Do you think as a society we are sexualizing our children younger and beginning to idolize teen pregnancies?

Question

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/jamie-lynn-spears-poses-with-baby-for-mag-cover/10629

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesryanjonas/2452909143/

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20055380,00.html

What are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

Teen pregnancy rates really haven't changed that much in the past 50 years. It's just that in the past, pregnant teens were forced to marry the fathers of their babies or shuttled off somewhere to have their babies, which were then placed for adoption.

Edit: My daughters do not dress like s***s and I pretty much allow them to wear what they want. I know they have different tastes in clothes than I do and I am not going to pick out what they wear. My fashion tastes were pretty much formed when I was a teenager in the 1970s. In those days, many parents thought their children dressed provocatively because tight fitting clothes were popular. I did not wear clothes that revealed a lot of skin but I was fond of pants and shirts that looked like they had been sprayed on. My parents did not like what I wore but they realized I came from a different time. If they had had their way, I probably would have been wearing styles from the 1940s and been laughed at in school. Looking back, I imagine some of the clothing I used to wear could be considered shocking but I was able to pull it off because I was very thin at the time. I think part of the problem with clothes today is that people are getting outfits they don't really fit into because in general, they are heavier than they were a generation ago.

Answer 2

putting numbers on it and judging when a person in ready is only a very recent thing, the only real arguments against teen pregnancies are economic, teen pregnancy's are inconvenient in our present economic structure.

the reality is that teen pregnancies are natural.

Answer 3

Teen pregnancy has actually gone down in recent years.

But yes, parents need to be knocked over the head and not be in such a rush for their kids to grow up.

Answer 4

All sexuality in general is more open now, straight, g*y, pubescent, you name it.  It's always been there.  We were just good at covering it up. In olden days they used to take girls at age 13 and impregnant then.  Don't believe me? Read the bible. The difference now is that teens are having s*x with each other rather than some horny old frog exploiting some fresh flower.  Sorry to be so crass, but you know.

Answer 5

Kids are becoming more sexualized at a young age but after reading the links in Two Socks answer I'm not certain that there's a connection between teen pregnancy and the media.

Answer 6

my thought is that implying that all teen pregnancies are bad is kind of stupid.

It was commonplace for previous generations to have their first child in their teens

Shamu: OK, but I am sure you can explain why education is good and arranged marriages are bad. But why is it wrong to have a child at 18 or 19? Or even 17?

Answer 7

http://www.lifescript.com/channels/healt...

https://www.teenpregnancy.org/about/anno...

http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/r...

A little known fact- teen pregnancy rates have been dropping since the ninetys.  Download the last link and you will see a graph showing a significant drop from 1991 to 2005.  IMO the problem I see is that young girls are learning to objectfy themselves at a young age.  I don't believe that Jamie Lynn Spears is influencing young girls to want to get pregnant any more than Madonna did with her Papa don't Preach video.

The numbers have been declining despite Madonna or anyone else because teens are practicing safe s*x more.  

Teen pregnancy is still viewed as a problem because we've developed a zero tolerance mentality (and rightfully so) but we  need to start giving these kids out here a little more credit than what we do.  Afterall, we were all young once.

I believe abstinence only education is the reason we still have a problem.  We would probably have even lower teen pregancy numbers if it weren't for that.

Edit-  You are right in your observation that  there's more provocative imagery out here of  kids dressing s**y and wearing next to nothing.  My chief concern though is kids imitating that style of dress and attracting more pedophiles and abductors.  Who's fault is it?  Every consumer who buys a mag with the next best thing to kiddie p**n on the cover. It's easy to try and blame the parents but they can't watch them every minute of their life.  Promoting the culture economically is what sustains the imagery.  All a parent can do is train their children to dress and behave age appropiately but they can't control their childs behavior at school or at a sleep over.  The other problem contributing to this is the genetically modified and hormone infested food. These kids at ten and eleven years old are experiencing hormone rages that  I never had to deal with. The only way to repair that is to repair the food.

Answer 8

Yes, I do.  Children that you see walking down the street are dressed half naked.  Children on t.v. are dressed half naked.  Children cartoon characters are dressed the same.  What happened to little kids wearing tee shirts and jeans/shorts to go outside and play?  Now they wear half tops, low cut jeans, and show their bra straps.  Now they wear sports bras as shirts, and everyone thinks this is okay.  Infact, I hardly ever see Teens going outside to play anymore.  Oh no, they're too good for that, right?  Their parents allow them to sit inside and watch t.v., play on the internet(with strangers), video games, eat, and talk on the phone.  Back in the day, parents told us to get off of our *** and go outside to play.  Parents now have less backbone.(not all of them, but the majority)  

Well, it's not okay.  Teens getting pregnant moreso now than ever is just a result of this "sexual acceptancy" we have going on now.  Teens sneaking around and going to s*x parties, and doing drugs.  And their parents are to blame.  Condoning more than anstinence; sure, allow them to take the pill and buy them their own condoms, go ahead!  That's being such a good parent.  *Whatever happened to Band practice, Track practice, Football games, Soccer games, Baseball games, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, Swimming, making up new games at the park, riding bikes, Drama Club, Academic Decathalon, and all the other things kids should be doing?

I don't care what anyone says; my parents didn't allow me to act or dress like a s**t at any age, and I wasn't one.  But if you have parents who let you wear whatever you want, and do whatever you want, well then ... the child will end up trying to copy what they see on the t.v.  I just can't believe a lot of times when I see these young girls walking WITH their parents and they're dressed this way.  The parents are condoning this behavior.  Our society is f***ed up.  My mother/father would've kicked my ***.  Parents nowadays think it's cute when their kid wears a miniskirt and half top, and I hope they find it cute when they catch their kid having s*x on the couch with some boy.  

Have fun raising the grandkids!

edit:  I have a memory of my older sister who used to sneak S****y shirts to school and change there.  See, I guess she thought my mom was dumb.  But my mom was in all of our a****s, and she knew what was up with us.  She went to my sister's school, and caught her coming out to the bus with a S****y shirt on.  My mom got out of her car and ran up to my sister in front of the whole school and confronted her.  She slapped her right across her face and made her look like a fool.  But my sister never did that again.  And she also never dressed like a s**t again.  That's parenting.

Answer 9

Little girls naturally want to look pretty like the girls they find pretty. It's the parents job to teach the girl the value of modesty.

TV sure isn't going to do it.

Answer 10

TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY. Not only are 10 year olds having s*x today, they are sexually maturing faster. Some girls are beginning puperty at age eight. Starting their periods, having s*x and getting pregnant before they stop playing with Barbies! As for teen pregnacy, it is being idolized. Movies like Juno only show the happy-go-lucky way, with supporting parents and a perfect adoptive family. Most parents aren't as accepting when it comes to finding out that their 15 year old is pregnant. My best friend since the age of two got pregnant when her boyfriend was a junior in highschool. They were quickly married and now have a 1 1/2 year old boy, but her boyfriend(now husband) had to go finish highschool with a wife and child. It is really hard for them because her husband is very immature. He wasn't at all ready for marriage and his family was very controlling, they wouldn't let him go.

Answer 11

No I don't.  I think we shield our children and they become dumb, halfass adults.  I think some of us spend waaaaay too much time watching TV and worrying about the way other people live.

Hey, live and let live, man!  Know what I'm saying?!!...

Answer 12

Well, long time ago.. women used to get pregnant a lot younger ... mainly due to the fact people didn't live as long. Different times call for different measures, but in today's society.. I see no reason for teens to get pregnant. Its just not very wise and the repercussions are great.

Answer 13

It is most definitely the parents' fault, but then the parents tend to follow the flow of society. For my own story, buying the "cute" adult styles of clothing for my daughter at the age of 12 months, 2 years, and then 3 years. Clothes that shouldn't even be on the children's rack at all, I thought were cute on my innocent daughter, because they were stylish. Now knowing differently, I realized that in order to keep her from following that disgusting path, I would have to change my ways so that she wouldn't follow me negatively! Now she prefers to wear floral anything (though not my taste), long skirts, and simple clothing. If I hadn't broken the mold of what society thinks is acceptable, then I would also be there conmplaining why my daughter does this and that at a certain age. This is not to say that she is exempt from everything surrounding her, but it does say that it isn't normal for her so she won't be as accepting of it to wear it comfortably later on! I also wear minimal to no make-up. She used to love to pretend to wear make-up like Momma. Now she asks to wear "make-up" as in moisturizer, pointing to the bottle and no longer wishes to borrow make-up brushes. I remember coming across some afternoon chat show and seeing a 4 year old screaming at her mother because her mother hadn't put on her daughter's make-up that day. Entirely the mother's fault for making make-up such a nescessity and the daughter in turn seeing this as how it is and following her mother's ways.

To add on, it also doesn't help when fathers (if around) are not putting their foot down and objecting to how their girls are looking, or how their boys are treating girls that look like this. I see these families walking around and the girl wearing next to nothing and wonder why the dad didn't stop it. In my own home, my stepdad said a few things about some of my clothing choices, though they were far from bad compared to other girls. But if my mom said to him not to complain, I got away with it. I now wish my mom would have listened to him.

As for teen pregnancy, I agree with prior posts on the abstinence subject. Saying don't do it, isn't going to stop a thing. However, actually explaining the facts and teaching the whole story will do so many new wonders. My own mother basically told us kids (daughters and son), that we should only engage in s*x if we are capable up handling any consequences, and went on to explain ALL of the possibilities. But I don't think we idolize teen pregnancy, just becoming numb to the idea which makes us no longer see it as a big deal.

Answer 14

I am a teen girl, and one forum I frequent a lot that is directed towards my demographic is gurl.com. On their "relationships & s*x" boards, I see countless of posts from girls as young as 12 or 13 asking whether they should have s*x, talking about their friends having s*x, or talking about how they lost their virginity.

I'm not the sort of person that thinks s*x should be taboo and not discussed with children. I'm pretty open about it in all its forms, as long as there is consent and both parties are mature enough to handle it. But most 13-year-olds simply do not have the maturity level to handle it-- many SIXTEEN-year-olds do not.

It really bothers me, and I think it does have a lot to do with celebrity influences. Girls say to themselves, "Well, it's fine to have s*x if Miley's doing it, and it's OK if I get pregnant-- I'll just keep it, like Jamie Lynn." The truth is that girls should not be putting themselves in a position to get pregnant.

I'm not trying to say "It's all the fault of girls," because it takes two to tango, but since the celebrities used in the example are all female it's easier.

Another huge issue is abstinence-only education. Since s*x IS happening-- that's undeniable-- teens should be taught how to properly protect themselves. They should learn that they have more options than just the condom and the pill.

Answer 15

The responsibility falls on the parents to explain s*x and teach morals. One of the problems is that parents are acting like kids, while their kids are acting like adults. Outsourcing s*x ed and the teaching of morals to schools is the problem.

People that blame the media are the same people that failed to developed a bond with their kid(s) begining with at the birth of the child or can't admit the truth to cause of this effect. The parents that do this point the blame some place else because the guilt trip would eat them alive.

To people with the intelligence to see where I am going with this, this is being realistic not sexist. Begining with Freud, up through the rest of the psychoanalysts, to Erikson (who's life cycles is probably the best chart of development), to modern psychology, the truth is known, but they just say the truth without pissing off a lot of people.

In Erikson's life cycles, without a stable base being developed in the first cycle of life, the tower is going to crumble at some point later on in another cycle. If the children don't have a stable base from Erikson's theory and have parents that are dubbed evil from Karen Horney's theory (don't provide safety, security, warmth, and affection), the kid is doomed in later cycles.

With the current attitude of American parents, this nation is doomed. Not many people care. The PC world has made peope to sensitive and the Pop psychology movement has taught  people avoid guilt. It is easy to create a scapegoat, pretend we are fxing the problem, and forget about it.

Answer 16

Yes, I think so. I'm a teenager and I don't see anything glamorous about having kids being a teen. I think that with all of the celebrities having kids at a young age they figure that it isn't hard and it's sometime fun and easy. Parents need to wake up and talk to their kids and teens need to wake up and realize that parenthood is something complicated and shouldn't be taken lightly.

Answer 17

I believe that there are 2 reasons for why our kids are sexualized at such a young age. The first reason is that there is no longer at least one parent in the home. Kids have access to hardcore p**n at their fingertips and no adult supervision. We've become a p**n-obsessed society. The second reason is the enforcer (the dad) is virtually absent from children's lives, thus creating a vicious circle of teen pregnancy. A teen girl is less likely to be out humping around looking for love and male approval if dad is at home.