We Want Nice Things

Post Explanations

2008-01-18T14:42:00.001-05:00

The first post induces fear by incorporating the four steps we discussed in class. We show that there is a real risk as we show pictures and data of the disadvantages of teen pregnancy, such as a high drop out rate, and risk of poverty. We show that there is a very good chance it might happen to our audience with data such as the fact that one in three girls will become pregnant by the age of 18. We show that this all can be prevented by condom use, and explain where condoms can be obtained.
The second post is a simplified message with distractions. The simple statement "Use birth control every time!" Scrolls above and below a picture of cats. The picture is meant to be amusing, and the scrolling text is distracting, hopefully inducing the viewers willingness to use birth control through peripheral route processing.
The third post explains both sides of the sexual education versus abstinence only education argument. Many individuals feel that children should not be given sexual health education, as it will only encourage promiscuity, and is inappropriate for their age. However, we argue that they need to be properly informed so that if they choose to engage in sexual behaviors, they know how to protect themselves from pregnancy at an age where they cannot handle the responsibility of parenting.

He Said She Said

2008-01-18T14:38:00.000-05:00

We believe that the only real way we can reduce the rates of teen pregnancy is by providing proper resources, tools, and education. You can engage in social and ever sexual activities, and still avoid the consequences as long as you take proper precautions. Carry condoms with you, take birth control pills, and understand how your body works. Be prepared and protect yourselves.

Other people may tell you that the only way to avoid pregnancy and STDs is to abstain. They may insist on making pledges of abstinence, wear a ring, and pledge to keep your virginity until marriage.

Wearing a ring won't keep you from getting pregnant.

This is unrealistic behavior. In the heat of the moment, are you really going to be thinking about the consequences of what you're about to do? Are you really going to never be intimate with someone who care about? We understand that teenagers are exploring their sexuality, and it is unrealistic to expect you to deny that natural desire. Abstinence rarely works, because if your willpower fails you, you find yourself unprepared and unprotected.

Instead of making empty promises of celibacy, be prepared and carry a condom. You never know when you will need it.

2008-01-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

Use birth control every time! Use birth control every time! Use birth control every time! Use birth control every time!

Consequences of Teenage Pregnancy

2008-01-18T14:03:00.000-05:00

Pregnant teens often miss out on a proper education.

Teenage pregnancy occurs more often than you may think. By the age of 18, 1 out of every 3 teenage girls will get pregnant. Nearly 500,000 teenage girls become mothers annually.

If you are sexually active, and do not use protection, you can become another of these statistics! There are serious consequences involved with becoming a teenage parent:

Pregnant teenagers have an 80% dropout rate, and schools ''neither seek nor want an active role'' in dealing with the problem, as reported by the National Institute of Education.
Around 40% of these parents are under 18 years old. Over 75% are unmarried, and most parenting teens do not have the economic or social resources to provide for themselves or their children.
Additionally, teenage mothers are more likely to have more children in quick succession, limiting their life options even further than having only one child. (New York Times)

There is little financial or social support for teenage mothers.

But the consequences are not just limited to girls:

Teenage fathers usually have lower incomes, less education and more children than men who wait until the age of 20 to have children.
One reason for this is that a teenager who has gets his girlfriend pregnant often drops out of school. "When they leave school, they head right for a low-paying job," says Amy Williams, the executive director of the Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Project in San Francisco. (Time magazine)

There are easy ways to avoid becoming a statistic!

Don't let this happen to you! Instead of getting pregnant, dropping out, and/or landing a dead end job that will trap you into poverty, take precautions. It isn't difficult to obtain birth control.

Condoms can be bought at local pharmacies, drug stores, and are given away for free at many clinics, such as Planned Parenthood.
Contraceptive pills can be prescribed by a doctor.

Take proper precautions and avoid the fate of so many others just like you.

Take Our Survey!

2008-01-17T15:52:00.000-05:00

What are your thoughts on this topic? Please take a moment to take our survey! All responses will remain 100% confidential.

Teen Pregnancy Survey

Thank you!

An Explanation

2008-01-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

This whole blog was part of a project for our class. So here's where we explain what we were doing with each post. The first post was honest and basic. We just summarized our topic. The posts that followed are all part of our project, and here's what we did with each one.

The first post, titled "Birth Control," uses Classical Conditioning to persuade readers to use birth control. By including an image of an attractive person about to take her birth control pills, we have associated a positive element with birth control, and so birth control itself becomes is seen as something positive.

The second post, title "Protect Each Other," also uses Classical Conditioning to persuade readers to do something, in this case, use a condom. The image of a happy teenage couple is not only similar to our target audience, but is also met with a positive reactions. By pairing it with a post focused on condom use, condoms come to be associated with a positive element.

The third post, titled "Has It Sunken In Yet?," is very simple. It uses the Classical Conditioning principle of repetition to deliver our message. By repeating the ad image over and over again, people cannot help but absorb it.

The fourth post, titled "Subliminal Persuasion," is a little tricky. It seems like all we are doing is talking about what we would like to see be executed if subliminal messaging worked, and we've given an example of that. But within the text of the post, certain letters have been set in bold face. When pulled from the text and put together, these selected letters spell out "use a condom or abstain."

The fifth and sixth posts, titled "Expert Methods of Contraception" and "Outspoken Support for Our Cause," we have information and support for our topic from credible sources. Dr. Drew Pinksy, a famous psychiatrist and physician, is clearly credible due to not only his expertise on the subject of sexuality, but also his trustworthiness as a public figure. Oprah's credibility lies in her worldwide fame, and the public knowledge that she is an advocate for women's rights, and supports several charities. She was also once a pregnant teen, once abused and living in poverty, and her experience gives young teens someone they can relate too. Both people are credible communicators of our topic, and able to persuade people to adopt our ideal behaviors.

This doesn't mean we don't really feel the way we portrayed. We do! Take take of your bodies, ladies (and gentlemen), and take control of your lives.

Outspoken Support For Our Cause

2008-01-17T15:31:00.001-05:00

Oprah Says Focus on Education, Not Sexual Promiscuity

Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, activist and business woman has worked to help adolescent girls in the prevention of unplanned pregnancy.

Winfrey has experienced the trauma of teen pregnancy, and later told of her difficulty talking about it. "I would tell no one until I felt safe enough to share my dark past: the years I was sexually abused, from age 10 to 14, my resulting promiscuity as a teenager, and finally, at 14, my becoming pregnant. I was so ashamed, I hid the pregnancy until my swollen ankles and belly gave me away. The baby died in the hospital weeks later." -- Oprah If she had been given proper health education and resources, she may have been better able to cope with this experience. She may have also been able to have the resources for proper health care and nutrition during her pregnancy, perhaps even saving this child's live.

Today Oprah has used her Angel Network to help fund causes which help prevent teen pregancy. One program, Cool Girls, Inc. has worked to educate teens in hopes of preventing teen pregnancy, and is credited for a two-thirds reduction in this rate since opening it's program in Atlanta, Georgia. Cool Girls, Inc has been in operation for twelve years and in this time period 100% of its active members have not become pregnant and have stayed in school. Studies have found that reducing teen pregnancy leads to better self-esteem, more knowledge about their bodies, and less school attrition in active members than their peers.

Expert Methods of Contraception

2008-01-17T15:29:00.001-05:00

Dr. Drew Pinsky Says Use Birth Control

Dr. Drew Pinsky, a psychiatrist famous for speaking about mental health topics relating to adolescents, sexuality, and addiction, has spoken numerous times about the myriad of contreceptives available to the public.

In an interview with MedicineNet.com , Dr. Drew recommended various methods of birth control for young adults. "Well, obviously, I'm presuming they're not smoking, don't have medical conditions, there are advantages to the pill, less PID [pelvic inflammatory disease], less cancers. Multiple reasons are accumulating to suggest the pill - it adds a level of safety now beyond contraception ... and, of course, condoms become important for STD's and safe sex. I want people to know about emergency contraception, too. It's taking your pill in a slightly higher dose after a sexual encounter. You take two pills within 24 hours of an unprotected sexual encounter, and then two more in the next 12 hours and it helps to prevent pregnancy. It works by preventing ovulation just by the oral contraceptive pill. There is some information out there from various groups and I'm against abortion, so I wouldn't get behind this if I thought it prevented implantation, but there is some information that shows conclusively that this prevents ovulation ... it works the same way as the birth control pill. Is there a finite possibility that somewhere, some time it could prevent implantation? Yes. Just like there is with the oral contraceptive pill taken the way you usually take it. So, there are multiple medications out there that have the same probability and no one talks about having them taken off the shelves. So, I'm extremely disturbed about this, since that has the highest probability of cutting down on the abortion rate out there. The Right-to-Lifers are probably not using their brains, they have to read the literature."

Subliminal Persuasion (if it worked)

2008-01-17T15:18:00.001-05:00

If there were a way to keep America's youth from falling into the cycle of teen pregnancy and poverty, subliminal messaging could work. If it worked. Which it doesn't really. But if it did, wouldn't it be great to cast the mall as an outlet for such an endeavor? Millions of teenagers hang out at malls, socialize, shop, and generally spend a good portion of their time there. Why not have an undetectable voice whispering, not booming, over the speaker systems of stores and food courts nationwide, urging everyone to "use a condom or abstain." If only subliminal messaging worked, we could definitely solve a lot of problems.

Has It Sunken In Yet?

2008-01-17T15:17:00.001-05:00

Protect Each Other

2008-01-17T15:14:00.000-05:00

"We love each other, so we use condoms."

While our main focus is on teen pregnancy, one issue that also raises itself in the face of unprotected sex is STDs. If you love someone enough to have sex with them, then you should love that person enough to want them to be safe. And you should want to be safe too, and avoid contracting something you could pass on to others you come to care about. Use a condom every time.

Birth Control

2008-01-17T14:40:00.000-05:00

There is only one way, other than abstinence, to avoid pregnancy. The contraceptive pill is used by 10 million women in the US, is readily available, and moderately affordable. This way, when hormones take over and you find yourself unable to abstain from sexual activity, you have a 98% chance of avoiding pregnancy. But don't leave condoms out of the equation. Birth control pills do not protect against STDs, so use a condom every time. The more protection the better!

History of Teen Pregnancy

2008-01-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

"Teenage pregnancy is defined in the United States as an Minor law underaged girl becoming pregnant. However, in the United Kingdom , there is a legal definition whereby a woman is considered to be a pregnant teenager if she becomes pregnant before her 18th birthday. The term in everyday speech usually refers to women who have not reached Age of majority legal adulthood, which varies across the world, who become pregnant." (Wikipedia)

Right now, the US is seeing the highest rate of infants born to single mothers in its entire history. 33% of infants are born to single mothers. The reason for this is because of advances in medical technology. The development of vitamins and other changes in nutrition have changed the average age at which women can become pregnant. 100 years ago, the average age for women to become pregnant was 18 years old, mostly because of poor nutrition. Now that we're more educated and our diets have been altered so that we recieve better nutrition, the average age that a woman can become pregnant is 12 - 13 years old. Here's a link to an article on the subject of early onset of puberty, written by Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D., Executive Director, National Center for Policy Research for Women & Families.

Effects on Society

Because women can become pregnant at such a young age, more infants are born to girls who have not yet been legally married. Their age keeps them from getting married, and so many young girls are having children by themselves. The families of these girls and their children help support the infant, and thus there may sometimes be a strain on the familie's financial resources, especially if the infant's father is unable or unwilling to assist in the raising of his son or daughter. Thus, the child is more likely to grow up in poverty, and more likely to suffer from health problems. There are also higher rates of abuse and neglect amongst these families, they are also more likely to commit crimes, and the child faces a higher chance of failing school and becoming teenage parents themselves. This article focuses on more of the effects of this dilemma on our society.

Technological Fixes

We have made attempts to find a solution for this problem. Developments in birth control, such as the contraceptive pill and the recently released Plan B, or morning after pill, are examples of our attempts to control the number of unwanted births in the in the United States. Aside from the medical technology introduced as a solution, the topic of sex education is also a subject of much debate. Some schools provide "abstinence-only" education and "virginity pledges" are increasingly popular. Most public schools offer “abstinence-plus” programs that support abstinence but also offer advice about contraception. A team of researchers and educators in California have published a list of "best practices" in the prevention of teen pregnancy, which includes, in addition to the previously mentioned concepts, working to "instill a belief in a successful future", male involvement in the prevention process, and designing interventions that are culturally relevant. Here is the site.

We want nice things! We want there to be less children born into a world where they cannot be properly cared for. We want better education so that we have less teen pregnancies, and those girls who would be otherwise made into mothers too soon could instead understand their bodies, have better control over them, and thus have better control of their lives.