SEX, TEENIES, CELL PHONES, AND BABIES

SEX, TEENIES, CELL PHONES, AND BABIES

June 21st, 2008

I previously posted a sad tale of our times, namely the recent craze among female teenies–and tweenies–of taking the virtue of sharing to what would have been termed a sick extreme just a few years ago. It seems some girls are sharing pictures of their naked bodies with their boyfriends and significant others via their cell phones. In turn, the boys, being boys, have been sharing the pictures with their buddies and with the universe via YouTube and other internet venues. (http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=176)

A fellow old fart once told me that he regretted having been born 50 years too soon since he missed out on this New Age of, let’s say, teen abandon, but I wonder if our younguns are really enjoying their new freedoms or whether cell phone stipteases are more an expression of their empty lives.

What brought that thought to mind was that cell phone relationship innovation which was reinforced by this week’s trip down Debauchery Lane, the discovery that at least some high school kids have taken a great leap forward by a pact to get impregnated en masse. (http://www.newser.com/story/30483.html). Yet another sign that America is slipping down history’s toilet?

Gloucester, Massachusetts teenies have now given that potty another big flush.

Picturesque Gloucester, “America’s Oldest Seaport,” should now also be labeled “Home of America’s Dumbest Teens.” Whatever their motivation, fast tracking to adulthood, looking for love and attention in all the wrong places, or just plain, old bubbling hormones, at least seventeen of Gloucester High School’s 1200 students—mostly sophomores—have intentionally gotten themselves with child. (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080620/pregnancy_pact_080620/20080620?hub=CTVNewsAt11)

In days of old, that was crudely labeled getting knocked up but these kids don’t see it that way at all. In the very bad old days, teens who had gotten pregnant were packed off to another locale—to a distant relative or a home for unwed mothers—and, if they returned at all, their young motherhood wasn’t advertised. These Gloucester girls not only planned their pregnancies so they could raise their babies together but were disappointed if they weren’t impregnated and, no doubt, will try, try, try again. Those who did succeed were high-fiving one another in the halls of Gloucester High.I served in the trenches of high school as a teacher for 28 years, so I know something of how these girls think, or used to know. Most are good kids, romantics to the core, infatuated with 13 year old Juliet’s affair with Romeo, somewhat distraught over their unfortunate denouement, who then went on their merry way, content with just being teenagers. I’m also familiar with their teen angst ...

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