Billy Bob hit their timing just right. NOTHING could have stopped their quest to get pregnant. These were not accidental pregnancies by naive kids. They are not retarded or braindead!! They knew what they were trying to do!!
These are not young newly weds. These tramps screwed over and over with any boy till they got pregnant. Even the news media said the pregnancy test requests at the school had skyrocketed!! Okay, then what is your definition of a slut. This is what the Webster online dictionary says: SLUT - 1 chiefly British : a slovenly woman 2 a: a promiscuous woman. Now, I am not judging these kids, but they fit the definition of SLUTS!!!!
Posted by: Heather | June 22, 2008 at 12:45 AM
Funny that you can blame everything on the Liberals. Although you can say "oh, well if they distribute condoms, they are condonin sexual activity", or that if you give the opportunity for abortion, you will basiclly be saying "oh, you know what, it means nothing... no consiquences".
Well here's the deal: there has been sexual activity going on in schools ever since guys and girls have taken classes together, and had gym classes together and had the opportunity to see the opposite sex's physique, and speak to the opposite.
Condoms prevent people from having to get abortions, and abortions are legal because otherwise you have people going to 'back-ally abortionists', which, consequently, could result in death and/or mutilation of the female, and the baby, if born regardless.
If you did not have sex in high school, you at least knew of many kids around you that did, and out of those who did, how many do you believe used a condom? How many do you think got lucky by dodging a bullet? And how many girls do you think went to abortionists and never told anybody about it?
Condoms are also extremely important to learn to use for the prevention of STIs or Sexually Transmitted Infections transfer. This includes everything, from herpes, to AIDS to Hepititis. You can think, as much as you want, that you know your partner, but that one slip up without a condom will cost you a child, or an infection/disease or even both! Could you imagine getting with a woman that, in high school, had a sex, and because condoms were looked down upon, and end up finding out that you have hepiititis C, or even worse, AIDS? Or even worse, the idea that you get marries, and want to have children, but cant because the girl was not allowed to get an abortion from a licensed doctor - which resulted in mutilation and/or destruction of sexual organs.
Sure, in a way it is easy to say it is all the Liberals fault, but maybe the other side of the spectrum may be pig-headed in that they are afraid to admit that teens in high school are going to have sex. They will try to experiment in high school because it is a time of learning.
Teach them what pregnancy and STIs will do to a young person. It is time for the parents to speak to their children about what the reprecussions are when unprotected sex take place, and what to do if they decide to have sex - what they should d to take care of themselves, and how they can be sure to make sure that the guy or girl is the right person for it, as they are responsible partners and knowledgable about the human body and the aftermath of sex during poor less-than-optimal circumstances.
Parents, be smart, responsible and open with your children. Let them know about what the school isn't teaching them. TALK ABOUT SEX! DONT LET THEM REBEL THROUGH SEX!
By the way: what do you consider Kemp, who has 11 kids with 11 different women in the NBA (ret.). How do you define that? Is he a slut? Or a 'player'?
Slut is something you called people back in the 90's... it's a new world now. There is no wonder why you still don't uderstand the new means of thinking, ratehr than the thinking that made 16 year old girls in the 80's go to back ally abortionists.
I hope you have an opportunity to read this.
They say 'never argue with a fool, because you'll be made to look like one.', well hopefully somebody with that view is not so foolish, and will be able to understand this argument.
Thank you.
Posted by: sjohns | June 27, 2008 at 03:38 PM
Funny that you can blame everything on the Liberals. Although you can say "oh, well if they distribute condoms, you are condonin sexual activity", or that if you give the opportunity for abortion, you will basiclly be saying "oh, you know what, it means nothing... no consiquences".
Well here's the deal: there has been sexual activity going on in schools ever since guys and girls have taken classes togetehr, and had gym classes together and had the opportunity to see the opposite sex's physique, and speak to the opposite.
Condoms prevent people from having to get abortions, and abortions are legal because otherwise you have people going to 'back-ally abortionists', which, consequently, could result in death and/or mutilation of the female, and the baby, if born regardless.
If you have did not have sex in high school, you at least knew of many kids around you that did, and out of those who did, how many do you believe used a condom? How many do you think got lucky by dodging a bullet? And how many girls do you think went to abortionists and never told anybody about it?
Condoms are also extremely important to learn to use for the prevention of STIs or Sexually Transmitted Infections. This includes everything, from herpes, to AIDS to Hepititis. You can think as much as you want that you know your partner, but that one slip up without a condom will cost you a child, or an infection/disease or even both! Could you imagine getting with a woman that, in high school, had a past in High School, because condoms were looked down upon, and end up finding out that you have hepiititis C, or even worse, AIDS? Or even worse, the idea that you get marries, and want to have children, but cant because the girl was not allowed to get an abortion from a licensed doctor - which resulted in mutilation and/or destruction of sexual organs.
Sure, in a way it is easy to say it is all the Liberals fault, but maybe the other side of the spectrum may be pig-headed in that they are afraid to admit that teens in high school are going to have sex. They will try to experiment in high school because it is a time of learning.
Teach them what pregnancy and STIs will do to a young person. It is time for the parents to speak to their children about what the reprecussions are when unprotected sex take place, and what to do if they decide to have sex - what they should d to take care of themselves, and how they can be sure to make sure that the guy or girl is the right person for it, as they are responsible partners and knowledgable about the human body and the aftermath of sex during poor less-than-optimal circumstances.
Parents, be smart, responsible and open with your children. Let them know about what the school isn't teaching them. TALK ABOUT SEX! DONT LET THEM REBEL THROUGH SEX!
By the way: what do you consider Kemp, who has 11 kids with 11 different women in the NBA (ret.). How do you define that? Is he a slut? Or a 'player'?
Slut is something you called people back in the 90's... it's a new world now. There is no wonder why you still don't uderstand the new means of thinking, ratehr than the thinking that made 16 year old girls in the 80's go to back ally abortionists.
I hope you have an opportunity to read this.
They say 'never argue with a fool, because you'll be made to look like one.', well hopefully somebody with that view is not so foolish, and will be able to understand this argument.
Thank you.
Posted by: sjohnson | June 27, 2008 at 03:39 PM