March 1, 2010
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14-Year-Olds Are Ready to Be Mothers
An author is causing a debate over her suggestion that girls are ready to have babies at the age of 14.
She said that women are operating on a “male timetable” that causes women to wait until they are older to have children. She believes that “having sex and having babies is what young women are about.” She believes their “insticts are suppressed in the interests of society’s timetable.” Here is the link: Link
The point has been made that for most of history, some women have had children as young as 14.
Are girls ready to have children at 14?
Comments (155)
History agrees with her
Well, shit, they were already blowjob machines at that age in my high school, so…
(Authore?)
Maybe biologically, but history also suggests it’s generally best for the older generations to raise those children, even if they don’t bear them.
*headdesk*
Sure, if you want your daughter to be a slut..
Of course. All the 14 year old girls I know of have steady jobs or a husband taking care of them, living on their own, have transportation and enough extra cash to feed another mouth.
i think girls will be ready when they become women, and that is not determined by age. now, when their 14 their still living under their parents roofs and their parents are paying and supporting them, therefore they cannot even support themselves let alone another human being. i believe it’s easier to wait, but it’s so exciting to young girls now a days to have babies, i do think however, that this is caused by society and everything that young celebrity moms crack it up to be. they make it look like a huggies comercial.
Maybe biologically, but certainly not mentally or financially.
For most of history the world was flat and leaches could cure your sicknesses.
Also, you had kids at 14 because if you lived to be 35 you were lucky…
Biologically? Maybe, yes. But in every other sense? No.
A uterus doesn’t develop fully until you’re in your 20s. She just wants to touch little girls.
I’d honestly want to read her book and get better informed to what she’s saying before i go blindly refuting her.
Biologically, yes.
In any other way whatsoever? Um, no.
Well, she DOES bring up an interesting point that in the past, 14-year-old girls were mothers, and that biologically speaking they’re ready, but in order for 14-year-olds to be truly successful mothers and take care of their children, I’d think they would have to make some drastic changes in their lives, at least. At most, our society would have to make DRASTIC changes. As I recall, becoming a 14-year-old would mean becoming a high-school freshman, and they would have to balance high-school with motherhood: something that is extremely difficult to do, I’d imagine.
What the hell happened to kids being kids? Geez! Kids are growing up way to fast these days. I blame technology and careless parents.
Physically yes, otherwise… uh no.
@PervyPenguin - Oooohh. Burn.
If this helps lower legal consent age to 14, FUCK YEA!
Hell to the no!
What kind of 14 year-old girl would want to pop out a screaming poop machine, when they’re not even done with high school?
@blackspiders - Let alone middle school…
@Axis_of_Doom - Ooohhhh SNAP!
I can’t fit my argument for this in a comment, but yes and no. There’s a whole lot more involved with the societal aspect than just “male timetables.”
Yeah. History agrees with her if you would like to go back to male dominance. Yesh pwease?
@Uek - Why? Most girls that age probably aren’t that mentally “grown up” or mature, plus I would imagine not many are truly aware of the (potential) consequences of sex, or what that means. Hell, they’re just getting into puberty at that age.
Just think; a twenty-three year old regularly having sex with someone that’s fourteen?
God that’s disturbing.
Bitch is just bitter because she cant have babies.
with the way we are living now? HELL NO! but back when my grandmother and her mother were 14 it was normal
Well, history does agree with her. But look at the circumstances in which 14 year old girls were having babies — they were married, considered “adults”, took care of not only their children but also their husband and home. Plus, life expectancy wasn’t what it is today and if humans WANTED future generations, they would need to start having children at a very young age.
That’s not the case anymore…..and while maybe it worked historically, it would NOT work now.
A 14-year-old girl can’t even drive her kid to the hospital…
Hilary Mantfail.
@Axis_of_Doom - It happens everyday all over the world (often involving men much much older then 23). I’d rather have less tax money being spent to jail men that imo usually don’t need to be there for that sort of crime.
@ShimmerBodyCream - LOL.
No
Only if they’ve been raised in some kind of an isolated culture. And a few special ones who wish they were.
@Uek - [it happens everyday all over the world (often involving men much much older then 23).]
So does clitoridectomy (sp…sorry), murder, rape, stealing, etc. Just because “it happens everyday all over the world” doesn’t mean it’s morally justified.
[I'd rather have less tax money being spent to jail men that imo usually don't need to be there for that sort of crime.]
Well, why don’t they deserve to be there?
I can understand what the author is saying, but responsibility and maturity have a lot to do with having children. From what I’ve seen, society is shifting and it’s simply not morally correct to subject children to such things as having babies. We’re regressing and thus aren’t prepared for most of life’s challenges until the mid-20′s where-as 150 years ago boys became men at 15 and women were trained in keeping the house up and such. Roles are changing and I simply don’t see anything great about 14 year old ladies having children.
That lady is a nut.
History is not always the role model. Nor is biological readiness.
biologically
Biologically (most) girls can get pregnant at 14. Realistically 0% of these girls should be raising children. There is no way you could possibly be mature enough at 14 to raise a child, at least not on your own. I think “ready to be mothers” assumes that you could raise a child on your own. You cannot get a real job at 14 and you can’t rent an apartment at 14.
I don’t consider it ideal.
If a 14 year old winds up pregnant, only she can decide whether or not to keep the baby, adopt him/her out, etc. Because whether people like it or not, she is a mother.
But to marry children off, or to expect them to get pregnant is out of line. Young women are about a good deal more than having sex and having babies.
If at 14 you have already graduated high school, gone to college & had a job and a husband then sure. What? No! What century are we living in?
well only if they have their live together
I think 14 year old could make good moms if they are financially ready, and emotionally into it.
bilogically speaking they are ready to be mothers.
@Axis_of_Doom - Apples and Oranges. They don’t deserve to be there because for most of recorded history until the last few decades this was not criminal in America, and it’s still not criminal in most countries.
Fuck no. Using history is a terrible excuse.
*insert righteous indignation here*
And because of that, I am better than both the author and any commenter who disagrees with me!
God I love xanga! Its like my own little universe that I am the star of.
@Uek - [it's still not criminal in most countries.]
This is nothing more than an ad-populum fallacy. I suggest you become familiar with logical fallacies before you decide to debate somebody.
And you cite recorded history. Again, rape, murder, stealing, etc. are all part of recorded history as well. Does that mean that those practices are moral too?
Biologically, yes. But psychologically and emotionally, no. That’s common sense
I think as society has progressed, we have come to expect that the acceptable age of motherhood has risen. While some (but not many) may be ready for this, it isn’t necessarily correct in this day and age
you kidding me?
@Axis_of_Doom - Keep your suggestions, I did not actually say “This is ok because its ok here and here and here”, I merely implied it (I suggest you become familiar with semantics ). I never stated that anything was moral. Bait all you want, I’m not taking it there.
My great grandma was 15 when she had my grandma, but she was married, had a home, and a husband who had a job. 14 year olds today are still in school, live at home, and their horny boyfriends bail.
Times changed and so has our society and acceptance. I’m going with a no on this one.
I believe that once upon a time, girls were meant to have children at 14. But that was also when people were dying once earlier and it wasn’t taboo. Because of the society and the opportunities that girls, and children in general, are given today it is not necasary for girls to have babies that young.
@Uek - So you don’t want to become familiar with logical fallacies before you date somebody? Hmmm… interesting.
Whether or not you explicitly stated that an adult having sex with a minor or implied it matters little, if at all. You basically said that those adults who have sex with minors do not actually deserve to be thrown in prison for doing so.
I am simply asking you to justify your statement. If you cannot do that, I’ll simply assume that you have nothing of substance to add, and accept that you cannot answer the question.
Fourteen-year-old girls are the planet’s lowest life forms.
@milfncookies - Agreed.
I would say in general, they are physically ready, but the majority would not be emotionally ready. There are always exceptions, however.
@Axis_of_Doom - You can try to tell me what I “basically” said, as you’ve stopped quoting it, because it’s really your interpretation/speculation of what I said, not what I actually said. Which of my actual statements are you asking me to justify?
Physically? Sure most are I guess. But in today’s world, kids don’t “wise up” as quickly as they used too.
Today’s society delays adulthood till sometime after college.
….ah the good ol’ days. Ha!
Well, I’m no woman, so I can’t say either way. I think it’s too young, but the whole history argument has a valid point. Judst because we as a 21st culture believe that 14 year olds are too young to have kids doesn’t mean it’s our place to say that previous cultures were wrong in whatever practices they observed. I mean, I’m a Christian to the backbone and even my religious history points to ancient Isael and Judaism, and they often got married at young ages too. And bigomy was all the rage back then.
back in the days that people died by age 30 yeah but now that society lives a lot longer… no
Physically, yes a fourteen year olds body is probably (for most girls anyways) able to carry a child safely to term. But mentally and emotionally, hell no!
why should they?
suuuuree, their bodies can but young ladies these days have school, friends and family to tend to, and having children is too much of a hassle. there is no reason you don’t need to wait to your 20s or 30s.
I don’t even want to have a baby NOW! This lady sounds like a creeper…
yes!some girls grow up fast and can be very independent depends on her family background.
I know some of my friends who think like an adult.
SO i guess this group of girls are ready to be mother.
Im not,hehe
Although this makes me cringe, its up to interpretation. Even looking at history, you have to ask the same question about whether society is dictating women’s maternal clock then too.
someone please throw her own book at her and be done with
It would produce more chaos in this already chaotic world.
well, just because you think about it and like the idea doesn’t mean you’re ready for it.
Not mentally but if they are raised around a society where women get married and have kids around that age then they might be ready.
@Axis_of_Doom - word.
Maybe 200 years ago, but now? Hell no, that would take time away from the mall and their facebook stalking.
Seriously, just look at the woman.
@ShimmerBodyCream -
haha. (:
love it.
Physically? Perhaps. Mentally, emotionally, and financially? Most definitely not. Not in this culture.
When girls were regularly having babies at 14, not only was the average life expectancy MUCH lower, but most women had no choice in the matter. No birth control, no recognition of (let alone law against) marital rape, and when/to whom they got married was largely decided by their father. Women didn’t get educated, they didn’t have career aspirations, women had no choices.
This “male timetable” thing is BULLSHIT. Having babies later is because women are now operating on a FEMALE timetable. Women are waiting until they are financially stable, until they have achieved some of their life goals, etc, just like men get to do.
And I’m fucking glad. This woman is a goddamn retard. Whoever changes her diaper ought to do us all a favor and keep her out of the press.
This is something for a future emperor to consider in creating an interplanetary war economy. The reason why we run this backwards is so that we don’t keep tripling our population every 20 years.
@MyJudas - There has never been a matriarchal society that has survived more than a century before demographic implosion.
Physically, many girls are indeed ready to have babies at 14. In the society we have created however, they are far from being able to care for a child without the help of a parent or mentor of some sort (and I realize I’m speaking in general, but hey, the exceptions to the rule aren’t exactly large in number). I think childhood is short enough as is, why shorten it even more with babies?
And I’m glad to hear my dislike of children and my total lack of desire to ever have a child of my own are products of a male dominated society. Phew, I thought I might just be one of those people who hates kids!
@Asrael2311 - And all the most developed, peaceful societies are also the most equal. What’s your point?
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! They’re basically still PRE-TEENS! And nowhere near having the maturity to handle that. Seriously?! Is this woman a kook??
In this culture? Absolutely not. However, I do agree that society is forcing kids to stay kids for far too long. And girls also mature faster than boys.
But even at that 14 is a bit young. I’d say 16 or 17 is when girls should become women and be ready to have a family. 16 was the marrying age until not even a century ago.
Yep. Biologically. If they aren’t ready psychologically whose fault is that?
Physically probably.
I wasnt ready to have a baby at 19. I suppose it depends on the girl, but almost ALL of the time, HELL no they arent ready to have a baby. Unless they wanna live on welfare and food stamps their whole life.
i am 15. i am wonder ful with kids. i would love to have my own baby right now. Society says: if i have a baby now, that ruins highschool which means no college which mean no life. my body tells me otherwise. bah.
think about this = baby at 15, which means there grown enough when im 30, then me my husband and friends can go party. this takes advantage of my youth for baby bearing and raising, AND keeps me from drugs, alcohol, dangerous partying. i agree
I SMELL A FEMINAZI!!!
So basic biology is operating on a male timetable?
No shit, “Put it in, take it out, put it in, take it out…”
14-year-old little Cabbage Patch moms? Do they come in sets? NOT UNLESS YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE IN THE BED!!!!
BADUM, CHISHHHH!!
That dragon-lady up there needs a good, long screw. I bet she’s infertile. She’s got dead little eyes.
And she has the “Cat-Lady” haircut. Come on, you all know what I’m talking about. The part in the middle and the low hanging bangs. Every woman I’ve ever met with that hairstyle has at least 400 cats. Not exaggerating.
“Wolf Hall” is a title obviously meant to imply that our precious little 14-year-old Snuggie moms are all alone in the woods surrounded by wolves (that’s a metaphor for anything that has a penis) and are at their whim.
I bet she was raped when she was 14 and her dad told her it was ok.
@whitetrashpoet - Exactly!
umm wtf. don’t even get me started here!
“having sex and having babies is what young women are about.” thanks for setting feminism back 100 years. ugh.
@unluckyheart196 - seriously? go play with your barbies.
get to the real issue here – that bitch looks weiiiiird.
@MomGoneMadd - It’s because she is a dried up old prune.
Biologically, sure? I think it’s a bad idea. my best friend and I had babies at 9, baby dolls that is.
CREEPY LADY IS CREEPY
I’ll turn off my common sense and toss a hypothetical, “OK, sure,” in the ring. Now, are 14 year-old boys ready to be fathers?
I might actually agree. Other than the immaturity to deal with committed relationships (or is that just culture?) I know ppl (ie. myself) who may’ve been ready
In our world 14 year olds are waay too immature to be mothers. That was okay back in the days when women’s education wasn’t considered important and raising a family was pretty much their purpose in life. They had to learn how to grow up faster because of this pressure put on them. However, nowadays that pressure is off and the most many 14 year olds worry about is learning how to wear tampons or what boy will ask them to homecoming. Just because it is possible for most 14 year olds to bear children, doesn’t mean that in our society they are anywhere near ready to handle motherhood.
@unluckyheart196 - I understand your train of thought… But it is severely misguided. You talk about going to party with your husband when you’re 30. Okay, are you ready to find a husband and get married right now? At 15 would you be able to find a job to support your family? Are you old enough to drive your child to daycare or go to the store when you run out of diapers? You’re not old enough to have the responsibilities to vote, drive, smoke, gamble, drink, or join the army, but you seriously think you are responsible enough to have a child? Plus your 20s are the prime of your life. College is fun, party then when you don’t have a teenage kid to worry about. The problem is that most young teens don’t take in all the considerations of what being a mother actually means. Just watch Teen Mom and you’ll see young mothers that still care more about hooking up with boys and going shopping than they do taking care of their children. So seriously consider more than being done with motherhood responsibilities so that you can party at 30, and think about everything else that comes with motherhood before you say that you are ready to be a mom…
that bitch is retarded!!!! they aren’t READY to be mothers, that’s the age they start to learn!!!!!!! like cooking and cleaning for example
At least she got attention for her book
That just made my stomach clench up. When I was fourteen I was thinking about grades and video games :/ not humping and having babies..
As I have said before – its only a luxury North America and Western Europe that have this concept of teenage (15-24ish) hood.
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My daughter wasn’t ready at 14.
You have opened a can of worms that will never be reclosed.
No way. Very few teens are mature enough for that these days no matter what biology tells us.
Biologically yes. Emotionally and financially? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Not all.
People are talking about sluts and such.
I say it really really depends on the society. First of all, it is not all about being a slut or not. Having a baby does not mean sleeping around. Let’s go back thousands of years. Back then, it was the nom to get married and have a child at that age. It really was unseen for a woman to get married in her twenties or thirties. That was like a 60-year-old woman getting married today. I am not talking about biological changes. I am talking about culture and the raising of young women. At a younger age they had more responsibility, and were therefore wiser and more mature.
Let’s come back to the present. Today, in the UK or the States, no, I would never say a 14-year-old is ready to be a mother. They are kids at that age, here. They couldn’t raise kids, generally.
However, if we move to Iraq (I use this example because I am Iraqi and I’ve been there and seen it), girls that age are more mature than me, at 19. They can cook and clean like an adult over here, and they are much, much more responsible than the equivalent in the West. It’s just how it is. They’re raised that way. I haven’t seen 14-year-olds having babies in Iraq, but I would say without a doubt that they’d be better at it, and earlier, than young girls here.
My mum got married at 20. But a lot of her sisters (we are talking over 20 years ago) got married at ages 15, 16, 17, etc. They’re not sluts. They got married and had children and raised them from a young age. Things have changed since then, like I said; you wouldn’t find a 15-year-old getting married in Iraq (at least not that I know of), but like I said, all places are different.
14-years-old is 14-years-old, but it means VERY different things depending on where you’re standing in this world.
I’d lean more toward 16, but basically yes. Our society doesn’t support that, so I don’t recommend it. But looking from a purely biological standpoint teens have easy pregnancies and deliveries. Their bodies are young and strong and they produce good milk for their babies. I would have been emotionally/physically ready to be a mother at 16. Because of our culture I went to college and everything and had my first baby at 25 instead. The problem with this time table is that women’s bodies start declining reproductively after 25. It starts getting harder to get pregnant and the pregnancies and deliveries get harder. Yet the “responsible” women are told to wait until at least then to start their families. With our current social structure teens should not get pregnant, but that doesn’t mean that author is wrong. So many girls are getting pregnant in their teens and having their babies purposely because their biological instinct does prompt them to have babies then. I definately felt the urge in my teens.
She believes their “instincts are suppressed in the interests of society’s timetable.”
Well, DUH. So are a number of our other more ‘baser’ instincts. But you don’t see me pooing in the grass and having unprotected sex with every guy who looks at me the right way…
many 14 year-olds couldn’t even manage to do their homeworks.. let alone raising another living creature.. and i guess a lot would disagree.. who would want their tummies to bulge and their entire body to just suddenly become twice as big as they were before?
Not a chance.
There’s really no need in our society to start that young…. we have progressed to the point where we can and should enjoy life as kids… let the adults have children.
Sure. Why not. Because fourteen year olds are responsible, have steady jobs, don’t live with their parents/guardians, and are mentally ready for it. They have the parts!
*Headdesk*
I think young girls are half capable of being a mother, it is inate to care and nurture a child, and many young girls have had dolls that they act maternal towards, although a doll and baby are not the same, they have the same kind of seed planting idea.
I don’t think that it is a good idea though. at 14 you have been in school for alot of your own life, you have not finished your education is many ways you have not even began the important parts of it. You have no where of your own to live, you have no money of your own and you would miss out on many fantastic opportunities that you would not get by having a child.
A 14yr old would just end up living off there parents resources, and have nothing of their own, If they just waited 10 years or so they could get a degree, have worked and earnt a bit of money to support their child, see a bit of the world, gain some real life experience.
Its not just about love.
@Uek - Primarily the one about how people who commit what is now typically considered statutory rape (for example, some 23 year old having sex with a 14 year old) don’t deserve punishment.
ma’am to a point a agree but also i disagree my mom was 15 when she had her first and now she has 4 kids i think if ur able too u can and my grandmother was about that age as well u cant say that its to young when women were having children at younger ages than that and married for petes sake o my cow if ur gonna whine about it then do ur research
@OhItWontBeForever - Nice reply. Quick question though:
If, say, some 25-year-old wanted to marry a 15-year-old, would you think it was a morally justified decision? Just nosey.
@Axis_of_Doom - My answer is the same again; it depends which society you live in. Either way, you’ve got to have the consent of both parties. Here in the UK, I’d say “want what you want, but hell no!” lol. Age is not that big a deal to me, and ten years is not that bad, but age difference means less as you get older. Even if the 15-year-old wanted to marry the 25-year-old, I would be wary. 15-years-old here is still a kid. I would really be wary about any of their decisions, to be honest. Either way, the 25-year-old can want what they like, but it doesn’t mean they go ahead with it. By “morally justified decision”, if you mean wanting the 15-year-old, then I don’t see how a desire can be justified or not; we can’t really control what we want. But if by that you mean marrying the 15-year-old, then a lot would be involved there. I’d say wait until the 15-year-old is something like 20-years-old. Then they can make their own decision.
Did I answer your question?
This lady is a fucking moron. She obviously doesn’t remember what being a high-school freshman is like. Or indeed the capacities for responsibility most 14 year olds have. It’s a solid stance to take if you want pedophilia to be justified and legalized though because apparently people here are taking this seriously.
@OhItWontBeForever - Yeah, somewhat. But if, say, that 15-year-old/25-year-old couple wanted to marry in some place like Iraq, say, would you think it was morally justified?
[But if by that you mean marrying the 15-year-old, then a lot would be involved there.]
Yeah, that’s basically what I meant. You basically said that whether or not such a couple marrying would be morally “okay” depending on which society they live in. I’m guessing that you’d say in more “Middle Eastern” countries, it would be okay. Is that correct?
@Axis_of_Doom - Like I said, I personally would wait until (I am fed up of typing out ages for the reason that I don’t know who is the male and female in this, so let’s assume the female is the younger one) the girl was older so she could make her own decision.
My 30-year-old cousin recently married an 18-year-old girl. I was not okay with that, but she was, and he was, and everybody over there was. I’m Iraqi but I can’t shake my Western mentality. I’ve been there, I’ve seen how it is, but I don’t agree with everything there. Clearly these things appear to be working, so I would say it is okay over in the Middle East and around that region. If I had kids, though, and we happened to live there, I couldn’t bring myself to let my young girl marry a guy that old, or my son marry a girl that young. Like I say, it’s my mentality, but their mentality over there is different to ours.
In short, for me, it’s not okay, but for them, yes, it is.
@OhItWontBeForever - I getcha, and sorry for not clarifying who was the girl and who was the guy
. I just assumed you knew who the girl was without even thinking about it.
Like you, I find even the notion of an older man marrying a much younger girl repugnant, but I suppose it’s possible that my Western perceptions are simply getting the better of me and leading me towards a biased viewpoint, much like you said. I just have this mentality where young women like that probably aren’t suited to marry and be in a committed and sexual relationship, let alone in, say, arranged marriages!
That’s not to say that all Islamic and/or Middle Eastern countries are like that and that everybody in those countries even approve of the practice. I’d hate to stereotype anybody. Still, I’ve heard of such things and I find it repugnant.
@Axis_of_Doom - I assumed that the younger one was the girl, but I didn’t want to assume anything wrongly. Like my boyfriend says, “you can’t spell ‘assume’ without ‘ass’.” haha.
I think it is just how we are raised where we are raised. It sounds clichéd, but it’s true. Our society and culture shape our views and what we perceive as okay, normal or just plain disgusting, like you say.
EDIT: “young women like that probably aren’t suited to marry and be in a committed and sexual relationship” I agree. I can’t help this idea that the girls are just sort of smiling, nodding and dealing with it. I even spent the whole of my own cousin’s wedding seeing his wife in that way. But some marriages work, some don’t, and that’s the same in every society, so it’s hard to judge.
I think this happens in all Middle Eastern and Muslim countries. It happens in the East, point blank. Not everybody approves of it. Like I say, my own cousin did it, but some of my other cousins agreed with me that it was… well, nasty, to be as polite as I can, lol.
I wish I knew why it happens there, but I can only repeat what I said earlier about the young girls there being much more like older girls here… and I can only assume (there goes that word!) that guys just share the same level of (im)maturity all around the globe.
Just because a 14 year old can have a baby doesn’t mean she should. What the author of this book fails to realize that we’re not living in the stoneage anymore. We live in an age that not only demands a high degree (at least 13 years) of education but has extended our life span to double that of our paleolithic ancestors, thus enabling us to delay procreation until our 20′s 30′s or even 40′s.
They are ready anatomically when they have their first menses. Psychologically? Not until their 20′s, if even.
@Morningstarrising - Exactly. And the majority not being ready isn’t only caused by being 14, it’s a result of the environment they’re raised in (both in the home and in society as a whole). I don’t think teenagers are given as much credit as they could be. If given the opportunity and support most teens could be much more mature, IMHO.
They could be, because historically, everything did happen younger. But the way the world works today, not at all.
And imagine how hard life would be for her.
The parties she’d miss out on, the boys that wouldn’t look at her twice for having a child.
What her friends and teachers would think of her.
I am fifteen and there is no way I could be a mother.
I wouldn’t be able to love the child aposed to if I waited until I were 30, lets say.
She’s a mother herself, I dare say.
I cannot even believe she is suggesting that.
I barely wash my laundry, yet alone be able to look and nurture a child that would call me mommy.
@milfncookies - Agreed. Personally, I’m very close friends with a lot of people who are very traditional and very religious. You could think of them as similar to the Duggar family, but it’s not so much of a thought of “women should stay home and raise babies” as much as it’s “women should not be prevented from getting married young and having children at a young age”. I have several friends who are included in the “teenage pregnancy epidemic” stats, but they have been married for 2 or more years before they ever got pregnant. Getting married at 15, 16, 17 isn’t ALWAYS a bad thing, and it’s certainly not BECAUSE of getting pregnant… at least not all the time.
No way. Pre teens are not even mature enough these days to control the amount of text messages they send, let alone talking care of another life.
I do think that in our generation, such ideas are ludicrous. Mostly becasue of how society has evolved, but at the same time, I believe less is expected from our young people, so in, no way shape or form would this be just. Historically women were having children and becoming mothers at a much younger age, mostly because this is what was expected of them. For example my grandmother have 11 children, her first was at the age of 14,and was married at the age of 16. I wasen’t there in the same time, and I could not tell you if she was mentally really or not, but I know that she did the best that she could, and she raised all of her children, the majority of her grand children, and many of her great grand children. Her entire life was devoted to family. Most teenager, and young people these days, are on another level. not nessicarily a higher one just a not the same. ten years ago things were diffrent as well. I think It all stats with education. It seems like with all of the budget cuts, less and less is expected of our younger generation. Their is no other way to put it. Also regardless of you having a 14 year old mother, somewhere out their has to be a father, and a 14 year old boy dosen’t really have being a father on his agenda in this day in age. So no 14 year old girls today are not ready to be mothers.
Maybe back in the day 14 years old was a good age to start popping babies but I nowadays…i think women want to wait till they are established to have kids not on a mans time table. I can speak from experience that becoming a mother at 17 was the hardest thing I had to do. I wouldnt change anything now but at 17 I didnt have a good paying job to support my child fully. At 14 who is going to raise that baby? In my own opinion 14 is way to young for modern society
If they can support themselves and the child, of course.
Generally, no.
NO
14 year old children are not capable of having children.
@Axis_of_Doom - I didn’t actually say that but if you want to use ad populum yourself, have at it. “Typically”, is just that. Consent laws vary from state to state let alone country to country and the only federal guidelines we have are meant to prosecute sex workers and their pimps in interstate commerce. Never said anyone who commited a crime didn’t deserve punishment, either.
What 14-year olds are she talking too? Having babies was not the first thing to come to mind when I was 14… sex was maybe number 3.
Can it be done? Yes. Should it be done? Not if you can help it. Having been a teen mom myself (at 17, not 14) I can tell you that it is a daunting task to become a mother. It’s a big responsibility at any age, but especially for teens.
Studies show that many teens are not prepared for the challenges and the responsiblity that parenthood brings. They may lack the psychological and/or cognitive maturity to make the right choices for themselves and/or their babies. Teens are still developing and growing psychosocially, physiologically, and emotionally. Then there’s the issue of education… Studies show that the mother’s education is the main predictor of a baby’s life outcome. I can say from experience that it’s harder to focus on school when you have a little one to feed, clothe, and care for. Without proper support it becomes impossible.
p.s. That lady looks scary! lol
The reason that women are having kids older now as opposed to younger has nothing to do with the “male timetable”–it has everything to do with women not getting married/having long-term partnerships earlier as a result in the rise of availability of education to women! We (women) are thankful to be forced into marriage so young, and we’re thankful that we can get college degrees and have our own lives before we have children. The availability of birth control has also greatly increased our ability to wait to have children when we want them.
I think the author was trying to make some sort of psuedo-feminist argument that we should sexually liberate our children earlier, but it doesn’t work when you bring children into the mix. She says, “Young women are all about sex and babies.” No. Young women are possibly about sex, but when it becomes connected to motherhood, we’ve moved to working within a patriarchal system. Modern-day women do not believe that sex is only to have children–that’s a historical image forced upon them by a male-dominated society.
Liberated woman fail.
Well, in history it was actually expected for girls this young to marry and have babies. Many of these girls were expected to marry who their families approved, and several times the man was older than the girl. The men went to work and the women stayed at home. Not too many years ago, it was still acceptable (I know someone who had a child at 16 in the 1950′s or 60′s and had no problem with stereotypes whatsoever). So yeah, history does kinda agree with her, but since those days, things have changed.
my great grandmother was a mom at 13, So…as mother, I would suggest waiting until you’re at least 25
The brain doesn’t stop developing until your mid-twenties. So while physically, 14 year old girls may be “ready” to have children, they are not ready mentally. Their brains are still in a child-like state and will be until the mid-twenties.
biologically they can
depends if they want to and depends if they can support the baby by themselves
Like @PimpMobille said, history does agree with her. Back then, it was normal for 14 year olds to have children with older men in their 20s. Just like the author said ”insticts are suppressed in the interests of society’s timetable.” Basically, if any of us would have been born back then, it would have been okay to practice that way of life, but since we are all born in the 1990s, we believe it is wrong to do so. Actually, that ideology is still practice in certain third world countries… Now, I do not believe young girls should be having babies. On the contrary, I think they should be having fun being kids, but I do understand what the writer’s point is.
Ps: Romeo and Juliet is probably the most popular example of a young 14 to 15 year old girl being seduced by a man in his 20s.
Yeah, it’s totally the males who want women to go to college and start a career instead of staying home raising the kids. I hope for the sake of humanity I’m misinterpreting what she means by “male timetable”.
On the other hand, I know a lot of 20-year-old women who seem about as capable of child rearing as a 14-year-old, but… I think you get what I’m saying and it doesn’t work the other way around.
Biologically yes, emotionally and environmentally no. You have to remember that when nature programmed women to start to be able to bear children in their teens that “society” was very different. People lived in groups, everyone in that group was involved in raising the baby, the grandmother and perhaps great grandmother and numerous aunts were all there with a strong support system. Likewise young girls helped their mother, older sisters and aunts raise their babies, so had gained a vast amount of child rearing experience before becoming mothers themselves. Society is no longer like that. Families are fragmented and often neighbours don’t even know neighbours. The support necessary is no longer available. Who does a 14 yr old from a divorced family who’s mother is a drug addict turn to? DCS? God help her and her baby. I was a college grad, married for 2 years and in my mid 20′s when I had my first child. Living where there was no family support and it was a complete nightmare. I was no where near ready emotionally to have had a child. My next child 4 years later was marginally better, The baby I had in my late 30′s, the baby to save the train wreck the marriage had turned into, completely different kettle of fish. Despite all the turmoil surrounding the rest of my personal life at that point, I have enjoyed every second of motherhood with her. I had finally grown up enough to be a mother.
The way you phrase things in your post is so literally interpretive that anything that could possibly be up for debate is already insulted by the context in which the news was reported for the subject matter. Sometimes. This post is a great example. But it’s just neutral enough to post it and let it be open to debate, with only a few subtle hinted overtones of dissaprovingness of the nature.
This woman is obviously espouting a socially unnacceptable viewpoint on the basis of evolutionary theory, as well as the females duties (if horribly old fashioned and 18th century) that women biologically are sort of expected to fulfill: Get married, pop out kids. And I agree with her – that women are biologically prepared to give birth at the ‘tender’ age of fourteen. We did back in the cave times. And we’re still doing it now.
In Roman times, girls would get pregnant as young as 12. But research suggests that women are most fertile at 19. In today’s society, I believe most 14-year-old girls aren’t mature enough to handle it.
Maybe hundreds of years ago when they didn’t need to worry about finishing high school and college…but certainly not today!!
Just look that woman in the face- see what’s there- and judge for yourself. There are lots of depraved writers and/or filmmakers running around these days promoting children as sex objects… for their own profit. Increasingly, these creatures are women. Increasingly, overt child predators are likewise. I can’t say for sure what’s fuelling the cougar kid-pimp mentality among so many modern women. But it can only be called for what it is. Despicable.
Sure. It’s possible for girls to bear children even in their preteens. But to render them so is as immoral as it gets. To lead teenage girls into motherhood is not much better, legally married or not. It’s a basic fact of nature that the human body becomes capable of reproducing well before mental maturity occurs. That “mental” factor is key for a prospective parent. That’s why laws have been passed to protect girls from sexual exploitation. And that’s why kids are legal minors (and subject to their parents’ authority) until age 18. Which is still too soon.
Personally, I think that “authoress” should be subject to legal penalty for encouraging the sexual exploitation of minors… and for contributing to their delinquency. Both of which are felonies in most states. Children are, to an ever greater extent, being sexualized earlier and earlier to feed the sick fantasies of the perverse.
Definitely not psychologically.. But I mean, a lot of women in other cultures have children at a young age and take on responsibilities when they’re a lot younger then most American women.
yeah, sure, but society isn’t.
@doesthisdefineme - My mom was 18 when she had me. She’d been married since 16.
It just automatically makes the baby disadvantaged, especially in communities where the parents are older and can shun the younger moms and laugh when they can’t protect their children from the school system or spend hours teaching them everything and telling other children that they are naughty for their children.
I helped my mom when I was younger in the diner by bringing out glasses and stuff – because I was cute and she got a bigger tip - and helped her clean up the barf on Sundays at the bar (my life seems to always revolve around a bar somehow).
I answered phones at when I was 9, even though they said I couldn’t read or write. I was doing both and math too while sweeping the street. Sorry that didn’t sound good.
By the time I was a teenager, I was ravingly psychotic, so I didn’t do much but take hits from all sides all of the time and stare off into space.
I’ll have a kid when Hell freezes over (again) or opens up and demons devour the pure.
They might be physically capable, but that does not mean they are ready. In history, women had babies at that age because they would be dead at 40, life was short, and their 14 was like our 20. Besides, in today’s world, people don’t become mature like those girls in history were until a later age.
The woman is crazy, basically.
” “male timetable” that causes women to wait until they are older to have children”
Pfft, and how does she explain why many wait until their 30s?
And, newsflash to her, many DON”T wait for guys to be ready. In fact, the latest explosion has been in teen pregnancy where they GUYS don’t want to have kids because they may have to pay child support.
History may agree with here but medically its not a good idea. I mean, there are more risk for young mothers [girls under 17] than there would be for girls who are older. Their bodies aren’t nearly as developed as someone ten years old than them.
Medical problems aside, times have changed. I promise you the amount of things 14 year old girls knew a hundred years ago compared to what they know now is different.
Sorry, but I’m 21 and I’m not ready to have kids.
Yeshua’s Mom was around that age.