Irresponsible Teen Moms or Middle Age Moms?
Adults never grow tired of attacking and blaming youth. According to Mike Males’ recent book,Teenage Sex and Pregnancy (2010) Peter the Hermit complained back in 1247 that “young people of today are forward, immodest and unwomanly in speech, behavior and dress.” Today we have liberals and conservatives alike (though for sometimes different reasons) attacking youth, especially teen girls. In Reviving Ophelia (1998), psychologist Mary Pipher panicked over an epidemic of eating disorders, phobias and depression. Rosalind Wiseman’s Queen Bees and Wannabes (2002) claimed that girls were confused, insecure, obnoxious, cruel and catty.
One of the most popular screeds against teen girls is that they are irresponsible, impulsive and take dangerous risks, resulting in high rates of pregnancy, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This also happens to be patently false, not just historically, but also compared with adult women. Pregnancy rates, rape, STDs, drug use and crime have all been