Not the Post I’d Planned On, But It Got Too Long For the Comments Section
I think, as others have pointed out, it’s the glamour aspect that, for me, is at the root of my problem with the newest Spears pregnancy. Jamie Lynn, with her privilege and her position, isn’t going to have the typical teen mom experience. There will be no uncomfortable trip to the local Birthright Association for ill-fitting, secondhand maternity clothes to drape across her burgeoning belly. No humiliating wait at the local welfare office for some overworked, undercompassionate civil servant to pick through the details of her life and offer her the barest amount of assistance possible to survive–along with thinly veiled judgments and scorn. There will never be a time when she’s overtired from working as much a she can while juggling a sick, screaming baby. There will never be a time that she’s tempted to cut the baby’s bottle with water to make the milk last longer because she’s nearly out and her cheque doesn’t come until next week.
Jamie Lynn is going to make teen pregangcy glamorous. She’ll look cute and stylish in her maternity clothes. Her baby won’t have battered handmedowns picked up at garage sales or donated by the local church association, it will have the best and the cutest of everything. There will be photoshoots and magazine spreads and a completely skewed and unrealistic presentation of this life.
Yes, she has to do it in the public eye. And yes, she has to put up with the fact that mothers like me are writing posts like this about her. And I’ll bet that that must be its own shade of awful. But somehow, I still feel like she’s less entitled to my support than the girls like Kayla, who unlike Miss Spears did not grow up with every advantage only to throw them all away.
I DO hold her to a higher a standard simply because I don’t know her, cannot invite her over, cannot show my daughter the realities of her situation versus what will be splashed across glossy, airbrushed magazine covers.
Update: Oh, and it looks like I was wrong on the whole baby daddy thing yesterday. Looks like Jamie Lynn and Casey have broken up. Shocking that. I mean, gosh, pregnant teens always stay together right? Just like Barbie and Ken.
Comment by Rebecca
I had heard whispers that they broke up, but that’s the first article I’ve seen. That’s sad for her and the baby. Even without the typical teen mom experience, it’d still be good for the baby to know his/her father, if possible. I know, mine don’t so who am I to talk… but still.
Okay, I’ll stop now before I babble something else stupid.
Posted on December 20, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Comment by verybadcat
I understand your frustration, and will only say:
1. Pain is relative. She won’t know the shame and hardship that other single mothers have, but her difficulties will be the hardest thing she’s ever done.
2. Yes, to an extent, she threw all of her choices away by having sex (possibly? probably? unprotected), but there are many, many girls, young and old who do that everyday.
3. She isn’t unlike any other celebrity in the sense that everything they do is over-glamorized, air brushed and captured at the best angle possible. Those Disney kids never get zits or have braces or bad hair days, and they sure as hell never struggle with the consequences of their decisions.
4. Last, but not least, I understand your frustration with a lack of suitable role models for your daughter, but you’re overlooking yourself! You’re a great woman, a hard worker with intelligence and charm, and you’re teaching her everyday how hard it is to be a single mom, and also, that anything can be achieved (or overcome) with enough will and sacrifice. Please don’t underestimate your influence on her.
Sorry so wordy.
Posted on December 20, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Comment by SweetyPi
That’s it. You nailed what my problem with this whole bit is. She won’t know anything of the “shame” of having to go through the system with nothing but a number to show for herself. She won’t be part of the “statistic” stigma that goes along with being a teen parent. She will be judged by a public but not because she’s a teen mother, but because she’s famous. And don’t even get me started on that guy. Whatever he is, he’s got just as much to do with this as she does. Last I checked, girls at 16 don’t just go out getting themselves knocked up on their own. It takes two.
Posted on December 20, 2007 at 6:22 pm