Editorial: MTV show doesn’t glamorize teen pregnancy

Did you know that it’s MTV’s fault so many teens are getting pregnant?

Oh wait, a… Did you know that it’s MTV’s fault so many teens are getting pregnant?

Oh wait, a television station can’t impregnate a person.

And in fact, teen pregnancy rates actually hit a record low in 2009, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

But according to a CNN Entertainment article, E! queen Kim Kardashian “is lashing out at MTV following reports that 90 girls at a Memphis high school became teen moms over the past year.”

On her blog, Kardashian wrote that shows like MTV’s “Teen Mom” make teen pregnancy seem “cool in the eyes of young girls.”

“The kids from these shows are all over the news, even on the covers of magazines, and have become almost like celebrities, but girls, these are not people you should idolize,” Kardashian wrote. “Having a baby so young shouldn’t be seen as the trendy thing to do.”

We disagree that shows like “Teen Mom” glamorize teen pregnancy.

Instead, we think the show opens up conversations about complicated issues like adoption and abortion. And the fact that most of us aren’t teens anymore doesn’t make the issues on the show any less relevant to college students. One of the main issues that MTV documents is balancing school and parenting — something college moms can identity with.

We can’t say for sure that no girls would get pregnant in an attempt to become famous like the cast of “Teen Mom,” but we don’t think a station with a young audience should entirely avoid the pressing issue of teen pregnancy.

“Teen Mom” Amber Portwood said the show doesn’t glamorize anything and instead “reveals how hard it is for all of us. It shows the heartache we’ve all gone through.”

We agree. Maybe the stars of the show are getting paid $60,000 a season, according to The Huffington Post, but they are also getting “diarrhea’d” on as a recent episode of “Teen Mom 2” revealed. Last time we checked, diarrhea wasn’t cool and glamorous and the teens on the show weren’t famous beccause they were “cool,” but rather because they were on TV.

So just like many have embraced Kardashian’s triumph over her sex tape, so too it seems that MTV viewers are rooting for the teen moms. And lucky for both E! and MTV, Americans love a good comeback story.