In the lecture this week, we talked a lot about the various options available to teen girls...and whether or not the show 16 & Pregnant framed each option as healthy, or available, or even at all...
There were a couple of things I overheard and wanted to point out. First, there was a discussion of who is responsible for birth control...as I was searching the internet this week I found this website that is supposed to inform, educate, and assist women in understanding their contraceptive options, remind them to take them, and give them the info that they need that they often miss...Take a look at how the website presents the information both about the forms of contraceptives, but also the services and products they offer to inform, remind, and educate women. Is it helpful? Check out who sponsors the website...does that surprise you?
Perhaps more interesting to me, when listening to this discussion, was that many students spoke up about how it was the woman's job to know about birth control, to prevent pregnancies...and how she should be strong enough to ask her doctor, to find contraceptives, and to ensure that she doesn't get pregnant again...This seems to put a lot of responsibility for prevention of pregnancy on just one person....the teenage girl.
But is she really the only one responsible? What about her partner, parents, doctors, friends, family, community? What if she has no insurance? What if her pharmacist refused to give her birth control? What if her doctor treats her like a child and doesn't sit her down to inform her? What if she doesn't understand her doctor, or nurse?
We have spoken a lot about how sexuality education in this country is a little bit lacking...and we have talked about how girls are often uninformed about pregnancy and contraceptives....can we really only blame the girl?
I also found this discussion very interesting as well, especially the insistence that it was solely the woman's job to prevent pregnancy, which takes two to create. This talk took me back to common rhetoric surrounding gendered/sexual violence, and how in that instance as well it is seen as the women's job to protect her virginity as well as protecting herself from violence. These situations I see as an interesting way to put all the blame on the women for things that are either not their fault at all or at least only half their fault.
ReplyDeleteThis website was interesting to me in that it completely went along with these common cultural ideas in that it seemed to be only targeted at women. The only stories came from women, the images were all of women, or at least feminine graphics and backgrounds, I did not see a single mention of birth control being the responsibility of the COUPLE involved. Whether or not sex happens in a committed relationship it is still a couple, or more persons perhaps, involved and therefore in my eyes the responsibility should lie with both parties at least. Not to mention cultural ideals put young women especially in a position to not be in charge or in control of their bodies or their sexuality. So how can we expect them to be in charge of this aspect??
Also it did not surprise me that the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy sponsored this website. It seemed to be targeted at younger girls especially and it seems to me a cheap and easy way to try and lower the numbers of young, unplanned pregnancy. Especially considering the fact that young pregnancy is considered a very problematic epidemic in this country.
Anyways I think it's a really problematic framing.
-Emilia Mense
I agree with both statements, I dont think its only the girls responsibilty. Like they say it takes two to tango. I feel that the both parties are responisible while having sex. For the guy, use condoms, girl using birth control or also making sure that the guy has condoms. I also think its the community responsiblity to teach these teenagers safe sex, and ways to get help and learn about condoms or "the pill." If the teenager doesnt have money or the resources to get help, I think that its the responsiblity for the government or society in general to make sure that these girls/boys to have the resources available to them easier. If the nurse doesnt give the girl birth control pills I think that that should be illegal or against code to even do that. Its ok to not agree with it but its not the nurses decision whether or not that teenager can have sex or not.
ReplyDelete-Kara Ramsey
Putting all the responsibility on the girl to not get pregnant is kind of much, but she is the one who is ABLE to get pregnant. If a teenage girl is being sexually active, there are steps that should be taken in making sure she is have safe/protected sex. A teenage girl should be able to talk to her mother about getting contraceptives and being informed about what option(s) would be best for her. Now like I said, you cant put this all on the girl, guys are the ones that have what it takes to make that egg. Boys should be just as concerned as girls are about having safe sex and making sure they are doing everything possible to prevent pregnancy, because if the girl gets pregnant, it's on him as well. Partners need to talk as well, it's always the best to have good communication and making sure each person knows what is going on and that they're on the same page. For girls who's insurance doesn't cover birth control, planned parent hood has free birth control, all you need to do is go there and set up and appointment to talk with someone. There are ways to get birth control, you just have to do your research. So overall, no, I don't think women should have all of the pressure or responsibility of making sure they specifically by themselves make sure that they're doing everything they can not to get pregnant. It involves families, doctors, and the other partner.
ReplyDelete-Breanna Russo
Carlita Warren
ReplyDeleteI also agree with all the previous comments. I feel like since the girl is the one able to get pregnant she should be more aware and conscious about pregnancy and birth control. I say MORE aware because the partner should be aware and conscious as well. Having sex is just not about being pleasured. If teens don’t know more about risks and outcomes of sex it can be bad. Both girls and boys have so many responsibilities to prevent pregnancy. It was shocking to me that many students said that it was the girls responsibility to know about birth control, considering the majority of students in our class are girls. It should also be a mans or boys job to know about birth control or ways to prevent pregnancy. As much as they teach girls about using condoms, boys should be taught that as well. They should even go more in depth with the boys since they are the ones using it. Boys should also know about birth control before they have sex with girls so they know if they are preventing pregnancy. I feel like this website was good in providing information about all the many types of birth control and birth control methods. I do agree with the person from group four when they said it should mention how couples should be responsible for knowing about birth control. I do not see any boys on this website. For the website to be sponsored by the National Campaign to prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy they should include all teens. If they are trying to decrease teen and unplanned pregnancies they should probably include the other half it takes to make a baby. The other thing that I see was odd on this website. There were real stories from women, but all these women were like 21 and over. No teens were represented in this website. They did great with providing information but I do not fell they targeted the right audience.