Mexican American Sexuality And Reproduction Essay

I was once told I had the world in my hands by my vice principal. The reason for his statement was because I was a Hispanic young woman with above average grades, and my involvement in extracurricular activities. Why was being a Hispanic young woman so much more special? This is where the harsh reality set in; Hispanic women have the tendency to not achieve their goals.

According to this perception of “Latino culture,” it can be assumed that teen pregnancy was acceptable and was something that all Latina girls aimed for. Minerva, one of the girls interviewed, described this when she stated, “... they talk down to us, like, ‘Okay, we know that in the Hispanic culture it's okay for girls to get pregnant young and become mothers, but not in American culture, okay?’” (Garcia, 2012: 63). This connection to “Latino culture” also emphasized the gender inequality between men and women. Embedded into the courses was a justification of machismo, a “..strong and exaggerated sense of masculinity specific to Latinos”(Garcia, 2012: 63). Rather than explain the prevention of pregnancy as a group effort, Miriam reported that her sex education teacher, “...started talking about Latino culture and saying that because of machismo, guys were always gonna try to control us and tell us how many babies to have, and that they were too macho to wear condoms” (Garcia, 2012: 63). The idea portrayed when blaming “Latino culture” is that the sexuality of young Latina women is a problem that needs to be fixed but the sexuality of Latino men is acceptable. The efforts of the teachers, as reported by the girls, focused on changing how women pursued their sexuality. However, this perception of sexuality in Latina girls is false, and was grounded on the negative stereotypes

Although the data proves what has caused the rate increase, there are other factors that can affect the outcome of the data. The data in Fig. 1 and Fig 2 shows the Pregnancy Risk among Hispanic women will increase and make up the largest portion of this age group. While most sex education programs were not geared toward the Hispanic community in the 1990’s, it has seen in improvement in the classroom settings. The postponement of parenthood until in the wake of moving on from secondary school improves the probability of getting a well-paying employment and reducing the rate of poverty among the future Hispanic community. It is vital that we attempt to impart these truths to the general population around us; furthermore, bolster persons that may need assistance. For all ethnic groups, in particular Hispanics, there are factors that contribute to this such as peer pressure, images of sex in the media and magazines, and the embarrassment that goes along with getting contraception which could contribute to the high teen pregnancy. While I have no experienced being a teenage father, I have witnessed several tragedies in my career as a Peace Officer. I was dispatched to a residence in reference to a verbal dispute between a mother and her

“The national Hispanic teenage pregnancy rate is twice that of non-Hispanic whites, and in California, Hispanic adolescents are four times more likely than whites to become parents”. (guttmacher.org, 2004) . This rapid growth in Hispanic population and high rate of teen pregnancies is putting pressure on the educational and health care systems to address the needs of Hispanics. Many young Latina/Hispanic girls face discrimination, poverty, and limited access to healthcare and most importantly cultural challenges, which can place them at a high risk for unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Thus there is a clear need for teenage pregnancy

Mexican American women for over 20 years have had the highest rate of teen pregnancy compared to Anglo women. Teenage birth rates have decreased as a whole, but even with teenage births decreasing Mexican American women are still at the top, having the highest teen birth rates with 46.3 births for every 1,000 teens that are females. There are several reasons for this startling fact; this paper is going to illustrate some of the misconceptions when dealing with Latina sexuality and reproduction and also the negative results that came from it. To illustrate this alarming issue, some misconceptions about Mexican American sexuality and reproduction will be shared. Such as, most Mexican American teenage or adolescent mothers may lack knowledge.

There is presently much controversy regarding teen pregnancy, considering that many countries in the developed world experience a rise in adolescent pregnancies in spite of the fact that effective programs are installed in these areas. Teen pregnancy has been a major issue in Los Angeles in the recent years, but the fact that state authorities have been actively involved in combating the problem has generated positive results. It is probable that the struggle for abstinence and the practice of safe sex have become less important for high school students in Los Angeles in the last few years, taking into account that teen pregnancy rates have gone up significantly.

In the Hispanic/Latino culture health care is most commonly sought after when symptoms appear, and in may cases only when those symptoms cause the individual’s incapacitation. Working through discomfort is considered the norm, dwelling on discomfort or mild pain is seen as weakness and seeking medical attention when not ill, such as preventive care, is almost unheard of, unless it is required by one’s employer. Culturally engaging in premarital sex is frowned upon for girls, though not so much for males, abstinence may be the only birth control ever discussed at home, for fear of implying consent. This significantly increments the danger of teen age pregnancy, abortion is rejected, mostly for moral and religious reasons, thus the high rate of teen age birth.

Based on the cross-contextual analysis and evidence, adolescent pregnancy seems to be a glaring issue. This is due to the fact, that all statistical findings point to the same direction: expressions practiced among the ethnic/racial groups towards the issue. Therefore, will provide analysis on the external factors: programs, policies, and social conditions in the following

Culturally, engaging in premarital sex is frowned upon for girls, though not so much for males, abstinence may be the only birth control ever discussed at home, for fear of implying consent. This significantly increases the danger of teenage pregnancy, abortion is rejected, mostly for moral and religious reasons, thus the high rate of teenage birth. Vaccinations since not curative, are almost never considered and even if desired, it would require funds to pay for the service or access to a public health clinic. Severe pain, injury, or an impending delivery, will be the triggers for seeking health care. This is why so many Hispanic

Since the 1920’s, teen pregnancy among the Latino community has been one of the biggest social problems. Factors like poor or no sex education, negative media portrayal, poor or lower than average educational levels, social inequality and family pressure, such as encouraging womanhood in teen years, contribute to the high percentage of teen pregnancy among Latinas. However, teen pregnancy among Latinas has been decreasing in recent years. Recent programs such as public service announcement and sex education continue to help educate young Latinas and lower the risk of teen pregnancy. Nevertheless, Latinas still represent the group of people with the highest teen pregnancy. One in six Latinas between the ages of 14-20 will have a child at some point, and 30% of all Latino teenage parents have children out of wedlock.

Birth rates in African American and Hispanic teens are substantially higher than whites, a trend that has persisted for decades. Even though pregnancy rates among teens are at an all time low. It is still a major issue but mostly affecting the urban communities. In this research paper I will be comparing and demonstrating the relationships between teenage pregnancy, social issues, and education.

As history reveals, economically, Hispanic families often consisted of various children in order to continue the bloodline and to provide the family with free laborers; however, religiously, Hispanics since they are Catholic, they did not believe in contraceptives. Moreover, in many Hispanic households the male was often the head of the household and the woman did not make any decisions; therefore, the men often made decisions in regards to the couples sexual interactions and how many children the woman was to bear—“machismo”. Unfortunately, many Hispanics have continued to pass down their traditional views to today’s generations of Hispanics, which has been adopted alongside of American values and customs. As a result, many Hispanic children have matured confused in regards to what they must believe and

Census back in 2000 stated that about thirty-four percent of Latinos did not have any health insurance. There was an analysis of Latino students in seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades, twenty percent did not know where to go for medical help. The younger adolescents were not informed about healthcare needs, which may show their lack to regular check ups and or their lack of knowledge to seek for help. In 1988 through 2000, Latina teens had increasing numbers of STDs than did non-Hispanic adolescence women. About fifty-nine percent of Latina adolescence that do not use any kind of protection at first sexual intercourse, compared to close to eighty-one percent of non-Hispanic, about seventy-seven percent Asian Americans, Native Americans was also about seventy-seven percent and African Americans was at about sixty-eight percent. Latina adolescences receive little knowledge about protection and family planning. The school interventions and healthcare services only reach a portion of Latina adolescences, because of the high numbers of school dropout level in this population. The issues preventing Latina adolescences' accessing to healthcare are verbal barriers and not enough knowledge about healthcare

Evaluation: I choose this article because it goes into details to describe why it’s unhealthy for teenage girls to start having kids when they are still teens. It shows what happen when young adults are not properly educated about sex. Therefore, teenage pregnancy is more common in less developed countries because they are not teaching kids how to properly protect themselves during sex. It tells us why it’s unhealthy for teenage girls to be having unprotected sex. And, also it shows us why teenagers are at a much have the rate of not serving labor than adults women are. I plan on using this article in my writing to inform my reader why it’s unhealthy for adolescents to be pregnant at such a young

"Teen pregnancy in the United States: In 2015, a total of 229,715 babies were born to women aged 15-19 years old, for a birth rate of 22.3 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another record for U.S. teens and a drop of 8% from 2014. Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist (cdc.gov)." As teenagers (in the United States), we are peer pressured or tempted to try new things. Some teens tend to try out drugs, and alcohol. However, some are having unprotected sex in which, is leads to having babies. This is called, teenage pregnancy. This has caused the United States to create records based off of the statistics and facts given from, researchers across the United States. In order to help prevent teenage pregnancy in the United States, teenagers must understand why, having a baby now isn’t such a smart move on their part.