I’ll be doing my semi-regular turn on “Beat the Press” today at 7 p.m. (WGBH-TV, Channel 2). Among our topics, not surprisingly, is the Time magazine report on the alleged Gloucester “pregnancy pact.”
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Excellent fodder for discussion. This is one of those issues where the use of a single word skews the discussion. It has been centered on whether or not there was a formal “pact” between girls, with boneheaded TV news reporters breathlessly (sorry) announcing that the existence of the “pact” was denied and there’s no evidence of a “pact.’Clearly, if there was no common agreement on a contract for pregnancy, the idea of getting pregnant at 14 was a) considered desirable, b) contemplated by a group of peers and c) executed. But enabled by the news media, chiefly airheads who talk for a living, the issue is focused on whether or not a “pact” existed rather than on the culture of the town and the school.The principal is to be commended for refusing to be drawn into the superfluous debate and for rightly bringing to public attention that it’s more than adolescent hormones that are responsible for the increase in the numbers of children, chiefly girls, raising children.
If this “story” did not occur in Massachusetts but in, say, Nevada, would the media frenzy be the same?I remember driving through Nevada at 26 and talking to girls my age who all had kids and had all initially become pregnant as a teen.The answer given when I probed why they had unprotected sex at 13, 14, and 15?”Because there’s nothing else to do here.”
Quick question – what does Callie Crossley do for work? I’ve never seen her except for “Beat the Press.” She is a great member of the panel, just wanted to know more about her.