At the risk of sounding like an old man, I have to say I’d rather date my own mom than watch another one of MTV’s “Real Rules Road World Battle-Sex Challenge of the Exes” or whatever recycled trash they’re televising now.
That being said, it pains me to commend MTV’s now defunct “Teen Mom” for its efforts in raising awareness of issues surrounding sex education and teen pregnancy. While its approach was as misguided as some of its other endeavors — documenting life in New Jersey, for example — MTV was at least willing to show a smidgen of the reality concerning teen pregnancy.
The same cannot be said of Louisiana.
Whereas putting our heads together in some situations has produced tremendous results, our collective efforts to decide how to even think about sex education and teen pregnancy have demonstrated our utter ineptitude as a society.
Outside of its sheer number of viewers, “Teen Mom” may be considered a success because it opened the discussion on sex education. It failed, however, when it became an opportunity to gawk at grossly overdramatized situations and a hurtful misrepresentation of teen pregnancy.
“I absolutely hate that show,” 19-year-old Kristen Miranda told me. Miranda was 16 when she became pregnant. “I’ve actually had people walk up to me and be like, ‘Oh my God, you’re a teen mom? What is wrong with you?’ and stuff like that. It’s very difficult to have people look at me like that just because of a TV show.”
Halfway through her pregnancy, Miranda transferred from Ursuline Academy to the St. Gerard Majella Alternative School in New Orleans, a school that caters to the needs of pregnant high schoolers.
Majella is relatively unknown, and Miranda only had one classmate while she was there.
The other student transferred from another private school, Archbishop Chapelle. Unlike Miranda, she was ejected as soon as her school found out she was pregnant, and though she would later receive her diploma from Chapelle, she was not allowed to walk at graduation. She more or less disappeared.
Both Ursuline and Chapelle are Catholic schools, so it’s difficult to say Chapelle’s decision was solely motivated by religion.
Why did they feel the need to sweep this issue under the rug? If MTV can talk to an entire nation of children about pregnancy, why can’t one pregnant girl walk the halls of a high school?
After all, a school’s purpose is to educate. Louisiana doesn’t require public schools to offer sex education courses, though, and it’d be nearly impossible to demand it in a private school.
Miranda said that, in lieu of actual sex education, Ursuline offered a psychology class to juniors requiring the girls to parent a doll for one to two weeks, 24/7.
“I guess it kinda helped some people,” she said. “But to me it wasn’t a big deal. I actually took that class and it didn’t do anything.”
My experience with sex ed. in public school seems similarly ineffective. As far as I can remember, it was just a dusty VHS tape of a woman giving birth.
Louisiana needs to quit horsing around when it comes to sex education. Preaching abstinence or not preaching at all won’t stop kids from canoodling on the couch.
By failing to talk about these subjects and ignoring those girls who do become pregnant, they allow the subject to fall into other, less capable hands.
Though these issues ultimately affect all of us, they are of immediate importance to the youth of this state.
For teenagers, pregnancy does not discern age. We should be equally blind when passing judgment on the choices of others.
Ignore, for now, pro-life or pro-choice arguments and dedicate yourself instead to being proactive in helping teenagers make educated choices as they enter a stage in their lives where they may become sexually active.
It is a task too important to leave up to MTV.
