Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Secret Life of an American Teenager

One of the hottest shows of the summer was "The Secret Life of an American Teenager."
If you missed it its about a high school girl named Amy who, while at band camp over the summer, has sex for the first time with a boy named Ricky. The end result, Amy gets pregnant.
Unfortunately, at least from my high school experience, this is more and more common. High school girls are having sex and having babies. I am 26 and know I could not care for another life but at 16 I would have died!
Call me crazy but what is wrong with these kids?
Kids having kids, where are the parents?
I didn't have sex in high school and was actually looked down for it, I was a prude, I was uncool, but I also wasn't walking around wondering. I knew that I graduated without a disease, without a positive pregnancy test, without a pregnancy scare! I was just fine without it. I also didn't have the pressuring boyfriend.
Why do guys need to have sexual conquests? Why is it "cool" to sleep with as many woman as possible but if a girl sleeps with every guy she's a whore or a slut? The double standard is horrible.
Girls get pegged as "easy" while guys get a pat on the back.
After Amy discovers that she is pregnant on the show she has a decision to make, stay at her current school or go to an all girls placement school. Why was this a hard decision for Amy to make, because unlike Ricky, Amy will start to actually show that she is pregnant. Ricky, on the other hand, can continue on with his life as if nothing happened, and he did. Ricky continued to sleep around with other girls and date other girls.
What makes this a TV show and not real life is Amy starts to date Ben. Ben is the most amazing guy around and treats Amy with amazing respect and love and at the age of 16 even buys Amy a ring and asks her to marry him. In real life there is no Ben.
I had pregnant friends in high school, Ben did not exist. The Ricky's in their lives tended to disappear as well. This leaves the girl, pregnant, alone and labeled. She is labeled as easy, a whore, a slut, people look down on her. Rarely is the guy looked down upon, talked about, or labeled. Instead his friends are talking to him about "how was it," "is she a screamer," "can I take a stab at her next."
High school is hard enough being high school without sex and pregnancy involved.
The TV shows, the movies, the magazines all push "sexy" and this is what these kids see and want to be like, but kids need to be kids!
A few years back I was at my little sisters basketball game, she was in Jr.high at the time, as I sat in the stands a few sixth graders were sitting behind me. I could not believe my ears as the four of them were discussing their first times! In sixth grade I think I was still playing with Barbie dolls and playing dress up with my friends, not having sex. In sixth grade you are twelve years old, kids should be learning about the changes their bodies will be going through, not teaching the class.
Shows like "The Secret Life of an American Teenager" tend to glorify the situation, possibly sending kids running to the bedroom or the back of the car. Teenagers are impressionable and people should be more careful about what their children are watching. "Gossip Girl", "90201", "The Hills", "The OC" all of these shows show a glorified life of sex and how wonderful life can be as a rebellious teenager, life is not fiction.
The original "Beverly Hills 90210" came out when I was much younger, I was not aloud to watch it because of the sex and drinking and things I should not have been exposed to while in grade school or Jr. high, where are all of these kids parents?
I encourage parents to take a stand against their kids watching such shows at such young ages. If nothing else at least make them aware of the consequences, most likely just because they are pregnant it does not mean that they will get married or that now someone will love them. Sex and babies are a huge responsibility and they should know all of the angles before jumping into bed.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There is a book called "Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation" by Leora Tanembaum. It's an excellent read, check it out. :)

Can't blame the parents for everything, the preteen and teenage years are a time of experimentation and some make better choices than others...and call it luck or what you will, but not everyone has to deal with the same consequences as the result as of their actions...