Rebel Without A Cause?

This week, we were required to view Jenelle's episode of 16 & Pregnant, season 2. In her MTV premiere we are introduced to a beach loving daughter of a single mom, who is having the baby of her (unreliable) long-distance boyfriend of three years.

Today, a quick Google of Jenelle Evans brings up a controversial result. In October of 2010, she was caught with cannabis and charged with possession in addition to two other offenses. Ever since, she has been in the public eye.

She has also graced the cover of OK! magazine because her "out of control" antics. 

I placed quotations around out of control because the point of my blog post is to ask the question, where has the line been drawn? Where do we, as viewers, believe we have the right to judge Jenelle for what she chooses to do? Do we justify delving into Jenelle's personal life by saying we are just looking out for her family, her child?

Now, I am not here to defend her actions, but considering everything a teenager has to deal with in addition to giving birth to a child that she was so not ready to prepare for to the point of signing over custody to her mother, Barbara...what would you do? Is this form of rebellion expected, justified, or completely irresponsible? (Or, do you have other questions that you want to answer?)

I want opinions!


-Claire L.

To be?... or not to be? That is the question!

This week's focus was on the issue of teenage fathers. As we learned from the Guest speaker, Mrs. Begg (or previous experiences) many teenage fathers have the option whether or not they should be a good father. Most teenage fathers barely know/ understand what it takes to actually be a "good father". Thanks to modern day society a lot of fathers look at parenting as an option rather than a priority or responsibility. Not saying that this is the case with every teenage father, but because of the way society is shaped teenage fathers seem to carry on less responsibility than the teenage mother. The mother is viewed as the primary care provider, while the father is viewed as the secondary. The mother is the nurturer, while the father is the "bread winner".

Just from watching episodes of 16 and pregnant, one can see that it takes a lot more than just money to raise a child (although finances are very important aspects of raising children). According to a recent study, cited in an article featured in Time magazine (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074862-2,00.html), many teenage fathers are trying to become more involved in their child's life. The issue is that many of the teenage fathers are still confused of what it actually takes to be a "good father". Society has brainwashed many of these young fathers to believe that in order to become a good father they must financially provide for their child (as if that is the only responsibility that they have when it comes to raising a child).   

What do you think it takes to be considered a "good father"? Do you think that society's expectations of fatherhood will prevent young fathers from being good Dads? let me know what you guys think.

Simone McGary

Maternal Health in Developing Countries

"Your body is a wrapped lollipop.  When you have sex with a man, he unwraps your lollipop and sucks on it.  It may feel great at the time, but, unfortunately, when he's done with you, all you have left for your next partner is a poorly wrapped, saliva-fouled sucker."

The above quote is from a speaker at the George W. Bush AIDS campaign in Western Africa.  In an attempt to eliminate AIDS from the region the Bush administration launched a "Don't be a sucker! Save Sex for Marriage!" campaign.  The idea of the campaign was that AIDS had been a result of "promiscuity" on the part of African women.  However, as one African woman, who had worked as a prostitute and then married said, "I got AIDS later, from my husband.  In the brothel, I always used condoms. But when I married I didn't use them.  A woman with a husband is in much more danger than a girl in a brothel."

What are your thoughts? Please feel free to add anything.  I got my information above from the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn.

::Maura

Gender Roles and Their Effect on Sexual Health, Pregnancy and Parenting

Much of the content we read for this week as well as the episodes we watched showcase gender as an important influencing factor with regard to sexual health, pregnancy and parenting. From watching Markai's or Felicia's episodes we can visually see the gender roles at play, allowing Alex to play a minimal part in Felicia's pregnancy and birth (even leaving the hospital shortly after Felicia gave birth to their beautiful daughter Genesis) and the attempt to put the financial burden solely on James even though he is unemployed throughout all of the episode. We see over and over again women dealing with most if not the whole burden of pregnancy and parenting. Another example being Susan Carter's situation in the chapter from Kaplan's book Not Our Kind of Girl that we read this week, with Susan's boyfriend Joney being completely nonexistent in both of his children's lives. 

Additionally we see the effects of gender explicitly on sexual health and becoming pregnant in Varga's article "How Gender Roles Influence Sexual and Reproductive Health among South African Adolescents". I found this article especially striking because I do not see the situation in the United States as being all that different. I see sexual encounters and dating with the same gendered expectations and with the exception of women's access to the pill, the most widely used types of birth control are generally up to the men to use. 

Interestingly enough after reflecting on that common theme I found an article titled "Engaging Men As Partners in Reproductive Health". According to this article, "Gender influences women's and men's health in fundamental ways, and traditional ideas about gender can place both women's and men's health at risk". Because of this fact the Engender Health organization is seeking to implement sexual health education programs that keep this premise at the fore front of their teaching. They observed a huge chunk missing out of current sex education programs and are seeking to right that wrong. In my opinion this framework allows for real progress to be made in how adolescents negotiate sexually with each other, which very well could lead to better sexual health decision making and better dating practices in general.

I also found this image while looking for something visual to put up and well I feel like I've already rambled enough but how about this for gender roles effecting our notion of pregnancy. Since especially teen men are thought of as nonexistent from their pregnant female partners this image seems just very interesting. Not to mention the idea of teen pregnancy as "disturbing".

Emilia M.