Manly Musings 2

The Bra-Burning issue - Teen Pregnancy

I think this topic was a bit near the knuckle for one of my male specimens...or he just forgot to get back to me...either way, I hope you'll agree that Male Specimen 1's answers more than tackle this most topical of topics.

Why do you think teenage pregnancy is more prevalent among lower socio-economic groups than with the middle classes?

First and foremost, the term “lower socioeconomic groups” is a fairly pointless way of writing “financially poorer”! By saying someone is poorer, you aren’t implying they are in anyway a lesser person than a richer person but just to be sure, pop the word financially in front and - tah dah - you’ve got yourself a less pretentious way of writing it!

On to the meat (or otherwise if you are averse to the idea of meat) of the question sandwich: why are more poor teenage girls pregnant than rich teenage girls? That’s quite a complex question that I think you could write a 100,000 word essay on so to attempt to explain those issues in a short answer would be silly but…

I think more of them are pregnant because they buy cheaper condoms, sometimes they just use old plastic carriers tightly wrapped round the genitals and also there is a rumour on many estates that Tic-Tacs are the same as the pill so they think that eating Tic-Tacs is a good form of protection!

When you hear about a girl having one or more children who is between the ages of 12 and 17, what do you think? Be honest.

For me, this question raises a few points. Firstly, grammatically I believe you meant to write "...children who ARE between the ages..."

Secondly, there is nothing wrong with having children close together for example when I was 12, my sister was 13 and my brothers were 14 and 17. That worked out fine for us and my mother didn’t have any problems, she said it was hard work but manageable!

If the mother were the young-un, I think it would be Paed-O’clock! That’s a bad time for all involved!

Do you think the way the media presents motherhood and parenting in general (particularly in tabloid newspapers and gossip magazines a la Heat, OK, Now etc) is misleading girls about the realities of having children? Is this irresponsible?

Mother of the Year awards were once won by Kerry Katona. This year the winner was Suzanne Shaw. That’s fine but the other nominees were Jordan and Heather Mills! The problem with the tabloid media is all of the crack they clearly smoke, no sensible sober person would let the filth that is Jordan, Kerry Katona or Heather Mills anywhere near their children.