Tonight we watched an episode of Southpark that we soon discovered was airing on MTV. This little fact came sharply into focus when Southpark ended and something called “16 and Pregnant” began. I stopped watching anything on MTV after year two of The Real World so just having MTV on was a shock. First instinct for both of us was to lunge for the remote and change the channel, but after the teaser I was hooked. This show appeared to be a complete piece of trash and it made good on that promise. What intrigued me was that it seemed almost impossible to believe that these girls could turn out any other way.
The evidence is present in their names, socio-economic status and parents. The girls were named Maci, Amber, Catelynn and Farrah. So right off I’m thinking if they had not gotten knocked up at 16, they would clearly grow up to be strippers. Next, they were all from tiny to relatively small towns and none seemed to have any aspirations aside from a GED or high school diploma. Thirdly, their parents were mostly horrible. One of whom actually called her daughter a bitch on camera. I had some horrific fights with my Mother when I was a teenager, but I don’t think I ever even heard her use the word bitch, let alone call me that.
My favorite couple just due to extreme dysfunction, tried to be responsible, moving away from damaging home environments to get a place together. The boyfriend was so clueless as to how adulthood and parenthood worked that he immediately spent $500 on a Playstation 3 and some sort of game package. After being strongly admonished by his pregnant teenage girlfriend he tried to return it (not sure if he was successful) before buying his baby mama a $21.40 engagement ring from Walmart. Um, yes, that’s correct. Dad spent $500 on a game system and a whopping $21 on an engagement ring. After watching that I actually punched my husband in the shoulder as an expression of female outrage toward selfish and stupid men everywhere.
Okay, got off the point there a bit, but what I’m trying to say (and badly) is that if you name your kid a stripper name, parent like you hate your kids, are too exhausted from working too many jobs to make ends meet and never teach your children to want better, there is a good chance they will not achieve better. Sometimes we are self-fulfilling prophecies. It is difficult to see outside of your narrow world view when no one opens up a window for you. These girls seem doomed to continue the cycle of their own parents. Having money or education does not mean you will turn out to be a great person any more than being poor and uneducated dooms you to unhappiness, but a stripper name lasts a lifetime.
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