Teenagers in the News
The first news story I found is on the rate of teen births in the United States. This article is by Will Dunham. Dunham points out that the birth rate among teenage girls has increased within the past four years. The reason behind this is that teenage girls focus more on sex and focus less on contraceptives. The problem is that these teenage girls are not getting the proper education regarding sex. Dunham says, "Some experts blame the teen birth rate increases on the government's support for "abstinence-only" education under the Bush administration that left office in January, but advocates of that approach have defended it as sound.". Dunham also points out that the only "good" thing relating to this matter is that the rate of premature births and low birthweight babies has declined which is good to hear. The second news story I found is on the comparison of teen tanning to underage smoking. This article is by the Associated Press. In Texas, there is a law that might be passed stating that anyone under eighteen years old must have a doctor's note before using a tanning bed and, also, that a parent must be with their child in the salon. A lawmaker is trying to point out that the effects of tanning are the same when it comes to the effects of smoking. They both provide the same risk for cancer. Rep. Burt Solomons says, "In the United States and Texas, we don't allow our teens to purchase cigarettes until after they are 18 because it is a carcinogen. Yet we don't do that for tanning beds, which can expose teens to the same risk of cancer.". I feel that this bill is a logical plan because teens, whether it be girls or boys, are at potential high risks of getting skin cancer and something has to be done about that. The third news story I found is on explicit song lyrics linked to sex among teenagers. This article is by the Agence France-Presse, which is the French Associated Press. This is a common problem we see today because it seems that sex is constantly used in different song genres mainly in hip hop. The lyrics pertaining to sex in hip hop music has direct influences on teenagers. Whether it be pop music or hip hop music, the lyrics can be too "oversexed" or just downright degrading. Degrading lyrics portray males having complete sexual domination over females and that is not what we want teens to hear. They can take that with them and use it to their advantages when they choose to have sex.
When I read these articles, nothing confused me at all. I understood everything that was depicted in these stories. From what our class has read so far, Tricia Rose's The Hip Hop Wars has a relation to the story on the explicit lyrics. Both of these articles are expressed upon the influences of music on teenagers. Overall, each of the news stories I read are engaging and very informative.
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