MTV’s Teen Mom ran for four seasons, was known for hyped-for-the-camera drama, occasional off-camera tabloid headlines featuring some of the program’s stars, and for giving some of the show’s viewers a wake-up call salacious glimpse at what young women and men (and their babies) face when they become parents too soon. The reality show was not a public service announcement, however. The key piece of reality is that the show was created as entertainment, sold to advertisers and consumed by viewers.
No viewer could live the 24/7 reality that a 16 year-old mom does – the kind of reality that she experiences when she’s supposed to take a high school geometry final and has been up all night with a teething baby who has a double-ear infection. The kind of reality that comes from living a life out of sync with her age peers; the kind of reality that comes when she struggles to support herself while dealing with a deadbeat Baby Daddy. – See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/2013/06/out-to-the-margins-mona-boelens/#sthash.l4FB30RB.dpuf
