Elizabeth Ford's "Glamorous Mistakes" (Feb. 9) is horribly mistaken about how MTV has portrayed teen pregnancy. MTV's "Teen Mom" does anything but glamorize the pregnancies of the young women. First of all, not all of the girls' parents support them 100 percent. Sure, they offer some help in baby-sitting, but they are definitely not happy about the situation their daughters put themselves in. In some cases, like with Farrah, all the audience sees is her constantly arguing with her mother. Secondly, the lives of these girls aren't portrayed as glamorous at all. Whitney, from '16 and Pregnant', lives with her grandmother in her extremely messy and cluttered trailer. She even gets kicked out by her grandmother shortly after giving birth. Lastly, the boyfriends of the young girls are not all seen as a father figure. Most of the girls can't even rely on their "boyfriends" to help raise their babies. The only couple that seems to be happy is Catelynn and Tyler - the couple that gave their baby up for adoption. To conclude, MTV has in no way made these girls' lives to seem desirable by any means. It portrays the harsh reality of teenage girls dealing with pregnancy, usually without a partner to help them and certainly shows that a baby will 9 times out of 10 not save a relationship.
Currie Underwood\nCLAS III
Read More
CULLEN: Let's not make the U. like it used to be
By Robert B. Cullen | 17 hours agoFortunately, there is a remedy for this that can produce a diverse student body without resorting to affirmative action based on race or gender. It is affirmative action based on socioeconomic status.
5 U.Va. COMMUNITY MEMBERS: Gerber has it wrong — our U.Va. is better
By 5 U.Va. Community Members | YesterdayIt seems clear to us that expanding the available pool of faculty and students has heightened the School of Law’s standards and dramatically improved the University.
RASHID: The time to expand the students’ role at the administrative level is now
By Muhammad Ali Rashid | 4 days agoSo long as students’ power is limited to an advisory role in the administration, governance at the University will remain fragile.
