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TV dramas making baby mamas
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"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States," said Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist who led the research at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
I must respond with a great big DUH!
Is it entirely fair for me to blame Gossip Girl or the new 90210 to the fact that I have a preg 9th grade student due in December? No...other factors naturally fall into the equation, but TV most certainly has made sex as normal to teens as breaking out.
Back when I was a youngster 90210 was edgy, but every episode ended with a positive, moral lesson that was learned by each character. Kelly's struggle with diet pills was short lived as she learns that real beauty is skin deep. David falls into drug addiction that last all of umm 2-3 weeks! Even super-nerd Andrea gets knocked up by her Latino boyfriend! Naturally they run to city hall to make sure their baby isn't born a bastard.
Then there is Bitchy Brenda...it's her situation I always remember best. Small town country girl meets big city bad boy and passion overcomes them. However, despite her teenage need to fit in, Brenda debated losing her virginity to Dylan over and over and over again. She displayed a sense of morality that I respected. Her character viewed sex as a severe decision that comes with dire consequences. When she did give in she then suffered a pregnancy scare that set her straight! Little Dylan was tucked away for awhile and then we know what happens. He moved on Kelly Taylor. Brenda was played! I certainly didn't want that to happen to me!
Sex was a part of the show but it was real. There was guilt, shame, regret and babies! All good reasons to be like Donna and keep it in your pants.
Now when I tune into my favorite 8 o'clock drama I see a girl giving head to a dude in his car before school. I see Blair Waldorf using sex as a weapon for revenge and manipulation. I see children acting like very skanky adults. Now I LOVE me some Gossip Girl, but I'm grown and understand that if I lived my life that way I would lead a very empty life filled with visits to the GYN. However, my 8th grader that loves GG as much as I do probably wishes her life was as glamorous as Serena and Blair's. A disgusting boy-whore like Chuck Bass is probably appealing to her in some twisted way ,and if she were to ever met a real life Chuck she would be silly putty in his grimy little hands.
It's ignorant and irresponsible to think that the media doesn't influence children, when more and more we see sex and violence become a natural part of their being. Maybe seeing a head smashed open in a movie or playing a video game where you beat a prostitute with a bat has something to do with it? I don't know, I could be way off.
But there is something wrong with the world when a 13 year old girl tells me that she met a new cute boy and when I ask her if he is going to be her new boyfriend, she responds with a " Oh I don't do boyfriends, I do friends with benefits!"
O M F G!
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