Yesterday, while watching an episode of New Girl with my partner and best friend, I saw this commercial.
As the video played, we tried guessing what the commercial was for – clothing? laundry detergent? And then – “what???”
At first, we were astounded by the ridiculousness of the commercial – the “message” the commercial is trying to send is surprising in the bad way – it doesn’t make sense. Why does watching a bunch of other teenagers dance around make a teen less likely to not use birth control?
A quick google search and I found the organization behind the ad: Stay Teen. Then I started thinking about what kind of message they were sending with their tagline statement:
“I love my life. I’m not going to mess it up with a pregnancy.”
Alot of people have found this offensive – see forum posts here, here, here and here. I certainly understand the criticism. Painting one’s teenage years as the highlight of your life is problematic enough on it’s own (even if you DON’T get pregnant as a teen, you can’t “stay teen” forever, as one commenter pointed out – eventually you’ll turn 20). But perhaps it was just poorly chosen wording and advertising by an otherwise worthy campaign. A look at the Stay Teen website reveals they are trying to empower young people with information about emotionally and physically safe sex (and relationships), as well as options for birth control (though their emphasis on the benefits of abstinence – “waiting” – may be a bit too vehement for my taste, it certainly IS an option).
However, the real problem with the message is the statement that teen mothers have messed up their lives through pregnancy, or that they don’t “love” their life. It’s ironic given our society’s emphasis on the “sanctity of life” and strong anti-abortion feelings that – oh wait, I just did a search for “abortion” on the Stay Teen website. It only shows up in posts about TV shows “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” or in reader’s comments – usually something along the lines of “adoption over abortion.” Given the fact that abortion actually allows young women who get pregnant the ability to “stay teen,” and that abortion helps them to avoid the shame society heaps upon teen mothers, it might seem strange abortion is not mentioned. But of course, a child is ALWAYS a blessing, even if the mother isn’t “ready.” And the choice to have an abortion leads to two levels of shaming – for getting pregnant in the first place, and for then making the decision NOT to keep the child. Confusing? Of course not!
from aki.kyozoku (flikr)
More important than the problems I had with this commercial and the organization Stay Teen are the problems with the way we talk about teen pregnancy – it is often a gendered, and racialized, discussion. While I give Stay Teen kudos for including young men in their commercials, and having them say the (problematic) tagline at the end, it is almost always young women who bear the blame and shame for teen pregnancy.
And where does this blame and shame come from? What exactly is wrong with pregnancy? Before you reel off a list of reasons, really think about this question. Is there something INHERENTLY wrong with teen pregnancy? Or are there economic and social conditions that make it problematic?
[EDIT: Check out this article, which explores these questions and the stigma faced by teen mothers]
Maybe it’s both. But either way, it’s something else to think about in our discourse on mothers, childbirth, pregnancy, contraception and abortion.
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