NEWS: Pregnancy Makes Her Skin Glow Like an 11-Year Old

CULTURE: Pregnancy Makes Her Skin Glow Like an 11-Year Old

The first thing I thought of when I heard about the pregnant 11-year old in Scotland is that scene in Trainspotting when Renton says:

Something about that particular piece of dialogue has always stayed with me: the shame and utter hopelessness in it, and the knowledge that Tommy, who has brought the guys out to the moor for some "fresh air", is doomed to a miserable (and short) future.

So while the potential for bad jokes here is endless, and the Scottish tabloids are having a field day with the story, I can't bear to tap into my inventory of teen pregnancy jokes. It’s all too pathetic—too hopeless and shameful—too doomed to a miserable future.

The child smokes twenty cigarettes a day, started drinking when she was ten, got pregnant when she was 11, and her mother is quoted as saying that she's "proud" of her.

Still, the minute that I start to judge the child's mother (who is 34 and has five other children), or even try to make sense of any of it, that Pulp song starts to play in my head—the one about Common People—and I realize that try as I might, I'll never really understand.

It's true. What can I do or say? This kid isn't alone, in Scotland, the third world, or even America for that matter, where according to the Guttmacher Institute, there were 19,640 pregnancies in girls under the age of 14 in the year 2000 alone.

It's a good argument for earlier and better sex education, although it's hard to believe it would make any difference with a demographic that's drinking and smoking by age 10—which reminds me of a book I read a couple of summers ago. Written by Helen Walsh, Brass (which is British slang for prostitute), is about growing up way too fast in working-class Liverpool. Reading a novel like that, seeing a movie like Trainspotting, or listening to a song like Common People is the closest I'll ever come to understanding the life that awaits (and has already consumed) "Britain's Youngest Mum."

Shouldn't she be fearing for her life or her child's life or both? Pre-teen pregnancy sounds like it should be fatal.

You know, there are so many sick aspects to that situation don't know where to begin, so let me sum it up: ICK....

would it be better if she were in a deep depression?

We were laughing about this in work today.

If I, at 15years old had slept with an 11yr old girl my friends would've torn me to shreds. I'd love to see the kind of shit this guy is getting from people.

On the other hand, I'm annoyed knowing that being a mother at 12 its not like she'll be working anytime soon, and since she's not in school its unlikely she'll EVER get a job. I for one would like to receive an itemised invoice every year, outlining everything my tax money has bought the little skank.

That is a quality article: I love the Trainspotting references. An interesting story, one I've heard a lot on the radio about today.

This also comes the day after a nine year old was charged with rape.

Nothing kids do surprises me any more, and I wish the papers and TV would stop trying 'cos it's having an opposite effect.

Pulp references make me happy.

This story, however, makes me very sad.

The kid will probably be born premature, underdeveloped or brain damaged the way she's smoking 20 cigarrettes a day and as much as she's drinking. Poor kid.

Lets hope so.

Did that sound cruel? Ah well. Just as long as she instills the same morals and values she grew up on.

I think it would be better if she'd been raised properly and wasn't having a kid at 11.

Yes, actually. It would indicate that she has an idea of what's in store for her and her child.

I think it can be.

He's under age too. Shouldn't she also be in trouble for statutory?

It doesn't do her a whole lot of good to say "You know what, this kid and I are going to have a shit life. We'll probably both resent each other. I'm going to fuck it up, and it's probably going to jail." While it's a terribly unfortunate situation, if she's going to have a baby, she needs to at least attempt to put a positive spin on it.

Plus, at 11 can we really fault her for being naive about it?

It's really, really sad, though. I think I recall a girl in Texas a few years ago who was 9 or 10.

Willliam Shatner has a kickass spoken word version of "Common People"...

It was around a few hundred years ago that women were married off at that age and having children. 11 or 12 or so...

but then again, people didn't live much past 40 then.

So it's primitive, but bound to happen. It's still shite -- but she'll be better off than 60% of the rest of the young mothers in the world. She has a chance and that counts too. Let's just hope she smartens up fast and faces the wind. It's gonna blow hard.

Also... great writing/ideas in this article.

I really liked this article. Thank you for posting.

That's right, we should really force her to live on the streets and beg for money. Or better yet, force her to have an abortion. In fact, we should force everyone making less than minimum wage to be sterilized. They all deserve it, I'm sure.

Great to find so many other judgemental, compassionless Puritan turds on this site. And I thought I was the only moralistic fascist jerk in the neighborhood.
Welcome to the pool of negativity!

Yeah, HA HA...it's just too funny! (try "completely depressing" for a more appropriate description of the situation).
And congratulations for having the maturity to call an eleven year old child a "skank".

It's just horrible.
It raises all sort of questions about the possible lack of parental supervision, lack of education, lack of intervention by the authorities etc. etc...the list is endless.
I find it reprehensible that the response to this by the media/public has largely NOT been to question why situations like these happen in the first place, but instead to attack and make a joke of an eleven year old child who due to her age and maturity etc. is hardly in a position to be able to defend herself against adults who should know better. Fucking revolting.



[Edited on May 13, 2006 by CoralSea]

i just think this is very sad.. besides that judge not.