Teenage Pregnancy, the Newest Reality Star

If any show on MTV is my guilty pleasure it would have to be either World of Jenks or The Buried Life, for both shows stray away from the common MTV theme of, for lack of a better word, trash TV aimed at teenagers, and focus on living life to the fullest extent (Buried Life) and walking in another’s shoes (Jenks). However, MTV still manages to dumb down its television content with shows like Jersey Shore and Teen Mom. I will not even attempt to address Jersey Shore, which would only result in a steaming rant with no substance. I can instead offer my opinion on Teen Mom.
 
Teen Mom, for those who like to steer clear of MTV and haven’t heard of the show, is an extension of MTV’s first program that profiled teenage pregnancy called 16 and Pregnant, a show that features teenagers before and after they give birth to their child. Teen Mom focuses on four of the teen girls featured on 16 and Pregnant and chronicles the trials and tribulations of being a young mom.
 
I’ve noticed opinions differ somewhat on the subject of this reality show and as a little disclosure, these are strictly my views about the show.  Teen Mom has been under scrutiny since its airdate and one of the controversial issues is whether or not it glamorizes teen pregnancy.  In an interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show, Catelynn Lowell, who is the teen mom on the show who chose adoption for her daughter, said it absolutely doesn’t glamorize teen pregnancy because the show chronicles the struggles each girl faces. Regardless of the real-life struggles it illustrates, these girls are on magazine covers and their lives are being talked about daily nationwide. It seems like that could provoke some curiosity and wonder in teen girls. Granted, I don’t think it would make girls want to become pregnant, but it might make teen pregnancy seem less of a serious issue.
 
This is where I might lose non-Teen Mom watchers, but I would like to point out my favorite and least favorite of the four teen moms. I have always been impressed with Maci’s parenting and how she handles the difficulties that she has been dealt. From what I have seen from episodes I’ve watched, she is definitely the most mature of the moms and like all of the girls on the show, she has been given some tough blows, which she has been able to handle with dignity and grace.
 
On the other side of the spectrum, I feel very bad for the Teen Mom baby Leah. She doesn’t have parents. She has two immature, self-indulgent people in her life who created her, but have done nothing more thus far to benefit her existence (that has at least been documented on Teen Mom). The last episode I saw that featured her mom (Amber), disgusted me. She was in fight #689 with her on again-off again boyfriend Gary, whose relationship with Amber is best described as “love me one minute, push me down the stairs the next” and as Gary walked out on Amber, she yelled at her daughter "Daddy's walkin' out on you again!"  I feel like that's just something you don't yell at your kids, no matter if they can comprehend the exact words or not.
 
Out of all of the three Teen Mom kids, Leah seems to be the most disadvantaged because of her unstable living situation and the fact that she doesn't seem to ever be filmed being played with and hardly ever talked to with kindness, however, Caitlyn and her fiancée Tyler don’t seem to have the greatest of parents either and they seem to have turned into responsible and considerate young adults, so maybe not all hope is lost for Leah.
 
I will admit that Teen Mom is not nearly as pointless as Jersey Shore and it does provide an interesting outlook on the lives of teenage moms, however teen pregnancy is even harder than what is shown in a twenty minute weekly episode divided amongst four people. It’s a 24 hour, seven day a week job that does not end. Maybe if the show’s content was unedited and instead streamed live 24/7, we would really see the true complexity of these girls’ situations.