Teen Pregnancy in the Media

Let’s talk about the depiction of teenage pregnancy in popular media: What comes to mind? First, what comes to mind for me, is the movie Juno. Juno is about a teenage girl, Juno MacGuff, who gets pregnant in high school and decides to keep her baby. Juno considered abortion, but decides to keep her baby and give it up for adoption when she learns that fetuses have fingernails…. Next, what comes to mind for me, is my favorite television show Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls is a TV show about a mother, Loralei, and daughter, Rory, who are best friends. The girls share an especially close bond because there is a very small age difference: Loralei had Rory when she was only 16… Now, I have to think a little harder for media examples. What comes to mind is the The Secret Life of the American Teenager: a TV show revolving around Amy, a 16-year-old that got pregnant after losing her virginity to a bad boy at band camp. Then, I think of Degrassi in which all high school scenarios occur, and specifically, I think of Mia, who gave birth to baby Isabella at age 13. Lastly, I can’t help but think of 16 and Pregnant. While I have never watched this, I have certainly heard about this reality show time and time again and the concept is (you guessed it) about being 16 and pregnant…

Juno trailer

Gilmore Girls: This is a flashback to when Loralei had Rory at only 16

It can be safe to assume that none of these female characters practiced the management script, in which teenagers used contraceptives, talked with adults about having sex, had “sex in the context of an established monogamous romantic relationship, and … were ‘old enough’ to be prepared for sex” (Kelly, 2010). Rather, these teenagers would be better categorized as having practiced the urgency script. While some of these characters were in romantic relationships (i.e. Loraleli, Mia) and some may have thought they were old enough (i.e. Juno, Loralei, Amy), it is certainly safe to say that they did not use contraceptives and very likely that they did not talk to their parents (as parents would have discussed the importance of contraceptive use). After reading Maura Kelly’s article Virginity Loss Narratives in “Teen Drama” Television Programs, I cannot help but wonder: Did these females perceive virginity as a stigma? Were they desperate to lose their virginity, or were they pressured into sex by urgent male partners? Ultimately, I cannot help but wonder: would these females have been better off following the management script?

However, regardless of why these teenagers had sex, it is (believe it or not) a positive thing that they got pregnant. Why? you might ask… Well,  “sexual precaution messages are very rare” (Hust, Brown, & L'Engle, 2008) in the media. How rare? Less than one half of 1% of popular media touches on sexual health. So, it is important that adolescent viewers, who are constantly being exposed to sexual content on television, know that sex is not all fun and games: there can be consequences if one is not careful and does not take precautions. In other words, adolescents should learn from the media that if they are going to be sexually active, they also need to be sexually responsible. If you think teen pregnancy is not a problem and this message is not worth promoting, think again: “Birth rates to teen mothers in the United States remain the highest in the developed world” (Brown, El-Toukhy, & Ortiz, 2014). 

The media more commonly depict positive consequences of sexual intercourse than negative consequences, and this gives young adolescents, who are learning about sex from the media, that idea that sex rarely has negative outcomes. It is important to show negative outcomes because “portrayals of sexual intercourse that result in negative outcomes can lead to change in attitudes toward sex” (Eyal and Kunkel, 2008). This has to do with Social Cognitive Theory, which discusses how humans have a decreased tendency to imitate acts that are punished. Due to Social Cognitive Theory and according to the results of Eyal and Dale’s study, adolescents will be less likely to have premarital sex when they see others get pregnant as a result of premarital sex. Additionally, depictions of negative outcomes of sex are important because, since they are not that  frequent in the media, they are more salient in the minds of viewers when they occur and likely to have a longterm impact on viewers'  opinions (i.e. for 2 weeks or longer).

How would young adolescents’ views of sex change if there were more negative depictions of sex in the media to balance the positive depictions of sex in the media? … Would young adolescents be more likely to engage in safe sex? Would they be more likely to hold off on premarital sex?

Works Cited

Brown, J. D., El-Toukhy, S., & Ortiz, R. R. (2014). Growing Up Sexually in a Digital World: The Risks and Benefits of Youths’ Sexual Media Use. In Jordan, Amy B. & Romer, Daniel (Eds.), Media and the Well-Being of Children and Adolescents (pp. 90-108). New York: Oxford University Press.

Eyal, K. & Kunkel, D. (2008). The effects of sex in television drama shows on emerging adults' sexual attitudes and moral judgments. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(2), 161-181.

Hust, S. J. T., Brown, J. D. & L'Engle, K. L. (2008). Boys will be boys and girls better be prepared: An analysis of the rare sexual health message in young adolescents' media. Mass Communication & Society. 11, 3-23.

Kelly, M. (2010). Virginity loss narratives in "teen drama" television programs. Journal of Sex Research, 47(5), 479-489.