The Connection Between the Casey Anthony Case and “Teen Mom” Shows
Since the Casey Anthony “not guilty” verdict came in from Central Florida yesterday afternoon, my Facebook wall and Twitter feed have been clogged with “no way!” and “disgraceful!” and “No justice for Caylee!”, to the point where I want to go back in time to an era when social media didn’t dominate.
I also avoided news about the Anthony case. For a bunch of reasons: I don’t watch cable TV news ever (the only time I see snippets of CNN, FOX News, or MSNBC, it’s because Jon Stewart’s called them out on The Daily Show. I also don’t watch network TV news, because the anchors smile too maniacally (and has anyone noticed how the local female anchors all seem to dress as though they’re going clubbing after the broadcast?), and the sets make my brain hurt. I listen to NPR pretty much all day, and on that news outlet, you get national and international news and analysis — which does not include tawdry family stories that collide with “news” coverage. (Though of course the verdict was news yesterday no matter where you consumed your news.)
So I didn’t know anything, in all honesty, about Casey or Caylee Anthony, apart from what was impossible for me not to consume, such as what was given play on the homepage of Yahoo, or on Facebook, or via headlines I’d see in the supermarket. I don’t live under a rock, after all. But that was only enough to provide me with a very broad-strokes outline of the case: a missing, then dead toddler; an accused mother; murky details; a sensational trial.
Why do I bring this up on a blog about raising children?
Because when I did find out more details, when I read a few news analysis stories and absorbed a bunch of Facebook posts from friends, I discovered details that bothered me, and that so far I’ve not seen discussed much.
Casey Anthony is, currently, 25 years old. The little girl died three years ago, so when her mother was 22, and she was two years old. Anthony certainly seems … let’s call her immature. Far, far too immature to have been a mother at all at that age (or maybe at any age, but I’ll leave that discussion to another time). I’m not even remotely dissing young motherhood; my own mother had her first child at 20, same as Casey Anthony, with the difference being that she immediately changed her attitude and tune to fit with her new circumstances. Plenty of young mothers survive, even thrive, and their kids are none the worse for having been born to them. And also, on the flip side, plenty of older mothers are not exactly role models for ideal parenthood.
But I think it can safely be said that accidental youthful/teen pregnancies don’t automatically make for ideal circumstances to have and attempt to raise a child.
I wasn’t going to write this post at all, or even make any comment publicly about Casey Anthony, until I saw a promo (on Facebook? Or Yahoo? I forget) for the MTV “reality” show Teen Mom. Which you may not be surprised to learn that I’ve never watched. Ditto “16 and Pregnant.” Or anything to do with Bristol Palin. And suddenly the connection between the two leapt out at me, and I had to say something.
I know (or maybe it’s just that I hope) that these shows don’t overtly glorify teen pregnancy, but in a way, in a twisted, 24/7 cable/reality TV sort of way, they do. Our society generally both frowns upon sexually active teens and young people who, it would appear to the finger-waggers, wantonly disregard propriety and make babies they probably shouldn’t make; and then turns them into stars of sorts. And on another note, our society as a whole talks a very good game about family values, but then abandons (again, as a whole, not in individual cases) girls and young women who do bring babies into the world.
It can sometimes seem as though, collectively, we are watching in anticipation not of these clueless young mothers doing well with their unbelievable responsibility, but in anticipation of them screwing up, whether that takes the form of bad behavior on an MTV show, or of murder.
I have no earthly idea if Casey Anthony is guilty of murder. She does appear to be guilty of being a bad mother, though. But what did anyone expect? She does appear to be guilty of making awful, awful choices. No facts, if they are facts, add up. Who doesn’t report a beloved child missing for weeks on end? Who, if their child dies in a tragic accident, would seek to cover it up?
But what’s the real question everyone’s asking: Who has a baby and then doesn’t turn into a wonderful, caring mother?
Those are the people we excoriate and condemn. And all the time, as we’re watching the coverage and reading the stories and tsk-tsking, we forget to ask: Who didn’t tell Casey about birth control? Or the value of a good education? Or nurtured in her the kind of self-esteem that would have led her to make smarter choices? Or told her that being a mom isn’t all about cute babies? Who helped her?
I’m not saying you or I should have, but I am saying that sitting here, now, and raining blame isn’t helpful. And it for sure doesn’t provide “justice” for little Caylee, or any of her fellow unwanted sisters and brothers, the ones who don’t get 24/7 TV coverage.
Is there anyone telling today’s potential Casey Anthonys that those girls on “Teen Mom”? They are not cool. You will not get a TV reality show and have your picture in US Weekly if you have a baby in high school. Who’s helping them parse the mixed messages they receive about teen motherhood: of mess on the one hand, and glamour on the other?
Getting that message across? That would be justice.
July 6, 2011 @ 11:53 am
Denise:
You should watch “Teen Mom” or “16 and Pregnant” sometime. As the mother of teen daughters, those shows are GREAT forms of birth control, if you know what I mean. We watch together and talk about what we’ve seen. The shows do not glorify teen motherhood in any shape or form. They show awful circumstances, which I hope would dissuade teen girls from thinking of having sex and/or becoming pregnant. “Jersey Shore” aside MTV often does a good job with its original programming.
Leah
July 6, 2011 @ 12:08 pm
Leah,
Thanks. You’re right, I’ve never watched those shows, and I can certainly see how watching them with tween/teen girls and talking about the negative aspects would be helpful, very much so. But my point was that even if, as you say, these shows depict the nitty gritty of teen motherhood, they do still depict teens ON TV. That in itself is glamorized. Which to some young people — ones not like your girls, with active engaged parents who have been showing them the great things they can do with their lives from the time they were born — can seem like something to reach for.
Denise
July 6, 2011 @ 8:54 pm
Hear hear! Excellent post! I haven’t watched the teen mom shows either, but I do think they glamourize to a certain extent–just because the teens are often on the cover of magazines!
I too have no idea of the facts of the matter. But it’s very very sad regardless, and many questions left unsolved.
July 29, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
It may be that putting something on TV inherently glamorizes it somewhat, no matter the actual content of the show. But to use that as the foundation to protest the show’s existence is very problematic. Without any other basis of criticism against the show, what you end up saying is, nothing that in reality is un-glamorous should be shown on television, lest children (or adults) get the wrong idea. So now, all television must be about upper-class white people in New York (as much of it already is). No more shows showing people in poverty, unemployed, addicted, or struggling in any way–too glamorizing. I’m not saying that this is the position you’re taking on “Teen Mom,” but I am sympathetic to the argument that “Teen Mom” depicts a slice of America that is largely absent from the rest of the televised world, which prefers to focus on the middle to upper class. I think our political discussion of teen motherhood is much more glamorizing and hypocritical than this show. What I wonder is, would “Teen Mom” critics feel this way if the show maintained the same content, but instead of being a reality show produced by MTV, it was actually referred to as a documentary miniseries produced by PBS?