Teen Pregnancy: an Epidemic

Teen Pregnancy: an Epidemic

Briana Batie Batie 1
Kim Shepherd
ENG.090/091-16
19 April 2010
Teen Pregnancy: An Epidemic
Todays society is suddenly portraying teen pregnancy as “acceptable” or even “cool” which is causing the teen pregnancy rate to increase tremendously. The media plays a huge role when it comes to exposing young teens to different types of TV shows and movies with teen pregnancy as their storyline. Many adolesent teens have the “I can do it too” attitude from watching such shows which is contributing to the rising trend of young teen mothers**. Currently, the teen pregnancy rate has increased approximently 14 percent in young teens ranging from ages 16-18.**There are not enough TV shows explaining the difficulty and big responsibility that come along with having a baby to raise on your own.
The Hollywood scene glamorizes teens as single mothers and even young celebrities who are pregnant and has made it attractive for other young teens. For example, when Jamie Lynn Spears, a 16 year old sister of Brittany Spears was announced pregnant it was wide spread over OK magazine and sold over two million copies and continued to sell because of popular demand**. At first it was a shock to everyone and then accepted because she was so young and was going to have a lot of help and support from her mother to live a normal life. So for Jamie Spears being a young, wealthy, preteen idol, she has millions of fans who look up to her and watch by her example on how she handles her situation and they want to do the same. Not once did the media stop and try to explain the situation in a way that would make young teens aware that what happended to her is not ok.
Hit shows such as “Degrassi” and “Gossip Girl” also has an huge impact on young teens today. Many of them look up to...

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