Caution, some of the words in this article maybe offensive and may contain vulgar language.

The youth of today are influenced by many factors and social pressures which directly influence how they act and shape the future in which they will live. One of the biggest pressures facing youth today is sexuality. From teenage years and puberty, the first desire and instinct most young children feel is to be in love and to learn about sexual intercourse. Most sexual education classes educate young people what sexual intercourse is and what types of ways, one could engage in sexual intercourse.

The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time in American society, where sexuality and ethics changed drastically. The influx of feminist ideology, led to the famous court case Roe v. Wade which essentially gave women the right to abort their unborn child. Since then, we have seen millions of children aborted, countless unlawful marriages, the rise of pornography, and a lower age of women bearing children. A recent article by CNN, written April 10, 2012 titled, “U.S. teen birth rate drops to a record low” describes recent statistics which notes that the teenage birth rate in the US has fallen to a record low in the past 7 decades, when data on teenage birth was calculated. The article notes that according to the National Center for Health Statistics the teenage birth rate fell 9% from 2009 to 2010.

The article went out to suggest that “teenage pregnancy is linked with several health and social issues such as poverty, out of wedlock births and education, as well as developmental issues, welfare and physical and mental health issues of the child.”

It is interesting to note how pop culture, sociological influences, peer pressure, etc. are hardly mentioned in light of the other contributing factors to teenage pregnancy. Pop culture has a major impact in shaping the mindset for young women to become pregnant.

For example take Lil Wayne’s song “Time For us to *****”

                                                The neighbors goin’ think I beat her

                                                I’ll Throw that ***** much deeper

                                                    Come be my wide receiver

                                                           I’ll give that girl a seizure

This type of music is easy to access and easy to understand.

Another example is Color Me Badd’s song “I Wanna Sex You Up”.

Let me take off all your clothes

Disconnect the phone so nobody knows

Let me light a candle

So we can make it better

Although the lyrics are not as offensive as the previous song, the motive of the song is to elicit a feeling of sex as something enjoyable and fun. Besides music, television shows such as Teen Mom and 16 pregnant, capture the lives of young women struggling to maintain a relationship as well as a, child. There are indeed many pressures which influence and directly impact the lives of teenage women. Bringing a child into the world is the greatest joy and miracle of all. Women should never see it as otherwise. As a society we must defend and protect life in all of its stages. Our mothers had the choice to abort us and they didn’t.

Like a famous theme song to a popular TV soap opera notes,

“Like sand through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.”

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