The show 16 and Pregnant was MTV’s first big hit based on the lives of teenagers that were pregnant. The show followed six pregnant teenagers around, videotaping their lives. However, the show only followed the nine months leading up to the birth. This, however, was only the start. Four years into the show’s success, people were beginning to wonder if it was serving the purpose it was initially designed to do – warning people away from an unplanned pregnancy as a teen – and instead, it was glamourizing pregnancy. Thus, MTV created a spin-off show called Teen Mom. This show would follow teen mothers throughout their life, not just through the nine months of their initial pregnancy. When Teen Mom 2 came around, however, one of the stars, Janel, had three friends become pregnant within the year. Her mistakes apparently didn’t make a difference to said friends (Dockterman 1). …show more content…
Or rather, it teaches teens what can happen if you have unprotected sex – including vivid images of STDs on various body parts. However, it still does exist in a larger number than what some would hope. Shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant still exist, and they still glamourize the image of teenage mothers. You can walk into the grocery store and see Janel or one of the other mothers from Teen Mom 2 on the cover of a magazine, for Christ sake! Friends of my own have even told me a few years back that they would like to have a child just so they could get on the show – and she later did have a child, in fact. The problem still exists, and we have yet to solve it completely. We’re well on the way, though, considering that since 2012, the rate of teenage pregnancies has fallen dramatically. The rate continues to fall, and we continue to upgrade our sex education classes and even the way we give out contraceptives and other supplies for protected