by Lisa Brady
Thanks to a new wave of reality TV shows like MTV’s Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, and ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, the issue of teen pregnancy is out in the open (and apparently a source of endless entertainment). But does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that ABC Family is showing a series about teen pregnancy?
In the past it was considered a grievous mistake to get pregnant before getting married. These days, with the 50% divorce rate and the prevalence of one-night stands (and unprotected copulation), it’s very common to have a single parent situation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If Gilmore Girls has taught us anything, its that single mom’s (or dad’s) rock – and can be super hot. And with the likes US Weekly and People rewarding teenage moms with magazine covers, it’s almost as if the mainstream media is actively encouraging the phenomenon.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are married, middle-aged women who can’t conceive for anything. In the introduction to Idiocracy, a hilarious film that takes the dumbing down of our society to the nth degree, they explain how things got that way. The sequence shows how uneducated hillbillies are be able to reproduce like rabbits while married Mensa couples fail to conceive no matter how hard they try. Sadly this rings a little too true, and is an interesting observation, when you think about how entertainment has grabbed onto the idea of teen pregnancy.
It must be incredibly frustrating to be a woman who waited until later in life to be a mom, only to find out she can’t have kids, and then to watch a TV show like Teen Mom where young girls are doing the most ridiculous shit, like leaving their children unattended, or not being able to form a complete and coherent sentence. If I was trying to conceive and couldn’t, watching something like that would make me want to put my foot through the television.
I recently did some research into the world of fertility and conception, and let me tell you, there are some major hoops to jump through. In addition to the basic counting of days to find out when you’re ovulating, there are calendars that mark the days you’re most likely to conceive one sex or the other, certain positions that are more likely to result in pregnancy, and pages and pages of women talking in a completely different language (ttc, bd, af* – you better learn these before you try and read anything on a parenting website).
When you get down to science of it, getting pregnant is quite difficult. There are only a few days out of the entire month that you’re likely to conceive. But if it’s so damn hard, how are all these teenagers getting pregnant so easily? My mother’s answer: “Because they screw like rabbits.” Not exactly scientific, but basically her sentiment is correct. Younger women are simply more fertile, and the more you tempt fate, the more likely you are to get bitch slapped by it.
Pregnancy, once considered a taboo subject unless you were of a certain age and married, has done a 180. We’ve left behind the twin-set and pearls, idealistic 50’s bullshit. Personally, I think if a woman or a man wants to raise a child by themselves, and are competent and capable, then why the hell not? I also think it’s ridiculous that there are so many examples of crappy parenting out there and it doesn’t seem to stem the flow of terrible choices. Oh well, kids will be kids and teenagers have been having un-married sex for centuries probably. Now we just get to watch it in prime time – and read about it in our “celebrity” magazines.
*ttc = trying to conceive bd = baby dance (my fave) af = aunt flow
