Teen Pregnancy And Social Media

If you scroll through T.V. channels you will see shows or movies such as Secret Life of an American Teenager, Juno, Teen Mom’s, or even the Pregnancy Act. All shows which are centered off the theme of pregnant teenagers. The idea of teen pregnancy has become an epidemic that is sweeping modern society and social media. Now more than ever, teen pregnancy is portrayed through television as glamorous, which has made it more acceptable. In my high school if you became a pregnant young woman you automatically became popular, guaranteeing a spot on the Homecoming Court. Since teen pregnancy is okay among their peers, I wanted to test and see if adults are more accepting as well. I was also curious to see if people’s reactions when confronted by a …show more content…
Since, a lot of young pregnant women may feel too ashamed to ask questions it is a taken for granted that people don’t feel brought into a situation where they have to deal with the situation they are in. People have their ideas, opinions, or judgments on a pregnant teenager, but they get away with their judgments because they are hardly forced to interact with the person they make preconceived notions about. There are both implicit and explicit rules that help structure behavior in the setting of the baby aisle at the store. An implicit rule was that it is okay if you shop here, but please don’t ask me for advice because it makes a person feel responsible in some way or another. An explicit rule was that people are there to get their thing done and leave. There was little room for interactions. In order to see if people’s reactions and thought about a young pregnant woman have changed I have to test some social norms. The first norm that was tested is married women are the only people who have children and the norm of lack of interaction at a …show more content…
The first term is Differential Association Theory. This is true because the older people would define being pregnant as a deviant act, while other people did not thing it was wrong, instead they desired it. For example the young middle school age girl who was extreme excited for me being pregnant, while all the old people did not agree with it. Helping and Altruism were key concepts that kept coming to mind. While talking to people I was trying to figure out if they were helping me or are being altruistic. Some people were helping just so they don’t appear to be judgmental or to feel helpful. There were other altruistic people who were sitting there talking to me just for my benefit, not their own. The last and most prevalent to each person I spoke to was the observer bias. The people I spoke to no matter the variable saw me in the “there and now”. Which left a lot of room for them to make assumptions on how I became pregnant, my age, and my situation. Self-preservation also made an appearance with the male who stood next to me for the experiment. The male was extremely embarrassed to stand next to me and even pretend that he had anything to do with the pregnancy. Although we both knew it was not real he could not handle people to view him in a certain