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October 5

Teen pregnancy: not so glamorous

Filed under: Celebrities,issues,media,News,pop culture — posted by Breakup Girl @ 10:45 am

Do reality shows like Teen Mom and 16 And Pregnantglamorize” teen pregnancy? That standard hand-wringer has always struck me as weird. Because um, those shows don’t exactly make teen pregnancy/motherhood look awesome.  They (unlike, SORRY, Glee) actually make it look pretty crappy — a lot more so than, say, carrying around a sack of flour for a week. Even when cute teen moms glam it up for celeb magazines (which are guilty of overglamorizing post-teen motherhood), teens — who, turns out, are also better at condoms than grownups — still know what’s up.

And now we have the numbers to show it: according to two brand-new studies commissioned by The National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, “most teens (79% of girls and 67% of boys) agree that when a TV show or character they like deals with teen pregnancy, it makes them think more about their own risk of getting pregnant or causing a pregnancy and how to avoid it.” Other findings:

·         Among those young people who have watched MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, 82% think the show helps teens better understand the challenges of teen pregnancy and parenthood and how to avoid it.

·         76% of young people say that what they see in the media about sex, love, and relationships can be a good way to start conversations with adults.

·         About half (48%) say they have discussed these topics with their parents because of something they have seen in the media.

·         16 and Pregnant got young people talking and thinking about teen pregnancy─40% of those in the treatment group said they talked about the show with a parent, 63% discussed with a friend, and 37% discussed with a sibling.

·         93% of those who watched [a particular] episode agreed (53% strongly agreed) with the statement:  “I learned that teen parenthood is harder than I imagined from these episodes.”

This is all information we’re not so sure they’re getting in, say, abstinence-only sex ed — which, while we’re on the subject, glamorizes lies, shame, and fear. (And whose funding just got resuscitated, even as the Obama administration also awarded $155 million in federal grants to support evidence-based, medically accurate sex ed.)

Enough with the mixed messages, as Jessica Wakeman wrote at The Frisky, continuing: “If pregnant teen girls get their moment in the media’s graces, the least we can do is use it wisely. The alternative could be much, much worse.” Of course the media plays a role in the whole teen pregnancy ecosystem, but there are a whole lot of other reasons teens get pregnant, most of which are much, much more complicated and challenging than the simple notion of MTV cause-and-effect (which is exactly why we are reluctant to acknowledge and deal with them).  Teens are smarter than we give them credit for. Sometimes, in fact  — see phrases bolded above — they just want to talk.

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September 21

500,000 good men

Filed under: Treats — posted by Breakup Girl @ 5:18 am

Life during wartime:


Obama Releases 500,000 Men From U.S. Strategic Bachelor Reserve

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September 1

When a man and a woman love each other very much…

Filed under: media,pop culture,Psychology — posted by Breakup Girl @ 8:51 am

…they give their kids lameass, doofy-dad, tax-dollar-funded sex talks. The best the Obama HHS can apparently do, via Feministe:

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January 22

Honeymooning with Obama

Filed under: Treats — posted by Chris @ 9:05 am

Here’s an e-card that sums things up nicely …

soto_118.jpg

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January 21

Love, Obama style

Filed under: Celebrities,Treats — posted by Breakup Girl @ 11:01 am

From this week’s New Yorker…from 1996. In the Obamas’ relationship, it seems, every day is like the first 100.

Barack on Michelle:

…And then what sustains our relationship is I’m extremely happy with her, and part of it has to do with the fact that she is at once completely familiar to me, so that I can be myself and she knows me very well and I trust her completely, but at the same time she is also a complete mystery to me in some ways. And there are times when we are lying in bed and I look over and sort of have a start. Because I realize here is this other person who is separate and different and has different memories and backgrounds and thoughts and feelings. It’s that tension between familiarity and mystery that makes for something strong, because, even as you build a life of trust and comfort and mutual support, you retain some sense of surprise or wonder about the other person.

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August 7

Memo to POTUS from GLBTQA

Filed under: News,Treats — posted by Breakup Girl @ 1:35 pm

Here’s a PSA from FOBG-run Theatre Askew:

This fall, Theatre Askew is inviting high school students to submit a letter to the next President of the United States. We’re encouraging students (up to 18 years) to describe their vision for the GLBTQ community, including the biggest challenges we must overcome, by the end of the next President’s time in office.

All letters will be reviewed by a panel of GLBTQ-community judges, who will choose the top letters for a special theatrical presentation (by some of New York’s leading actors) in the fall of 2008. Students whose letters are chosen will be invited to participate in a youth-based performance in 2009 using their letters as a jumping-off point to create an original theatre piece.

AND All student letters will be delivered to the White House in January 2009!

If you know of any New York-area youth who might be interested, or anyone who works with young people, please pass this along. Thanks!

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