teen mom
Reality television is a massive hit in todays’ pop culture. Every Tuesday at ten o’clock on MTV, you will find up to three million viewers tuning in to watch the show Teen Mom, which is a spinoff of the reality show 16 and Pregnant that started in 2009. The girls on the show have volunteered themselves to put their lives on television and have people across the nation watch them struggle to survive as a teenager with a child right by their side. Today's pop culture celebrates teen pregnancy by having shows on television like MTV's Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, not to mention, the stars on the show being glamourized on the cover of magazines. This reality show is raising the questions, “Do we support and glorify teen pregnancy?” Or, “If I’m a teenager in America, and I get knocked up, there is a chance that I might end up on television?” The show has created a large controversy between whether the show aids viewers or harms them. Having a baby should be looked upon as something special. It can change someone’s life and make it better or worse. The reality show started off to prevent teenage pregnancy and use it as a teaching tool. Lately, though, things have changed. The teen moms are no longer just teen moms. Perhaps, inevitably, they are celebrities, with a seeming lock on the covers of tabloids. Ashley Majeski, TODAY contributor, states, “As the popularity of “Teen Mom” and “Teen Mom 2” grew, so did the media’s interest in the stars. Soon the girls were appearing on tabloid magazine covers, discussing who they were dating or divorcing, and in the cases of Amber Portwood and Jenelle Evans, their latest legal troubles. As the media’s obsession with the moms grew, so did the young women’s paychecks. No longer were they struggling to find money to buy diapers, they were buying houses, breast implants and more, all thanks to their MTV salaries” (Majeski). The intriguing show is simply exemplifying to the viewers that they are getting by just fine. The