Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Beyoncé stole the spotlight on Sunday night’s 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and didn't have to say one word to do it. With the drop of a mic and a stomach rub she eclipsed the award show by signaling that she is pregnant.

Many hardcore Beyoncé fans worship the ground she walks on. So it was no surprise that her fans (or should I say "Stans"), were elated with joy. One fan tweeted "AWWWWWWWWWWW she's showing her belly. I'm crying my Godbaby is on the way #BEYONCE!!!".

Frankly, I feel sorry for whoever was on the VMAs after Beyoncé announced she was pregnant. I’m sure nobody saw them. Viewers took to twitter and phones to tweet and text about their hero and sister.

Beyoncé's popularity, a great deal of which comes from young women, drove her latest album 4 to debut No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album charts. The Grammy award-winning singer has had her first four solo albums reach No. 1, a feat that only two others — DMX and Brittany Spears — share with the megastar from Houston. But many of her fan base of women are obsessed not only with her music but her personal life, and while the pregnancy is great for Beyoncé and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, could this lead to a spike in Black teens copying their "big sister?"

The rate of teen pregnancy is on the rise, according to a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, the nonprofit, nonpartisan research group in New York that conducted the analysis. Black and Hispanic women have the highest teen pregnancy rates (126 and 127 per 1,000 women aged 15–19, respectively). It would be unfortunate if Beyoncé’s bump increases that statistic.

However, it is unfair to blame Beyoncé for any spike in Black teen pregnancy, if that were to actually happen. She has gone about having this child in the way that we would want young people to follow. The 29-year-old is a married woman, who is financially stable enough to provide for several small villages. Between her and Jay-Z money is no issue. Jay-Z was visibly excited about his wife having a child and has previously expressed his desire to be a father. Unfortunately, I feel many young women missed those details. They fast forwarded past the courting phase, marriage and everything else and pressed "play" on the pregnancy.

It almost scares me to imagine how many young females will get pregnant on purpose so that they can share being pregnant with Beyoncé. It seems a bit excessive to believe that because a celebrity does something, others will copy, but let’s be real — we live in a society where celebrities are worshiped. When Beyoncé announced she was on the "master cleanse" — a diet consisting of nothing but water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, you can bet sales of those items went through the roof.

Again, in fairness, it’s not just Beyoncé. When Rihanna wore her red wig, it seemed like more and more women wanted to look like the Wendy's fast-food mascot. Nikki Minaj has females calling themselves a "Barbie." Jay-Z stopped wearing jersey's and sales of throwbacks plummeted. When celebs do something, we as fans copy them. That is why celebs get the huge endorsement deals. Companies know if a celebrity does something, odds are, you will too.

I have to commend Beyoncé. She is able to provide a stable environment for this child and the pregnancy was planned. "Planned Pregnancy" is almost like saying "Walkman." It still exists, I'm sure, but hard to find. Unintended pregnancies make up almost half of all pregnancies in the U.S. and are still on the rise. From 1994 through 2006, the unintended pregnancy rate among women with incomes below the poverty line rose 50%. In other words, men and women that probably can't afford children are having them at an alarming rate. Among higher-income women, the rate fell 29%.

My hope is that young Black women see what their big sister and hero Beyoncé did on Sunday as more than just a pregnancy announcement. It was a statement. She EARNED the right to be a mother. She has the money, she has the husband and now she will bring a child into the world that won't have a perfect life (paparazzi will be following that kid around forever), but he or she will still have the tools they need to succeed. That is my hope. Unfortunately my gut is telling me that a lot of young ladies will skip those steps and get right to the child.

In our society, instant gratification is the only kind of gratification that seems to exist.

You can reach Tony Anderson on Twitter at @tonyandersontv.
Source:
http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/08/29/commentary-will-beyonces-pregnancy-cause-black-teens-to-get-pregnant-as-well-.html.html
------------------------------------------
Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on this article.

First I'm surprised that BET is the website posting this. Beyonce is a successful, self-supporting black woman who has been married for 3 years. Yet, there's a concern that black teens will go get pregnant because she is?

I don't recall an article about teens getting pregnant when Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Garner, Halle Berry, etc. got pregnant out wedlock.

I do remember when Jamie Lynn Spears got pregnant there was a huge outcry but that was because she was 16 year old & a star on one of Disney's shows.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

I think it is redic! Beyonce is far from being a teenager. If anything, her hardcore fans should follow her lead - have a career and be financially sound).

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Beyonce is a grown woman. A married woman. Teen girls do not see her as their contemporary, they see her as older. I work with teenagers, I used to work in a HS that was 90% black, 8% hispanic, 2% other...they thought of Beyonce as a woman not a kid they related to.

Now Niki Minaj--maybe. Rhianna-maybe. Even those women are probably "older" to them. But not Beyonce, she is old to them. It is SAD what kids deem "old"

Message edited 8/29/2011 6:14:15 PM.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Um, not. Beyonce is a married woman. Who comes up with this crap?

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

I think it is crap. I work in a title 1 NYC public high school and every year have at least 5 pregnant students or girls with babies. They didnt get pregnant because their idol did, they got pregnant because they didnt use protection or were uneducated about birth control. We have the health clinic come in each year to freshmen classes to teach them about their bodies, sex, and birth control. You would not believe some of the sh it these kids believe that their friend's brother's uncle told them. It is scary how UNEDUCATED these kids are. That is why they get pregnant.....not because Beyonce is.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

What B.S.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

I stopped reading half way through, the fact that they would even publish an article like this is just rediculous. She isn't 16, she is a grown married woman. If there is a spike then the fingers need to be pointed at the parents not Beyonce.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Stupid article

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

I hate the even suggestion that this would happen. They are richer than all of us times infinity, married, older and pretty mature.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

That is the most BS op-ed I've ever read

The correlation is mind boggling. Many other prominent black celebs have been pregnant, and I hardly think there was an undue spike in teens.

Garbage.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

I couldn't even finish this article... one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read!

For starters, Beyonce is married and 29 years old- if people were to follow her footsteps it would be doing that first (being financially stable, getting married etc). Second and most importantly not all of Beyonce's fans are Black teenaged girls. It is ignorant to say that only the Black teenagers would want to mimic and teen pregnancy can spike as a result of her.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

This is the most ridiculous article. Seriously...to even suggest that Beyonce will be the cause of teen pregnancy makes me laugh. She is 29 years old. Married for a few years and clearly VERY financially stable. And yes, I know the article points all of that out, but still...the mere suggestion of this makes me laugh. So stupid - some people will find ANYTHING to write about.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Um, I actually think her pregnancy would have a beneficial effect -- it shows young women that you too can grow up to have money, success, a husband and become responsibly pregnant at age 29 with your husband. Beyonce has been nothing but a positive influence over the years for many young women -- no drugs, no wild parties, hard-working, private with her love life, frequently comes to visit schools, etc.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

I worked with teen moms a long time ago. My observation was that some of the girls were more influenced by a peer getting pregnant than a celebrity or someone they didn't know in real life.

Our frustration with these moms was that instead of seeing their peers struggling with raising a child when they were still children themselves, they saw it as having someone to love them. I don't think these girls are relating to Beyonce at all, but they do relate to the girl in their English class who had a baby.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

This might be one of the STUPIDEST commentaries I have ever read.

People are really reaching and looking for any reason to "blame" someone else for issues that arise with our youth.

Like someone else said, her pregnancy can be a positive thing. Beyonce has become one of the most successful artists of all time and showed that you can be independent and your own person and succeed in life. Then she got married and is pregnancy by her HUSBAND. Why the hell would this "spike" teen pregnancy rates?

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

this is such a stupid article-seriously? What about all the other celebrities that get pregnant everyday that aren't married?

If anything; she'll be a role model-example of a successful female that had a supportive husband.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

So famous people should stop having babies? It must be a slow news day.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

i'm a big fan of Beyonce & JayZ

time to start TTC #2





















ridiculous!

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Did Beyoncé getting married spark a spike in black teens getting married?

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

Thats just dumb. Shes never supposed to have kids because of her influence over her fans?? If they feel shes so influential, then this is a positive that tells them to work hard, find your love, and THEN start a family.

Re: Commentary: Will Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Cause a Spike in Black Teen Pregnancy?

This is ridiculous She is a strong, successful woman who has built an amazing career, got married and is having a baby with her DH. If anything she is a terrific example to young girls that look up to her. She is doing it the right way and I am soo happy for her