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The only problem I have with the ads lies with the fact that they won't have enough of an effect.I have recently been reading a series of books (yes, I know... I have been lax about posting the books here and will do so right away) about Laura Ingalls Wilder's family. There is a series about her mother as a girl, her grandmother as a girl, and her great-grandmother as a girl. There is also a series about her daughter Rose that goes from about the age of 7 to her young adulthood. They talk in the "Rose Years" books about girls getting married by the age of 16 or 17... at 21 a girl was borderline old maid. Should she reach the ripe old age of 25 while single, she was considered un-marriable by many. In the Acadian communities in Louisiana around 1905 they record girls frequently married at 13 and a grandmother at 30.
Our society moved away from that mind-set, allowing girls to grow up, go to college, have a career, and then get married (if they want to). It was very freeing for women and allowed much progress to be made. Now, however, in many poorer communities there has been a swing back the other way. It is held a badge of honor to have the first baby by the age of 16 if not sooner. Again, girls are being considered "over the hill" by the age of 22 or so... but marriage id far from the minds of many of these child-mothers. They have not only accepted the reality that their "baby daddies" won't be there for the long haul, they expect it. In many cases they seem to strive to have as many babies as possible by as many men as possible. (And no I am not being racist... my son's mother had four children by four men. Two of us were married to her when she got pregnant, the other two not... and we are Caucasian.)
The messages that these ads carry are important, but I do not think they are enough. The kids are not going to listen in large enough numbers.
Mod
When teenage girls choose to have a child on purpose,it saddens me greatly to think that we have failed to educate our children (both genders thank you) on what responsibility is and what being a parent is truly about. Babysitting an egg or hauling around a bag of flour is not enough to prepare you for 2 a.m. feedings,colic, ear infections, messy diapers, baby proofing, and the crap ton of other things that go with a baby.
The trend you mentioned is WHY we need better all around education of both genders when it comes to this subject. We have to stop letting one side or the other impose religious views on this and see it for the very real social issue it has become. This surpasses race is a reflection of monetary levels. The girls who do this so they can get welfare/can't leave the government housing vs.the wealthier girls who see this as somebody to love/love them/keep the guy they are after/etc.
I am not calling for a throw back to a society that frowns on unwed mothers, but I do think that we could do more to help these girls make better decisions and make better choices so that everyone from the mother to the child are better taken care of all the way around.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/p...
Frankly, I do not see what is so bad about these ads and do not feel that they go far enough to address the problems of teen mothers. With shows on television that to me only give validation to the teen mothers in the first place, I do not feel that the message is strong enough. I fell that we need actual sex education in schools and not this abstinence only trash that they are peddling currently.
I am firm believer in "forewarned is forearmed" and all that jazz, and I solidly feel that we need more than "keep your knees shut" as a preventive. Teens need to understand that having a baby is not like having a living doll that you get to dress up in cute outfits and the like. A baby is HUGE responsibility and yes, both parents are responsible.
Boy as well as girls need to understand that having a baby is NOT going to bring you closer,it will NOT ensure that he will stay and that once a child enters into this world, your life as you know it changes forever. A child is not a bad decision you can go back and change like a drunken tattoo. A child is human being that will cost you a LOT of money,time,sleep and will also mean changes to your finances.
I went to school with girls who got pregnant, one more than once, and yes, we had a half-arsed sex ed class, much more than the keep your knees shut, but not by much. We got the cartoon cut away bovine look at the female system, the side view of the male, did a report on and STD, and that was pretty much all she wrote. We did not discuss condoms, pills, or IUD's. We should have. Teens need to know how these things work, and what options there are if they do not have religious or cultural taboos.
Some of these ads may seem harsh, but statistics show that most teen dads do not stay with their partners after birth, and yes, education levels of children born to teen mothers are lower than those with adult parents. Yes,there are some who beat the odds and have made it work, but way too many of these situations don't.
I know the main reason is because Planned Parenthood has produced these ads and the anti-abortion lobby is what is mainly behind this as they feel the only thing these girls will be told is to abort their future child, which is bull hockey. The greatly ignorant do not realize or care what Planned Parenthood really does. They provide counseling to teens and women,provide life saving screenings for cancer, mammograms, and yes, they do provide birth control and will discuss options, but they are also there for those who have given birth and need help.
It is alarms me to hear some of the reasons why teen girls have chosen to get pregnant and I hope that these ads will sway some tiny minds into thinking more clearly about what they are really getting into.