Is “Secret Life” Responsible Programming?
“It wasn’t fun and definitely not like what you see in the movies,” 15-year-old Amy, one of the main characters in ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, reports of her first sexual experience. This exclamation sums up the series’ message about teenage sexuality.
In a culture saturated with sensationalized reports of supposed pregnancy pacts, obsessive coverage of celebrity “baby bumps,” and films highlighting the comical elements of unplanned pregnancies, the “cautionary” television series, another project made in collaboration with The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, seeks to set itself apart by painting a graver portrait of the consequences that accompany sex.
“We’re going to tell it in an optimistic, relatable way, and we’re going to be responsible about it. Our story lines are going to resolve in a way that makes it quite clear what’s the right thing to do,” explains Paul Lee, ABC Family president.
The right thing to do? The notion that there is one “right way” to approach complicated sexual issues is troubling, especially given the show’s failure to address adequately all options available to women facing unplanned pregnancies. A review of the series in The New York Times reports that upon learning of Amy’s pregnancy, her friends “tell her she has options, but abortion is apparently not one of them; that choice is dismissed right away in horrified tones.” Is an account of teenage pregnancy that neglects to discuss abortion really “responsible” programming?
By Allison Farer