Teen Mom (renamed Teen Mom out for the second season) is an American soap opera television show created by MTV. It’s the first spin-off of sixteen and pregnant, and it focused on the lifestyles of a few teenage mothers who navigate difficult romantic relationships and motherhood. It was so popular, in fact, that it moved to Vh1 and was changed to a half-hour version, which lasted for two seasons.
The premise behind Teen Mom Oxt is that a teenage mom has taken on twelve kids, and all but one of those kids (her own daughter) have been named Dottie. Dottie is pregnant with her first child when she gives birth to a boy, Michael, but she immediately needs to drop her newborn to a nearby hospital. When she realizes she can’t take care of the child naturally, she decides to get another baby in the name of another teenager, Taylor. Then things take an odd turn when her husband starts to file for custody of her daughter, putting Dottie into deep financial and emotional stress. Now, faced with the possibility of teenage pregnancy, as well as the difficult choice of saving her child or seeing her baby grow up in an orphanage, Dottie must decide what kind of parent she wants to be.
The pregnancy itself is what launched Teen Mom Oxt into full reality television fame. After filming its first season, it was introduced onto the network in the form of a reality show called The New Mom. In the spin-off, a new mother is brought in by her ex-boyfriend to help her deal with the stress of pregnancy and re-create some of her life from the time she got married to when she became a single mother. But when the show began filming, it was immediately popular among critics and regular viewers alike.
Aside from being a popular and successful series on MTV, Teen Mom Oxt also became a cause caged controversy because one of the series’ celebrities, Briana Banks, ended up having a baby through in vitro fertilization. This was something she had been adamantly against ever since she gave birth to her son through C-section. She felt that given her personal experience, women who choose to undergo IVF are often unsure of what to expect going into the process, leading them to put their child at risk. After learning about Banks’s experience on Oftesteen, it seems that the common fear surrounding in vitro fertilization may have some validity. After all, when a woman knows ahead of time that her body will not give birth to a normal child, she has no reason to panic and feel anxiety over the unknown.
However, Oftesteen did not deter the show from introducing more controversial issues. When one of the characters, Cameron Diaz, was seen on the show holding the child of one of the show’s male producers, the internet exploded with commentary on whether or not Diaz was being abusive. The social media lit up with dozens of opinions on the subject from both sides. This story, along with the recent trend of Celebrity Pregnancy pictures being shared online, made Teen Mom Oxt another case study on why you should always remain skeptical of everything that comes online.
As more shows like Teen Mom Oxt make their way onto internet sites, it becomes imperative for moms to be aware of what they are watching. Some shows are completely inappropriate for a television viewing. Others, while being completely genuine, may not be best suited for young viewers. Taking some time to research and learn about what is not appropriate, will ensure that you will only view the shows that are suitable for your age and level of knowledge. By doing so, there is less of a chance that you will accidentally fall asleep while watching one of these shows.
