{"id":266851,"date":"2010-02-02T17:00:22","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T22:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/collegecandy.com\/?p=52458"},"modified":"2010-02-02T17:00:22","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T22:00:22","slug":"teen-mom-for-lessons-or-for-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/266851","title":{"rendered":"Teen Mom: For Lessons or for Ratings?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Throughout the years, MTV has thrown some bizarre ideas for reality shows our way.\u00a0 Some catch the attention of the nation while others fall through the cracks.\u00a0 While watching MTV (daily) I find myself screaming at the TV, \u201cWHAT is the point of this show??\u201d\u00a0 Entertainment value, usually.\u00a0 That is if you can call watching guys pick a date based on the underwear a girl has in her drawer, entertainment. (Thanks, Room Raiders<\/a>).\u00a0 However, what about the shows that may have actually been created for a real reason?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s rewind.\u00a0 Teen Mom<\/a>.\u00a0 Yes, like most people, I am obsessed.\u00a0 I am still trying to figure out what Catelynn has that I don\u2019t (besides braces, a trailer, and a 1995 JCPenny homecoming dress) that makes Tyler choose HER over me.\u00a0 SO unfair.\u00a0 But back to my point: as I watched the finale of Teen Mom last week and gear up for tonight’s reunion episode with Dr. Drew, I’m really starting to wonder what MTV was trying to do with this show.<\/p>\n

Was it for entertainment value? Sure, listening to Gary recite a definition of the word \u201cempathy\u201d during the finale was extremely entertaining, but teen pregnancy is a huge issue; is MTV trying to take a stance? Are they trying to educate teens about the horrors of teen pregnancy? Maybe trying to prevent it? You would think by airing this show, MTV could position themselves as advocates to prevent teen pregnancy and use the show as an education tool, while also providing entertainment.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

And if that was<\/em> the intent, I have a couple issues with how it was seen through.<\/p>\n

Personally, I did not find the show realistic.\u00a0 Throughout the season, Farrah was the only teen mom who did not have the baby\u2019s father in the picture.\u00a0 I\u2019m not implying that the other moms are leading ideal lives with their outstanding boyfriends, but Catelynn, Amber, and Maci all got pregnant by their boyfriend at the time.\u00a0 These were guys that they were having consensual sex with regularly.\u00a0 Although Gary and Ryan may go down in history as two of the worst boyfriends ever<\/em>, throughout the season they are shown trying to make their relationships \u201cwork\u201d in the best interest of their new child.<\/p>\n

Farrah, on the other hand, although not with the father of her child, lives at home with her mother and father.\u00a0\u00a0 It is evident that Farrah has grown up pretty fortunately and has an extremely comfortable living situation.\u00a0 The \u201chardships\u201d Farrah faces include not being able to party with her friends all the time, and not being able to find a boyfriend who is ready to date a girl with a kid.\u00a0 Yes these things might be difficult for her, but in the scheme of teen pregnancy they are quite trivial.\u00a0 Her parents are always there to help out, and support her both emotionally and financially. The same is true for the rest of the teen moms on the show.<\/p>\n

If MTV was trying to educate about teen pregnancy and the perils of dealing with it, why not show girls who are even less fortunate?\u00a0 What about the ones out there who are really on their own?\u00a0 There are plenty of girls who come from uneducated, broken families, who get pregnant and have no escape, and no chance at a better life.\u00a0 Some live their whole lives on welfare and in many cases do not know who the father is.\u00a0 My feeling is that MTV chose these specific moms because the typical viewer could relate to them better than a girl whose life has really <\/em>been ruined by teen pregnancy.\u00a0 If this is the case, then why didn\u2019t MTV even show how truly hard raising a child as a teenager is?\u00a0 There is not one clip throughout the whole season of one of the moms staying up the whole night with a crying baby, or cleaning up vomit.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to go as far as to say that MTV \u201cglamorized\u201d being a teen mom, but I don\u2019t think the show will leave any viewers thinking \u201cOh my god, this CANNOT happen to me, I better take precaution.\u201d<\/p>\n

And speaking of precaution, MTV never hit on the topic of prevention.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember any of the girls being interviewed as to why birth control was not used during sex. Was it a one time slip-up with no condom?\u00a0 Too afraid to ask their parents? No resources? These questions never surfaced throughout the season.\u00a0 And furthermore, I find it extremely unrealistic to not mention abortion on the topic of teen pregnancy.\u00a0 The a-word was non-existent throughout the series, but in reality, it is an option.\u00a0 Most people have strong opinions on the subject, being either completely against it or for it.\u00a0 But just because it would have stirred up controversy, does that mean MTV should have ignored it completely? If they wanted to use their power to educate teens and lay all the options on the table, why wasn\u2019t it even mentioned?<\/p>\n

So besides making me fall in love with Tyler, what was MTV\u2019s purpose in producing this show? Do you think they portrayed teen pregnancy realistically?\u00a0 Share your thoughts, peeps!<\/p>\n

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Throughout the years, MTV has thrown some bizarre ideas for reality shows our way.\u00a0 Some catch the attention of the nation while others fall through the cracks.\u00a0 While watching MTV (daily) I find myself screaming at the TV, \u201cWHAT is the point of this show??\u201d\u00a0 Entertainment value, usually.\u00a0 That is if you can call watching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}