Today's Poster Girl

Rock & Rap Confidential:

So yesterday word came down that Britney Spear's little sister Jamie Lynne is pregnant at age 16. Yep, the little sis who is a frequently trotted out as a role model on the Nickalodean channel. This comes at the heals of her mom getting ready to drop a book on parenting. How ironic is that?

I'm not gonna take any sort of glee in that. Teenagers getting pregnant has been going on since human beings showed up on the face of the earth. It happens. I'm just wondering what will happen in the aftermath. For example will conservatives trot Lynne Spears out and give her major kudos for NOT getting an abortion? Or will they pound their chests and say this is the result of not teaching enough abstinence? I'm asking this because Lynn who lives in the Bible belt comes from a place where teaching abstinence is mandatory... maybe that course of action ain't working.

I do know that we are already hearing praises being heaped upon her for 'being responsible' and keeping the child. We rarely hear those praises for young Black and Brown mothers who have kids at a young age. We look at them and say the country is in crises. But let me not digress.

I wonder if that Fox News flunkie Jason Whitlock will be dragged out and made to pen a 'compelling' column where he somehow blames Hip Hop for this atrocity? Did Lynn get pregnant because her older sister recently did a song with Lil Wayne? Or because she was produced by Timberland? Or because they watched too many rap videos? If Whitlock doesn't do it because he usually smashes on his own people maybe Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity will take up the mantle? They'll praise Jamie Lynn for being responsible but then find a way to blame Hip Hop...

I bring this up not to be far reaching or to just blow smoke, but to bring attention to the really serious aspect to this situation-Jamie Lynn's boyfriend-Casey Aldridge. He's 19 years old. Now I know many of you who are reading this will say what's the big deal? Teenagers are teenagers? In a sexually charged environment should we not be surprised that folks get together?

Well lets keep this in mind several years ago a young man who was an honor student and home coming king by the name of Genarlow Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having oral sex with his 15 year old girl friend. Wilson was 17 at the time. His sentence was recently overturned, but not after he had to under go the horrors of being in the state pen for a few years. Will the heavy hand of the law come down on Jamie Lynn's boyfriend? Isn't it against the law to have sex with a minor? Here in the Bay Area about 10-11 years ago, rap star Ray Luv spent a year in jail after it was discovered thathe got with a 16 year old while he was 19 and we are liberal as hell. What's gonna happen to this Casey guy? It's interesting to note that many of the news agencies aren't stating his age. Instead they are sugar coating things by saying things like 'long time boyfriend' and 'boyfriend who she met in church'.... mmmmmm thats the sort of thing that makes you wonder. Lets keep an eye on this one folks...

More here.

And HuffPo wants to know who's a worse mother: Britney or the girls' mom?

Lynne Spears, what were you thinking? Or not thinking and not doing? Did you never sit down with either of your daughters—Britney, now just turned 26, and the divorced mother of two toddlers or Jamie Lynn, 16 and now three months pregnant—and give them The Talk?

You know the one, where mothers warn their daughters about the dangers of unprotected sex: as in, you can get pregnant if you don't use contraception and you can contract any one of a number of dangerous sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. Or were you too busy pushing their careers to ever have this heart-to-heart with them? Were you too tied up lining up meetings with record company executives, TV networks, publicists and tour managers to check on whether you were instilling personal values and self-esteem in your daughters?

And what kind of mother upon hearing the news that her 16-year-old daughter is knocked up, reacts by picking up the phone and negotiating to get her daughter's photo plastered on the cover of a magazine with a tell-all interview by the daughter and herself inside?

I mean, she's 12 weeks pregnant—that's all—and not even showing—and you are very possibly already making big bucks off of your minor daughter's pregnancy! I say "possibly" since the magazine concerned hasn't announced that they paid for this deal, but since they have been very public about paying for other big cover scoops, there's a good chance they paid for this one. And of course, Jamie Lynn could be getting all that possible money herself. Maybe you aren't getting a cut? But there you are clearly mentioned as a participant, on the cover for millions to see. Still, I wonder, is that all your daughters are to you? A gravy train? And the world is well-aware of how daughter #1 Brit turned out—she's arguably one of the saddest, most messed-up young women in this country and a mother who's lost custody of her kids due to her hard partying and questionable parenting.

A source told Star magazine that ""She picks up guys all over the place. She never keeps condoms in the house and I wouldn't be surprised if she had unprotected sex." Lynne, have you still not had The Talk with her, after her two little surprises?

Then of course, there is the even bigger question—why do Jamie Lynn and Britney choose men who have so little respect for them that they're not careful about preventing a pregnancy? Do Jamie Lynn and Britney feel insecure and unloved? Lynne, what is that about?

And is Jamie Lynn's 19-year-old football-playing boyfriend who she apparently met in church in the Spears hometown of Kentwood, La. just an irresponsible ne'er do well? I mean, it takes two people having unprotected sex—in his case, with a 16 year old—to make a baby!

Apparently Lynn has had to postpone her book deal with publisher Thomas Nelson, who publishes inspirational books and bibles. She was supposed to publish a tome about raising her daughters in Spring 2008. Oops! I guess it's just not the right time for that.

And oops, maybe Jamie Lynn won't be deemed an appropriate role model to continue starring in Nickelodeon's teen hit show, Zoey 101. Her character on that show, after all, is smart and savvy and since I've watched it a lot, I can say that I doubt her character would be careless enough to get pregnant at 16.

Both my daughters—the 17-year-old and the 10-year-old—think it's terribly sad that Jamie Lynn is pregnant and they wonder why that family is so messed up. They can't imagine how she can do a good job of raising a baby when she's just a baby herself.

But on the other hand, she and Lynne can think of the publicity and the potential opportunities to potentially make more money if they decide to go that route. There are the "We're So Happy" cover photos taken with 19-year-old dad Casey, the potential engagement photos, the potential wedding photos, the photos of the baby's beautiful nursery, the first pics of the baby after it's born and the "How I Got My Figure Back" photos and exercise routine feature.

After all, Jamie Lynn's already pregnant, why not cash in?

As a mother, I just have to make the plea to other mothers of teenage daughters: You've got to talk to your daughters about being responsible.