Ypulse Guest Post: Teenage Pregnancies And The British Media: Not A Love Story
Posted by meredith on 03-04-2009Today's Ypulse guest post comes from Alexandra Suhner, a London-based trend forecaster who has been taken aback by the recent media frenzy that's broken out over the story of two teenage parents. Below Alexandra explains how the problem goes much deeper than a eyebrow-raising headline. If you work in youth media or marketing and have an idea for a Ypulse Guest Post, feel free to email me.
Teenage Pregnancies And The British Media: Not A Love Story
Three weeks ago in the UK, a story broke that a 12-year-old boy named Alfie Pattern had fathered a child in Sussex, making him the youngest father in Britain. The child, Maisie, was born to Alfie and the 15-year-old mother Chantelle Steadman. Then in a disturbing turn of events, as the story spread, more potential teenage fathers stepped up, claiming they too had bedded Chantelle and calling for a DNA test.
Not surprisingly, the media has since camped outside all of their homes and the parents have come into the picture. While reports roll in that Chantelle's parents routinely let boys spend the night, Alfie's mother may be facing a prison sentence for failing to enforce her son's school attendance (truancy in Britain can often led to a prison sentence for the parents.) Adding further fuel to the media frenzy, Alfie's father is also currently romantically involved with a teenager, and has seven children of his own, from several different mothers.
The tangled story has become part of a "Broken Britain" campaign launched by the media to highlight national problems, making headlines in all of Britain's major papers over the past few weeks. But I see two concerning issues here. Not only Britain's teenage pregnancy rates, but also how the media has chosen to portray this serious matter.
Britain has one of Europe's highest teenage pregnancy rates, with 8,196 young people under the age of 16 becoming pregnant in 2007. This is up 7.8% from the year before, and still the highest rate in Western Europe, six times the rate of the Netherlands. This statistic is still less than half of the United States 2008 rates according to the Office for National Statistics and Teenage Pregnancy Unit. So, how did Alfie and Chantelle land in the spotlight?
After discovering the situation, the Patten family hired Max Clifford, a notorious British publicist, to deal with the press. One of the many deals he secured for the family was a lucrative deal with tabloid newspaper The Sun, giving them video rights to the saga. In the past, teenage pregnancy would not have been publicized. In most cases the parents of the teenage mother would raise the child as their own and that would be the end of it. The appointment of Max Clifford, know for representing such celebrities as Simon Cowell and Jade Goody (a well-known reality television star) shows that the family was keen on soliciting media exposure in this case, and making a profit. Alfie's father is even attempting to negotiate a deal where the release of the DNA results would take place on live television.
But of course, the media has been complicit in this arrangement. Recent newspaper headlines include:
"The baby shambles of Alfie Patten and Chantelle Steadman" (The Times)
"Doubts over schoolboy father Alfie Patten as eight others claim paternity" (The Telegraph)
"The controversy over teen father Alfie Patten: Who's the daddy" (The Guardian)
"I'm the real daddy, Alfie" (News of the World)
"I love Alfie and he took my virginity. There has been nobody else” (The Sun.)
Public opinion is divided with some commentators actually congratulating the parents for deciding to raise the child as a couple. Others were outraged when photos of Alfie and his daughter (featured in the photo above) portrayed him as child and quoted him as saying, "I thought it would be good to have a baby. I didn't really think about how we would afford it. I don't really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me 10 pounds (about $15)."
The situation has escalated to the point where the Press Complaints Commission has launched an inquiry into the media's handling of the story. Their code of practice states that "minors must not be paid for material involving children's welfare, nor parents or guardians for material about their children or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interests." An exception to this is if there is "demonstrable public interest," which will be used as a defense for the newspapers. Regardless of the results of the inquiry, the story has already come out, and the damage has been done. There is little hope that the inquiry will decrease the public's interest or the media's coverage.
I spoke to some of my teenage students, and although they find the story very sickening, many of them weren't surprised. Some claim to have gotten basic sexual education training, but many say it is not covered sufficiently at their schools. I think British teens find the story upsetting, feel it represents a very small number of teens today, and don't want the media portraying Chanelle and Alfie as typical British teenagers.
Still, the rate of intoxicated, unprotected teenage sex in Britain is very high and somewhat unsurprising since we have one of the highest teenage drinking rates in Europe. The glamorization of casual sex from the media and by celebrities has made it more acceptable to sleep around. Having a child makes you a far better candidate for getting a council-funded apartment, and increases your welfare payments. Until the issues of family and work are addressed within low-income families in the UK, it is unlikely that this trend will slow down anytime soon.
More on Alexandra Suhner
Alexandra Suhner is a London-based trend forecaster, marketing consultant, and creative director seeking new appointments within fashion or creative companies. She specializes in cultural, marketing and lifestyle trends, with a focus on youth culture and European geographies and also teaches 16 to 18 year old students at a fashion vocational school in London. She writes a blog for Fashion Trendsetter.
Categorized under: International
March 4th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
It's worth pointing out that Max Clifford says he only took up the case once it was in the public eye. He told the Guardian: "Had they come to me in the first place, I would have said, 'Keep it between the families, sort yourselves out, sort the little one out, don't go public, don't talk to anybody,' as I do frequently when people come to me."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/21/max-clifford-interview-goody)
Olly
http://futureproof.olib.co.uk
March 5th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
"Glamorization of casual sex from the media and by celebrities"? Please, for once I'd like hear from someone about this who hasn't got some pious agenda.
There is nothing wrong with casual sex. There is, however, something very wrong with it if it's done by uneducated morons. In turn, uneducated morons (like these teens) are susceptible to a whole lot of other problems. So it seems like this is merely a sympton for a much larger issue.
If you choose to just follow the time-honored tradition of populistic outrage, you're ignoring the underlying cause of the social and intellectual disaster that's brewing everywhere right now.
March 7th, 2009 at 5:15 am
What a mess!
The example come from highest.
TV,Radio,fils, stars, and (sorry to tell it) the Royal Family (not Queen Elizabeth : who does she think of all that…?)
November 4th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Wow that not only is bad but is even worse because he is 12 years old. Teenage pregnancy is not a beautiful thing and needs to not only slow down, but stop completely. My class and I are working on a new policy for South Carolina and hope that it will inprove this problem and help other states realize that it IS a problem.
Thank You, If you would like to help or comment about it please write back.