Why OK! never should have put Jamie Lynn on their cover

I recently got my grubby hands on a second-hand copy of OK! I'd never read one before. I imagined it to be a lot like People, which, at one time, I totally dug, but which lately seems too pandering and smarmy for my taste. Perhaps I've gotten overly comfortable with the snarkiness of celebrity gossip websites to swallow all the Happy these magazines try to shovel us.

Anyway.

On the front cover of this particular issue of OK! is 16-year-old Baby Mama Jamie Lynn Spears posing with her newborn. "Being a mom is the best feeling in the world!" she tells us. It's all so wonderful and great! And she tries to convince us that Casey (Baby Daddy), with eyes as big as pie plates and a grimace that's supposed to pass for a grin, is not going to bolt as soon as the spotlight is off the trio.

Wait a second.

Lest we forget, Jamie Lynn is a teen mom. A TEEN MOM. OK! is exploiting and glamorizing her situation with the nauseatingly fake-euphoric photos and "interview".

Granted, she's not your typical pubescent parent driving around in a rusty Corolla and raising her baby in one half of a sagging duplex.

She has a large home. With granite counters!

But a typical, American teenage girl jonesing for a baby (which I don't at all get, but, whatever. They're out there.) could very well see this story, see all the publicity surrounding Britney's little sister and think, Look! Jamie Lynn is doing it. She has a great house and her boyfriend proposed and she's "happy all the time". It sounds stupid and simplistic, but I promise you: that very thought is swirling around some young, coltish brain right this second.

Not only does OK! make teen motherhood sound like a dream-come-true, it violently distorts motherhood in general. Even for those of us who are mature, married and relatively balanced, being a mom is fracking HARD. Motherhood is not all about "hanging pictures in the nursery" and buying cute, little outfits. It's about tar-black shitty diapers and no sleep and snapping at your significant other in the middle of the night and, occasionally, wondering what the heck have I gotten myself into?

If there was ever a time in my life when I'd gush about unconditional happiness, the first three months of my babies' lives were not it.

I don't want (and I don't want young girls) to see Ms. Teen Mom on the cover of a major weekly magazine looking perfect and pretty, having just baked muffins while her fiance pours her a cup of coffee (is she even old enough to drink coffee?) and think what she's going through is easy or fun.

I want reality. I want to see the spit up, the leaking boobs, the love handles and the gloomy silences between Jamie Lynn and Casey.

If OK! won't do it for me, they should do it for the girls who need to hear the truth.

If you like what you've read here, please come visit my personal blog at www.AllAdither.com.

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Posted by almostfamousav Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:55pm PDT

I completey agree. The fact that put her on the cover is outright infuriating and disgusting! I hate that this "business" has turned into this. Take the fame and fortune out of this picture and what do you have? Another statistic. Another knocked-up, trailer trash, baby mama drama, moral sabotaging, defiant teen STATISTIC. And you know who we should blame? HER PARENTS! And what is Jamie Lynn going to teach her daughter? Tradition? High standards? Goals? No. She is just breeding more. Just another generation of angry, non-productive citizens. Oh goodie. I can't wait.

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Posted by scayers327 Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:29pm PDT

Hey OK!, it's not ok.

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Posted by MDavisPlumbing Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:36pm PDT

10-4 on that one!!!!!!!!!!!
Definately a blessing but nothing to glamorize for young girls.!!!!!
Its a trip you cant turn back on and a LOT OF RESPONSIBILITY!

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Posted by sadie Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:44pm PDT

Jaimie Lynn's parents did their best. The magazine and Jaime Lynn are equally benefiting from this. Only goofy girls will be harmed from it. Hopefully parents are teaching their children that what you read is'nt always true. Teen-age mothers are capable of raising their children with a lot of help. Are they trailor trash? Morally stupid? No,maybe they are human and quite capable of making errors. Hope is always around the corner.

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Posted by detfinest06 Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:47pm PDT

well she is too young... but we cant just talk her down... is not her fault.. its her parents....as being parents you're suppose to guide your children and set very good examples for them... apparently her parents did not do a good job at that.

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Posted by Sheelah N Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:49pm PDT

Its not ok.... Its disgraceful.

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Posted by sayume2003 Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:13pm PDT

This last post most certainly belongs to a teenage girl who is not speaking to her mother.

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Posted by sayume2003 Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:19pm PDT

Aside from Angela21s bad manners I too believe that glorifying teen pregnancy is wrong from top to bottom. Media outlets have done a terrible diservice to young girls everywhere by further distorting the image of what a teenage girl should act/be/feel like. No dreams, no goals, no higher aspirations, just basic procreation for the sake of procreation. Lets just hope that girls all over get the underlying message or have responsible, caring parents explaining it to them.

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Posted by Laura M Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:26pm PDT

Her boyfriend is a joke, not a father. She's a nitwit besides, but why are we still surprised after all this family's BS?

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