HIV :(

Today in class we talked about HIV and STIs. Something that has always been a topic of interest is criminal transmission of HIV(should people be prosecuted if they knowingly transmit HIV). There are two different sides to the debate, for and against criminalization. What do you guys think? There are of course situations where people do not know they have HIV and spread it unintentionally, but what about a person who knows they are infected yet do not tell their partner before intercourse. It is frightening that there even has to be this debate. There are people out there who do not think it is important to be honest with their partners and let them know if they are at risk.

In November of 2004 a German man had a goal to infect 100 Thai women with HIV, including his wife, he was caught but since Thailand has no laws about HIV he got minimal punishment. 2 months in jail for overstaying his visa, that's it. It is really strange that instead of people treating HIV like a disease/infection, they are using it as a weapon.

This website has different court cases pertaining to HIV and has a chart comparing the two sides of the debate, criminalized and against criminalized.

Maggie Anderson

Sex and Education

This week we have been discussing sex and education. It has made me wonder what is the best way to educate teens about sex. We have talked about how some programs are racialized, meaning they are taught certain ways and include certain information to be taught to a specific race. I agree this stereotyping of cultures is wrong however I believe there should be a level of respect towards the values of cultures and religions. I think the best way to educate is to give the information about sex and how it can affect your life and also how to be safe if you do choose to have sex. Then it is the teen’s choice if they want to have sex at that point in their life. The most important thing is to always be safe, so I think that should be included. The link attached gives information on Abstinence-only sex education and comprehensive sex education. It also gives the characteristics of effective sex education. I’m curious to know what you guys think is the effective way to educate about sex.

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/450?task=view

-Madeline 

Abortion vs. Adoption

Monday in class we talked about abortion and adoption.  One question that was asked was which one of these would cause you the most regret.  For me, I think that abortion would cause me the most regret.  At least with an adoption I would know my child was getting a chance at a good life, but with an abortion they would not get this chance. How do you guys feel about it?

                                                 

We also talked about the restrictions on abortion and if they are too strict or if they are fine how they are. I see both sides of this argument.  On one hand I think a parent should know about the abortion so they are able to educate their children and help support their child, but on the other hand I do not think they should be able to make the decision for their child.  This is an important decision in a mothers life and they need to make that decision for themselves because it is their body and their life. 

In addition, we talked about different ways to get an abortion.  I did not really understand how abortions were done before now.  And the abortion pill was something new to me.  I have heard about the Plan B pill, but I had not heard about the abortion pill.  This website has more information about the abortion pill.  http://www.fwhc.org/abortion/medical-ab.htm

The topic of abortion and adoption is kind of confusing to me because there are so many options and rules that go with each that I am not completely aware of. 

Elaina Stansberry

Chasidy Allen

This week we've been focusing on choice and births in Africa. I decided to talk about the lack on knowledge in Africa. Something that really struck  me in class today was the realization that the women in Africa don't know that they're pregnant. I was shocked that the young girl didn't know she was with child. She told her mother that she had no clue how this could happen. This is so similar to what's going on in America. It's essential that parents educate their children about pregnancy. I know I've never spoke to my own mother about pregnancy I kind of looked to my friends and the people around me to know and learn more about the risk of having unprotected sex. But then again I was taught throughout school these risk.

I've posted a link that speaks more on "Teen Pregnancy on the Rise"
http://pregnancy.families.com/blog/teen-pregnancy-on-the-rise


This link talks about "Why Teen Pregnancy is a Poverty Problem"
http://news.change.org/stories/why-teen-pregnancy-is-a-poverty-problem

CHOICE (Ashlee Reece)

Ashlee Reece

Today (3/7) in class we discussed choice.  We also discussed how choice was represented in 16&Pregnant.  
In most of the episodes I viewed choice was under represented in the show.  Most of the times the choice was left up to the parents and the teen kind of went with the flow and rolled with the punches because they weren't seen to have any power. So the question that I pose to you is "why is it that the teen females are portrayed to be so powerless?"  I understand that being pregnant is not an easy "dilemma" and one would want to seek advice and guidance, but it's almost as if the mother's completely waive their rights as a mother/parent.  On this show the girls also depend a lot on others.  Not that they are in any position to be on their own, but it just surprises me that all of the shows are pretty much the same when it comes to portraying choice and independence.  The only episodes where i feel choice was exercised was with Farah, Markai, and Catelynn.  Farah choice came into play when she was deciding to date and find a father figure for Leah against her mother's wishes.  This is a common choice that single women are faced with after their have children because they want to fulfill that american dream.  Markai was faced with a choice to have an abortion which could be a choice for other women but is not portrayed and lastly Kaitlyn made a choice to give her child up for adoption against the wishes of her parents. Choices effect our everyday lifestyle's which is why they are so essential, but if teens didn't have any influence playing on their choices about being a parent how would those decisions change?http://nicedeb.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/abortion-rights.jpg

Sexual Violence

The topic of sexual violence against women is something that is not addressed in our schools. How are young people suppose to know what is appropriate and when to say no if they don't know what is right and wrong in the their relationships.

One in three teens experience some kind of abuse in their romantic relationships. I think it is very important to teach teens about statistics like these to help them realize that violence can happen to anyone and they should be prepared and know what to do if sexual violence does happen to them. We grow up in this society thinking that if something happens to us like rape then we're not suppose to talk about it like it is our fault. Women get asked the questions, "Well what were YOU doing out so late? What were YOU wearing that made him come onto you? What  did YOU do to deserve this?" How are we suppose to expect young girls to be honest and come forward if they were sexually violated when society throws the blame back on them. Adding this aspect into sexual education during schools should have happened already, teens need to know they have a safe place to go and talk if they are sexually abused.

Sexual Violence is a scary thing to talk about and I think that's why our society blows it off. It's almost taboo to talk about Teen Sexual Violence because adults or parents or the teens themselves don't want to admit that sexual violence is happening. Because our society does not place an importance on the education  of sexual violence people are ignoring it and letting it happen. I think it is very important for women to spread the word to their peers about what can happen and how to possibly prevent domestic violence.

At the beginning of the week there was a incident of Sexual Violence at Mizzou, its hard to come to realization that our campus isn't as pretty and care-free as we thought it was. I hope that the student body  understands that sexual violence is a serious issue, and can affect all of us.

Maggie Anderson

Teen Dads

I think the discussion of teen dads is really interesting. We hear so much about the moms and not a whole lot about the dads. We are quick to assume that the dad is a horrible guy but I started thinking about his side of the situation.

Society has this stereotype that all teen dads are bad. There is a certain expectation that the dad will leave or not take care of the baby or be there for the mom. This may be true in many cases but not all. And if society puts up this expectation, how do we expect the father to do any different? The more that society looks at these teen dads as bad, the more likely they are to act this way. And usually no matter what the dad decides to do, he is looked at negatively. For example, if a dad decides to drop out of school and find work, he can only provide little support for the mom because he can only get a minimum-wage job like any other teenager. So he is looked at negatively for not providing enough. But if he stays in school to be more educated and provide more later on, he is looked at negatively for not providing right away. So the question is, what do we expect from these dads? What would be the ideal situation? I can’t think of any. 

You can’t cut these dads out of the picture because they play a huge role in the child’s life. The link has statistics that show how important dads are and how they affect their child’s life along the road. http://www.dadsworld.com/parenting-statistics/importance-of-fathers.html

I think there should be programs to help teen dads. It should give them guidance on becoming a man and a father. This is a hard time for any male teenager. Having a baby at this age is expecting a lot of a young man. He is most likely not prepared for this. These teen dads should be given the opportunity to be a part of the baby’s life. I know that the stereotype is probably true in a lot of cases that the dad does not take that opportunity. But if there were programs to help the dads, they would not be as clueless and scared about being a father and would hopefully take responsibility.

-Madeline Schroeder

Sexuality

The topic I want to focus on in this blog is sexuality.  One thing we talked about in class Monday is how gender roles play into sexuality.  I find it apalling that people can look down on women when they have sex, but yet they encourage and praise men for having sex.  Why is that?  In sixteen and pregnant, Valerie pointed out that she used to judge young girls who got pregnant at a young age.  She saw the young pregnant women as whores or sluts,  but what about the man involved?  Why is he not seen as being any of these negative things?

Now days people are having sex at younger ages and are not that concerned aabout losing their virgrinity.  I know I viewed my virginity as a gift and I gave this to someone I love.  In fact, we have been together for over three in a half years now.  It suprises me when I hear about young girls, even some as young as seventh grade having sex.  To make it worse some are not having it with just one person, but they are having it with multiple partners.  It shocks me how much things change over time.  There are not very many people who are too concerned with wariting until marriage to have sex for the first time, which was not the case back in the day.http://virginityproject.typepad.com/the_virginity_project/virginity_loss_stories/.  This website just has a few more stories on some other women lost their virginity.

Thanks,
Elaina Stansberry

Chasidy Allen

I recently viewed Felicia's episode of 16 & pregnant and it really made me think. I still can't quite grasp the idea that men who participate in making babies don't believe that it's their responsibility to take care of their child. It amazes me how fast their attitudes change. How can you neglect your own child? I understand that some men don't want to have children at a young age but you should have thought about that before having sex.

You would think that with the amount of absentee fathers in today's society that things would change, that males would want to be different and not want to be just another statistic . The fact of the matter is that nothing has changed and as long as this is a trend, nothing will change. The rate in which teen pregnancies occur is beyond unacceptable. Young men are going into these situations blind. The blame can be spread between many things such as lack of parental support or knowledge in general. If things are going to change, parents must be more progressive in educating and raising their sons. In today's society we can not even preach abstinence, because now pre-marital sex is the thing to do. We have to preach safe sex, the use of condoms and contraceptives. There needs to be an established greater sense of responsibility and accountability for our actions and behaviors. We must no longer allow this behavior to go unnoticed, children deserve fathers and boys growing into men need to learn to be responsible.

Ashlee Reece

The focus of this blog is going to be based on chapter 2 (bastardy).  I found a lot of interesting facts in this chapter.  For instance, the fact that people think that the solution for teenage pregnancy now is the same as they thought back then, qualifications for parenting, laws that allowed women to be punished for having a child out of wedlock (filius nullius), and the shift of opinion on the teen pregnancy issue.  When a teenage girl is pregnant, the first thing associated with her is shame, sin, and poverty.  These associations date back to the times of colonial america. ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/beccacc/3216874170/ )  According to our textbook some of the assumptions are true such as the fact that her child will have fewer resources than that of a married couple and so on.  However, people have grown custom to assuming that these young girls can marry all of their troubles away.  In so many words the question that Kristen Luker poses in our text book is would the "ideal solution" be good enough?  The truth is that it wouldn't.  It would make a few slight changes in the lives of those girls who give birth at early ages.  Another point that was exposed in the book is the fact that society may not be concerned about the age of first time mothers as much as they are about their marital status and qualifications for parenting (16).  Society usually considers you "fit for parenthood" when you have the finances, spouse, and eduaction to raise one.  In my opinion, it's this type of logic that defames society's credibility.  Years ago it didn't matter how old you were when you had children, in fact people set up arranged marriages at ages early as 15.  The important thing back then is that you were married.  It was the married vs. unmarried and that's all that mattered.  It seems as if society changes their mind about who is qualified enough to have children w/ every generation.  Lastly, on page seventeen Kristen talks aout a common woman names Agnes Taylor in Maryland who was to be given twelve lashes for having a child out of wedlock.  It was mentioned that the same punishment went for men and women, but usually the woman was held more responsible due to her visible connection with the child.  Where was the father?  Why didn't he recieve these lashes as well since it takes two people to plant and fertilize this seed?  It was said that since the men owned property, they were usually fined.  This same idea takes placce today.  The idea that since the child is bound t the woman, that she has more responsibility for the child than his own father.  In episodes of "16 & Pregnant", this is apparent also.  The girls are the protagonist of the show and also the ones that tend to "learn their lesson" from having a child so young.

Ashlee's practice link post

http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/1966/10/15.htm

picture!

HELLO

WOOO first blog!

-Madeline

Hey ya'll!!

This is my first blog post ever!!! Yay!!

Maggie's response

Yay! practice blog!