What's in a title? Or in this case...a television show

When you hear the words Mother and Wife what are some of the things and characteristics come into mind?

Let me make myself a bit more clear... Do the shows like Teen Mom, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Bridezilla, Teen Mom or Basketball Wives pop into your head?

Yes? No? Maybe?

Well, now that I have brought up those shows and we are on this topic- what exactly do you think of these shows? Do you think they are accurate portrayals of what it means to be a wife and mother - at least in this day and age?

A few days ago, I was watching a talk show and I heard some news that shocked the hell out of me for a quick moment. Apparently, young teens were being heavily influenced by those shows Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant and were PURPOSELY trying to get pregnant to be on the show! Yes, that's right little girls, your little cousins and sisters are out there 14, 15 and 16 trying to get pregnant to be on a reality show depicting MOTHERHOOD.

Disturbed a bit? Yea, so was I. Apparently these girls had it in their heads that they wanted to be rich, fabulous and famous and their meal ticket was to get pregnant and have a baby...

For a moment I laughed, because I didn't really know how to react to this piece of information, when in all actuality it was kind of sad. These girls thought that the "reality" they saw on television was not only appealing to their lives but real. But what they fail to see is that these shows are incredibly scripted and not as real they appear. What they also fail to realize is that after Teen Mom, Bridezilla, and the The Real Housewives of Atlanta cameras are all gone for the day because they got their tid bits of drama ,these women (and girls) are left with broken friendships, marriages, a little baby to care for for the rest of their lives, and non respectable images to the public.

On Basketball Wives and Real Housewives... you have GROWN WOMEN, who are "housewives" acting out, wearing slutty outfits, and getting into fist fights, throwing water on each other and pulling each others hair! All of these women are mothers, and ADULTS- starting at forty years old!

On Bridezillas you have women yelling at their friends to lose weight, smashing their own wedding cakes, screaming at their parents and fiancees and throwing temper tantrums when they don't get their way.


These are the images of a Wife. These are the images of a Mother. At least according to today's culture.

Are these the images that a young twenty-something female has to look to? Now granted, I can understand that the women on these shows did not sign up to be anyone's role model, or impact anyone's life, but to a certain extent- they should take some type of responsibility.

Women have come such a long way from being the "housewives" we used to be perceived as back in the 50's with an apron. But are these shows the right answer?

And as I've said before- while the t.v. network gets their bits of drama, and the media circus begins to dig for dirt and tear these women's lives and relationships apart, how can society as a whole possibly look at women and mothers as a collective group and respect them when all the shows that focus on what it is to be a Wife and Mother show 15 year old girls having babies, and grown women in skimpy clothes getting into fist fights and gossiping about each other.

And when the media or society deems women as trashy, or slutty, or only good for one thing- whose fault is that? Look at the shows they put on t.v. of women in today's society.

And yet it is no one else's fault but ours. And do you know why? Because you choose to sign up and do what the producers tell you to do. You think that acting in such a manner is the only way to get what you want so you lower your standards and agree to stir up shit. You know damn well you have no business wearing a mini skirt and you're well past 50 but you do it anyway. You know damn well you have no business yelling at your parents or the man who you are supposed to marry but you do it anyway. And you know good and damn well you have NO, I mean NO business trying to get pregnant to be on a television show when you haven't even finished growing and developing fully.

And so again, I ask you, what is really in a title? Or better yet, what isn't?