Three topics

After much pondering I came down to three ideas of possible topics for the research essay.

The first overall topic is not very original: Teen Pregnancy. But I want to take another twist on it. In the past and currently in many societies teen pregnancy is the norm or standard. Our society consideres teen pregnancy because now there are fewer and fewer married teens since women now have the opportunity to have careers, take their time choosing a mate and must have financial stability in order to have a child according to today's western society. However in the past women got married at a younger age, and the main goal of getting married was to have children. In many parts of the world the life expectancy is very short and women have children at a young age. Not that I think that these archaic practices are best, having been brought up in a western society I do not find having a child at a young age ideal, but nature made us in a certain way and the media and society are very hard on teen pregnancy when it is just part of our instincts to reproduce during the child-bearing years. So my main question is: Is the media making us think that teen pregnancy is bad, or is it really bad?

The next idea is kind of controversial, and I have no background information at all on the topic. But I was thinking for many people homosexuality is considered to be "bad" or practically "evil." These are typically people who have not had contact with someone who is gay or lesbian and they are most likely judging based on the media's representation of gays. They are considered promicuous, flashy, and as predators. From my experience with gay and lesbians very few fit into the stereotypes illustrated on television and in movies. How does the media affect their role in society?

The last of my ideas for the research paper is how television often replaces interaction between young children and parents. Very often, while a parent is busy working, cooking or doing other chores children are plopped down in front of the TV watching "educational" shows (just so parents feel better). Since some parents then believe that the child has been sufficiently exposed to educational material they do not try to teach them things themselves. I understand that some people have to work and cannot have a lot of time to spend with their children, but that does not mean that the little time there is should not be dedicated to "quality" time exposing children to their surroundings. Cooking, cleaning and other things are terrific learning opportunities and leaving the child in front of the TV does not promote learning or family values.

Well I would be happy to get your feedback on these topics or any suggestions to make these topics more interesting.

Thank you!