Underage pregnancy in the UK

[Danzaivar]

Have a kid, get a free house (and priority means you'll get it pretty quick) and child support. Get enough kids and the house gets nicer and you can earn a cool 30 grand a year.

Beats getting a job.

 

[tomtom94]

I've heard that many girls are so desperate to be "loved" that perhaps they are lax with protection.

I've also heard that the free council house you get for a teen pregnancy is an incentive.

The fact of the matter is we need to FORCE responsibility on the males. If you screw up you fucking deal with it.

Oh yes, because the penis is evil and all these unfortunate girls are heroes for having taken it and beared with the consequences. You realise that's the same shit that the media spouts out here and is more the part of the problem than the solution.

It takes two to tango, and I certainly wouldn't put the blame solely on the male after most of these girls can't even remember the name of the father.

Eh, my problem is that sex is for procreation and if people realised that and treated it with greater taboo then it'd be much less of a problem.

 

[Killermud]

Have a kid, get a free house (and priority means you'll get it pretty quick) and child support. Get enough kids and the house gets nicer and you can earn a cool 30 grand a year.

Beats getting a job.

Not for much longer with the Tories in, you can expect that will change to :

Have a kid, get a free house. Get enough kids and you'll be on the street.

Beats getting a job.

But im just speculating.

OT: In my experience (which is small), I know 3 friends who have been pregnant due to alcoholic foolishness.

 

[DC_Josh]

For a lot of them
Benefits
/Thread

But you also have to keep in mind that Sex Education in the UK is Shockingly poor.

It's true, you gotta admit somthing is wrong when you've got channel 4 putting out shows called "The Sex Education Show" which is trying to be far more open and informative about everything sex related than any government based scheme.

 

[Tiny116]

For a lot of them
Benefits
/Thread

But you also have to keep in mind that Sex Education in the UK is Shockingly poor.

It's true, you gotta admit somthing is wrong when you've got channel 4 putting out shows called "The Sex Education Show" which is trying to be far more open and informative about everything sex related than any government based scheme.

Yeah it is pretty bad.
And there is nowhere near enough information given about STI's

 

[eruwenfuin]

Right, serious question, why is the rate of pregnancy so high with Teenagers in the UK?

Why does the UK have such a high rate? 51 out of 1000 in the highest parts of britain.

Why? It baffles me how people can have sex without a condom, becoming a dad would scare the hell out of me, why doesnt it for these people?

What do you think is the reason for such high rates in he UK, or for that matter, any country?

Sorry if it's a silly thread but i'm just curiouss

I remember something about there being a law for preggers ladies, in which they get to live off the goverment, via welfare, which includes a house or apartment. So basically all those kids get preggers because it ensures a steady income and a roof over their heads due to a lack of options or rather opportunities. At least that's what the cultural studies books say. And sex is amazing, apparently.

 

[Ymbirtt]

Mathematics is probably the strongest contraceptive of all...

Anyway, my blind uneducated assumption on the matter is that nobody tries to go anywhere in their lives. Seems like the certain people who have one or two issues with the work they're doing in school decide "Right, that's me incapable of passing exams, so I'm going nowhere, I'll just join the army/work in a shop/go on the dole/work for my dad/some other career which needs no qualifications when I'm eligible, may as well have fun for now". So they just jerk around in school all day, go out and get smashed every night, opposite gender suddenly becomes much more attractive, sexsexsexsexsexsexbaby. Guy keeps telling himself he's either free of consequence since he'll be out in Iraq before the baby is born, or that he'll be able to support the child whilst fighting. Girl kids herself that the guy's always going to help support the baby, ignoring all evidence to the contrary, baby then arrives with no father and a mother who just cannot support the child.

Either that, or this military man realises he actually has to be intelligent as well as physically fit to be a good soldier, and drops out. Or this man working for his dad realises he actually has to do a proper 9-5 job, and drops out. No income, failed at life, only thing that works is the girlfriend, so let's focus on her.

Hm, maybe mathematics would make a good contraceptive, let people get somewhere further with their lives.

 

[David Bray]

What's the reason for all these kids? Games of course. It's always games.
And rap culture.
and more importantly...

the 60s

 

[newwiseman]

To be fair it feels so much better sans-condom, still there is no excuse for not taking birth control of some kind, it's not hard to come by in the U.K.

 

[Bebus]

I would like to seethe rate of teenage sexual activity and pregnancy in the UK nowadays against 50 years ago.

I think they would be very similar. It just seems more abundant these days because there are considerably more people in the country.

Why do people do it? I guess one of two reasons:

1. The government will throw money at you, and spawning a child is far easier than getting a job these days.
2. Stupidity. "A con-what?"

 

[Danzaivar]

Have a kid, get a free house (and priority means you'll get it pretty quick) and child support. Get enough kids and the house gets nicer and you can earn a cool 30 grand a year.

Beats getting a job.

Not for much longer with the Tories in, you can expect that will change to :

Have a kid, get a free house. Get enough kids and you'll be on the street.

Beats getting a job.

But im just speculating.

OT: In my experience (which is small), I know 3 friends who have been pregnant due to alcoholic foolishness.

Hey if it stops encouraging young girls to go out and get pregnant then I'd be all for it. But that won't happen, Thatcher didn't do it and this new breed aren't nearly as ruthless as she was.

 

[mariofan1000]

You do realise that it's unholy for christian's to use condom's, right?

Also, I always thought "Well, it HAS to be one country, and it just happened to be that one"

 

[DC_Josh]

For a lot of them
Benefits
/Thread

But you also have to keep in mind that Sex Education in the UK is Shockingly poor.

It's true, you gotta admit somthing is wrong when you've got channel 4 putting out shows called "The Sex Education Show" which is trying to be far more open and informative about everything sex related than any government based scheme.

Yeah it is pretty bad.
And there is nowhere near enough information given about STI's

Yeah, I am in youth work currently and even then there is too much conflicting information on contraceptives and STI's. Thats what happens when a subject is cloaked in myth an secrecy. In fact i'd be quite up for a discussion on it if I thought I'd get any responses but I think a combination of admant belief, shame and perceptiual ignorance would get in the way of people posting.

 

[Reagus]

Because in the UK if a girl gets pregnant she gets a free council house and a variety of benefits.

If I, a hard working student with a job to fund both study and savings, wanted a council house, or just a flat in general, it would not only take longer for me to be considered, but cost a hell of a lot more as well.

As well as this, another reason is the yobbish behaviour and attitude of groups of people who just don't care either way

 

[Deleted]

Right, serious question, why is the rate of pregnancy so high with Teenagers in the UK?

Why does the UK have such a high rate? 51 out of 1000 in the highest parts of britain.

Why? It baffles me how people can have sex without a condom, becoming a dad would scare the hell out of me, why doesnt it for these people?

What do you think is the reason for such high rates in he UK, or for that matter, any country?

Sorry if it's a silly thread but i'm just curiouss

For us who think logically and critically, we cannot fathom how their minds work. Its like trying to understand aliens. The teens who get pregnant are only thinking in the short term, and with a mix of a little bit of apathy (lol idk what happens just keeping it real), it results in things like pregnancy.

Also, seeing a real live girl naked probably messes with your brain.

 

[Reagus]

By the way, I personally would be for a scheme in which you would have to apply for permission to have a child in order to get the full benefits for giving birth, with people who have children without applying beforehand get a LOT less in the way of benefits

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Chavs, a night of alcahol, no condoms = your bundle of joy..

 

[fullbleed]

Puritanism about sex in families and society at large usually means that safe sex - and the significant downsides of not playing it safe - isn't explained and stressed properly. Look at the US, where sex is taboo, abstinence is (officially) totally hot, and teen pregnancy rates some of the highest in the industrialised world.

There have been something of a puritanical resurge in the last decade or so in mainstream society, and additionally parents seem to no longer think it their responsibility to educate their offspring on this issue; maybe they think the schools will always do it properly, maybe they think the internet has told them all they need to know about sex, but either way they're wrong.

In the UK from at least year 9 (age 13-14) sex is being properly explained and all of the STDs and the proper forms of protection.

It's still high in the UK though, I bet it's probably because alot of chavs are too lazy to use protection or left/got kicked out of school before they learnt.

I don't think that the problem is that bad though, a lot of people are probably just overexagerating and raving about the moral collapse of the soicety. The average age of people having children is actually increasing and is currently in the 30s, and the overall fertility rates in the country are going down. Less people having children and those that are are having them later in life. Unfortunately all of this leading to an aging population which isn't good for anyone, except Greggs the Baker maybe.

 

[dafarmer]

I'm from a rural part of Devon, we don't have a problem with teen pregnancies. This may be for various reasons like how there are no 20-something blokes and if a girl got pregnant their parents would kill them but I agree with some of the correspondants from before, it's not a problem that has just begun, it's always happened but I also feel it does have the new problem in that the father just disappears. It's also a city problem(yes I'm that predudice) in the fact if it happens in a rural area theres scandal and in the cities there has been the rise of the 'chavs' which ARE the main problem. Also marriage has far less effect so the next step is just not to even try.
Really just a very sad situation all round...

 

[Tiny116]

For a lot of them
Benefits
/Thread

But you also have to keep in mind that Sex Education in the UK is Shockingly poor.

It's true, you gotta admit somthing is wrong when you've got channel 4 putting out shows called "The Sex Education Show" which is trying to be far more open and informative about everything sex related than any government based scheme.

Yeah it is pretty bad.
And there is nowhere near enough information given about STI's

Yeah, I am in youth work currently and even then there is too much conflicting information on contraceptives and STI's. Thats what happens when a subject is cloaked in myth an secrecy. In fact i'd be quite up for a discussion on it if I thought I'd get any responses but I think a combination of admant belief, shame and perceptiual ignorance would get in the way of people posting.

You're probably right, and Escapists posting mechanics (I like to call it post and run) would probably work against you as well.