Hine's main argument in this chapter is that the media shapes the way that we see teenagers. He explains who the word teenager didn't even really exist until the twentieth century. Why do we even need a word to describe a group of people? Hine talks throughout the reading about how different parts of history and the media have shaped the idea of the teenager. He argues that young people are given all these labels through the lens of the media. For example when young twenty year olds commit crimes the title reads "Teen arrested". Why not just say "Man arrested"? Aren't you an adult when your 18? Same with how Congress was trying to try young people as adults when they commit certain crimes, why is it okay to try them as an adult, when you label them as something completely different? Hine also argues that there are to many things that are against teens. Society is constantly showing the population images of sex and so on, but we tell todays teens that they need to wait because they don't completely understand everything there is to know about sex and the consequences that it can bring. (I do agree that most teens do not no much about sex, and therefore should wait. Most sex education courses do not do a good job of teaching what really happens. I can only think of Kenia's video that she posted in her Raby blog, and that does a better job explaining things then anything I was taught in a health class in high school). Teens bodies are ready for sex way sooner then they were decades ago, and many are sexually active because of it. This relates to the prom idea that Hine addresses. Teens are sexually active and prom night is a night where it's almost expected of you to be a crazy, wild teen. The story that Hine tells about the girl who has the baby at her prom, just helps the media enforce how teens are not ready to be active. We are so under developed in our thinking process that we think it's okay to hid a pregnancy and get rid of the baby in the garbage. This scares parents and society and starts the cycle of looking down on the teens for their horrid actions, but how many times does this happen? And we only hear about the girl giving birth at her prom because the media only tells us about awful things. When are happy things really told to society?
Are these the moments that turn us into adults?
great post
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media focuses on the girl giving birth at the prom but since I've graduated high school I've known at least 5 high school/teen pregnancies that have not been publicized but the girls are fighting really hard to keep the kids and give them a good future. Just last week one of the kids I work was out because his girlfriend gave birth to his daughter. She's 16. But Matt (the father) is working more at T's and they've moved in with his mom after her parents kicked her out. He wants to give his baby a good life, she's so adorable. Part of me wishes the media would report stories like those more often but the other part of me knows that it may encourage more teen pregnancies.
ReplyDeleteI think you point out the complexity of this problem with balance. But, with the stuff we have talked about in class so far- why is it important to name the group of people? How is language important? If we didnt have a teen discourse or had a different teen discourse how would it change our understanding?
ReplyDeleteI like that you talked about the negative stuff being in the media and standing out. Even in life, I feel like the bad situations stick out so you remember those more. There are a lot of good that teenagers do but that kind of gets ignored.
ReplyDeleteGood post
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