Teenage pregnancy is no longer judged so harshly on moral grounds only though it is posing some rather unique and disturbing questions about the sexual behaviors of teens today and what such a shift in teen culture means for society at large. Let us examine the leading causes of teenage pregnancy and see what it really means for teens today.
Teens today are sexualized earlier
These days, children are sexualized at a much early age. With society being OK with toddlers being paraded around in two-piece bikinis, heels and makeup at pageants, it isn’t surprising to see that teens have become a lot more sexualized as a result too. a decade or two ago, 15 and 16 year olds were essentially seen as kids and the most they were expected to have had their first kiss around this age. These days, that “limit” extends to various sex acts including intercourse. Teens experimenting with sex is the root cause of teen pregnancies no matter what social reasons and justifications we provide for it.
Influence of pop culture
Thanks to films like Juno and reality TV series like Teen Mom, teen pregnancy has become somewhat glamorized. For a lot of teens, watching a teen much like themselves get pregnant during their teens and get famous because of it results in a warped conception of reality where the actual consequences of having unprotected sex don’t seem as scary. A good case in point that illustrates how pop culture has influenced teen behavior would be the plotline of the Twilight series of films. The film focuses very heavily on the sexual tension between Bella and Edward and them having a baby together. Since problems that usually accompany teen pregnancy like financial and legal responsibility of the child, working multiple job sot sustain child care costs etc. aren’t covered by such films, teens don’t really understand the gravity of what it means to have unprotected sex in their teens.
Contraception failure and sex myths
Another major cause of teen pregnancies is seen in cases where contraception was used but failed. Lack of proper sex education, lack of knowledge of how to use contraception and sex myths like you can’t get pregnant if you have intercourse during your periods etc. also play a major part in teen pregnancies.
Abuse
Sexual abuse at the hands of a peer or an older adult is a shocking but major part of teen pregnancies.
