MTV’s 16 and Pregnant Season 2 (Full episode)
This reality program follows teens who have become pregnant. Jenelle, sixteen, is the subject of this episode. Cameras follow Jenelle as she moves from planning to be a mother to meeting (and not meeting) the demands of motherhood. Though the show sensationalizes the issue of teen pregnancy, it also highlights the issues of roles and role conflict, particularly within the context of family.

Questions to Consider:

1. Do you think that the show does a good job of depicting the “reality” of teen pregnancy?
2. Why do you believe that this show is so popular?
3. Teen parents face a variety of challenges. How do the reactions—of friends, family, and the wider society—contribute to these? Use Jenelle’s experience as a starting place for your answer.
4. How are the roles of “teen” and “mother” in conflict? How about Jenelle’s “daughter” and “mother” roles?
5. What does Jenelle mean when she says having a child young is doing “everything backwards”?

Gay Couple Asked To Sit In Back Of Bus Gets An Apology
In June 2013 a gay couple was asked to sit in the back of an airport shuttle bus. This video tells the story of that experience.

Questions to Consider:

1. What was your reaction to this story?
2. Do you think incidents like this will become more or less common?

Cheerios commercial: Just checking
This 2013 television commercial for Cheerios breakfast cereal depicts an interracial family. The mother is white, the father is black, and the child appears to be a product of their union.

Questions to Consider:

1. Many people found this commercial to be bold and shocking. Did you?
2. Do commercials like this merely reflect what families look like? Or, do they influence our notions of what families can and do look like? Both?