December 8th 2009

Angels and Demons

Tonight, MTV will premiere its new series, Teen Mom. It's a spin-off from the successful 16 and Pregnant documentary series that aired earlier this year, which followed six teens through every highlight and lowlight during their pregnancies, deliveries and immediate aftermath. For all of us who got very attached to Catelynn, Maci, Farrah and Amber -- and their babies -- it's still riveting to see how their lives are unfolding and how this experience continues to shape every single thing they do. It's one of the best media portrayals I've ever seen of the realities of teen parenthood. Because it is just that: real.

When Hollywood, or talk shows, or even news outlets want to tell teen parenthood stories, they run into the same problem over and over again. They occupy the extremes. Here's the catch: show how hard, messy, irritating, exhausting and terrifying teen parenthood really is, and you've demonized teen moms. And their babies. Parenthood has ruined their young lives. Show the success stories -- young moms who are somehow managing to get through high school, attend to their kids' needs and get through each day without giving up, and you're trivializing, or even glamorizing teen motherhood. Too dark, and you lose your audience. Too light, and you're making teen parenthood seem easy. Baby bump as fashion accessory. So we end up with unrealistic extremes: babies left in dumpsters, or Jamie-Lynn Spears' baby shower.

What MTV gets so, so right here is that they show it all. Up close, unvarnished, raw and emotional. They show how deeply these teens love their babies and how they want what's best for them. They show how irresponsible teen moms can be when they aren't ready for motherhood and would rather be on dates. They show teen dads walking away. And coming back. They show how dismayed and overjoyed, supportive and destructive the babies' grandparents are. They show how mature some teen moms can be when put to the test. And how hard it is to take online classes when your baby keeps opening your desk drawers and shoving things in his mouth.

From the network that unleashed The Real World on all of us nearly two decades ago (before most of these teen moms were born), it's fitting that they have given us Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant: the most real of all real worlds. When 50% of teens say they have never thought about how a pregnancy would affect their lives, this show does the best that a TV show could do to turn that around.

Tune in at 10pm tonight on MTV. Then come back and tell us what you think!

*****

This piece is cross-posted on The National Campaign's blog, Pregnant Pause. To learn more about teen pregnancy and the Campaign's work to prevent it, visit the Campaign's website.