September 20, 2013
English& Writing II
Theresa Stowell
I’m a Pregnant New Born
Final
Growing up in a family of nine seems pretty big. Although my mother was twenty-one when she had her first child, society still felt that was a rather low age to withhold a pregnancy. Upon my reading of Cathy Gulli’s article on teenage pregnancy, she opens reader’s eyes to a bigger picture upon youth sex, or what I call “sex for dummies.” In “Suddenly Teen Pregnancy is Cool?” she stresses her opinion that modern things in society such as celebrities, movies, home life and many other things are issues that ignite the fuel of teen pregnancy. She also put emphasis on the generation, age, as well as countries in which are most effected …show more content…
and or that are heading down the wrong path. Although Gulli made some interesting points within her text, there were some parts of information that were organized incorrectly which made her statement unclear. There are many people that feel the rise of teenage pregnancy in the U.S is due to others in society that are considered role models to these young females.
As she gave examples of media pregnancies, social acceptance, why the rise and many other reasons, she backs her thoughts up with various amounts of data. I am not here to give my opinion on if her perspective is correct or incorrect, but to a point, her unity, consistency as well as her organization could have been focused on more than what readers have observed. The high rate of teen pregnancy as well as programs designed to reduce this number are at a common low right now in the U.S, but the problem is that most teenage pregnancies are unintended and less likely to be because of young celebrities or societal acceptance. Many of her examples are true, in which her data backs her opinion for example; “The rising American teen birth rate in 2006 is something of an eye-opener” meaning weather good or bad, in 2006 there was a lot of attention focusing on the teen birth rate at that time or in 2006. (Gulli …show more content…
422)
Gulli also states that between 1991 and 2005, the United States saw a 34% decrease in the birth rate in those among those aged 15-19. As she goes on she goes in to depth of what the different rates at different ages.
Cathy Gulli was pretty consistent when it came to getting her point across.
Though her stability was off, her focus on what her topic was intended to do by grabbing her audience attention on teen pregnancy in which it did. There are many things she said within her text that could have been narrowed down to one sentence, For example she stresses information on teen birth rate on three different countries (422). Although this data was pretty consistent, she begins to talk about how today’s society we feel that there’s no issue with having sex at a young age and how it’s not unusual that she wouldn’t get a call about twelve and thirteen year olds expecting babies. As we read along, she begins to contradict herself about her proposal on teen pregnancy and how young celebrities with babies image gives of the vibe to young female teens that’s its ok as well. This is what made her argument not weak, but wasn’t as strong as it could have been. She jumps back and forth on things that didn’t need to be stated like “Poor Access to emergency contraception and abortion also may explain the increase in teen birth (423).” Statements like these are not proven
facts. While reading Gulli’s “Adolescent Pregnancy” she jumps back and forth on different time periods, as well as what precautions were taken during that time. For example, Gulli begins her argument dated in 2005 with modern data. (Although she had given accurate data many readers would say her presentation was a bit to blunt or straight to the point) then after jumps down to the 60’s and 70’s right before she began taking accusations on STD’s which became a huge issue in the U.S in the eighties (425). By jumping from current years to decades in the past, the organization of the article became weaken.
Gulli starts off by stating the obvious of teenage movie and TV star Jamie Lynn Spears; “When Jamie Lynn Spears, the sixteen year old, announced that she was pregnant”, although this is a true statement. The organization of where she placed it was incorrect. According to Gulli “Unplanned Pregnancy” is now a “pop- cultural staple” false statement as she argues with herself (421). As you read along McKay states that “during the 1960’s and 70’s Sex was a rite of passage equated with youth rebellion (424).” which means that this teen pregnancy was always an issue, and should have been stated in her introduction. This would then lead reader into modern data such as pregnancy rates and ages. Much of her data is correct during her time of writing this article. But placed incorrectly.
After reading “Suddenly Teen Pregnancy is Cool?” Author Cathy Gulli did make some important points. Although the criteria as well as the organization jumps around, the consistency of the article stuck out a lot. She focuses on her thesis and draws the audience attention with her first few sentences. Gulli data was accurate but because of the organization and content of the article, it made it hard for readers to understand.
References
Gulli, Cathy “Suddenly Teen Pregnancy is Cool?” Reading and Writing in the Academic Community. 4th edition. Mary Lynch Kennedy and Handley M. Smith. Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson/ Prentice Hall 2010. 420-426.