Edit: Oops, didn't see the length of necromancy. What's the etiquette on resurrecting threads on this forum? A month? A week? A day? ...sixteen minutes and the banhammer comes out?
CannibalCorpses said:
As long as i didn't have anything to do with it i'm good with teen pregnancy
You're possible the smartest, least judgemental person in this thread. *high fives*
I think teen pregnancy definitely has cause for concern; is the teenager mature enough to handle the difficulties of raising a child? Obviously, the answer can never be a black-and-white 'yes', as no-one can make that judgement unless they are experiencing it themselves. Is it more likely a teenager is less suitable to raise a child than a woman aged 20 or over? Possibly; those extra years of existence can really teach you well. I'm in favour of pregnancy if the mother wants it, and wants the best for her child. If the father's present, then more power to them.
However, I don't think the brunt of the debate should be at teenage mothers themselves. They seem to face the brunt of criticism and judgement (just look at this thread for example), even if they are of splendid character, and the child itself has hit the cosmic jackpot by being born to Western parents where it will have all the luxuries of W.A.S.P. privilege. I actually think the brunt of criticism should be made at the
painful lack of sex education available to growing kids. Conservative Christians the world over (okay, mainly the US) have always forced an abstinence agenda, and it's just...so... ineffective!
People. Are going. To. Have Sex.
It's what people do. It's why we
have people. Sex is good, and people have it. Lots! I wish I was having it right now! Although my co-workers might be giving me strange looks.
Teaching abstinence in lieu of learning about the intricacies and pitfalls sex brings with it (i.e. protection from pregnancy, STIs, STDs, drunken regret) is like teaching kids mathematics only ever using the plus symbol.
"Miss; what's 'multiplication'?"
"NEVER YOU MIND. THE PLUS SIGN IS GOD'S ONE TRUE SIGN AND YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WICKED SLANTY CROSS: IT'S THE WORK OF THE DEVIL"
Or teaching children geography, but only the locations of the 50 US States (something I suspect that happens often). Pretending it doesn't exist just leaves the student ignorant, and most likely unquestionably religious.
It is this chronic lack of sex education that creates a generation of uneducated teenage moms in the first place. You might not think it, but there are grown people out there who do not realise that pregnancy is a result of inserting a hoohoo into a yaya. Possibly because no-one's ever brought up the terms 'penetrative sexual intercourse', 'ejaculation', and 'impregnation'. (No doubt they use euphemisms like 'hoohoo' and 'yaya'). I have an ex who is a midwife, and she was assisting the birth of this lady's 13th child.
Thirteenth. Turns out, the woman didn't realise that intercourse, rather than 'God Smiling On Her', caused her pregnancies.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQq1s43yW8bjU--RliQFU1jz-EZzSuBWfhT8IcOBKcIdu2jxe47lECQpbtV6w
True story.