Pregnancy in an early age - Essay Example

Conflict perspective maintains that our social order is patriarchal in nature which preserves male dominance. The greatest political and social resources are in the hands of men who abuse power to control the weaker groups, thus reinforcing inequality. Due to this inequality, women are coerced by men and chaotic conflict prevails in the society. Unlike other sociological perspectives which explore positive aspects of a society, conflict perspective scrutinizes how dominating groups create conflict by oppressing the disadvantaged groups.

It disregards the possibility that people cooperate with each other to protect social order. This is because people do not share the same societal values. They are not happy with the social order that is imposed on them, so they struggle to get themselves free from its clutches. They are not against social revolution, rather they work to overthrow the powerful oppressors. Conflict theorists stress that there is always a risk of conflict whenever there is a potential for inequality on any social level like religion, gender, race etc.

Pregnancy at an early age or teenage pregnancy is a grave social issue which has multiple drastic repercussions for the society. After getting pregnant at an early age, most teen mothers have to rely on welfare which integrates them socially disadvantaged group which is most likely to be oppressed by powerful people who dominate the social order. After getting themselves in a vulnerable position and losing myriad potential opportunities, pregnant teenagers become the favorite target of active oppressors.

These oppressors are always in fear of losing dominance, so to eliminate this element of insecurity, they take advantage of the vulnerable people in the society to reinforce their authority. As our social order is patriarchal despite modernity and the fact that we are living in the 21st century, pregnancy at an early age makes young mothers most likely to be objectified or exploited by men in power. These girls are used as pawns by male groups to advance their interest which is to ensure inequality and dominance.

Despite modernity and liberalism, our patriarchal societal order lends stability to the idea of male dominance. Therefore, girls who get pregnant at a young age are more likely to be pushed into the areas of prostitution and pornography than other women. The bodies of these women are then sexually glorified in images and advertisements in the interest of male population. This kind of sexism and manipulation stems from inequality between genders and is a gigantic threat to teen mothers because it reinforces their inferiority to men.

Conflict perspective also suggests that the kind of social order which favors coercion makes it easier for weaker groups like women to be handled by resourceful men like submissive automatons. When teenage mothers drop out of school because understandably most of them cannot afford going to school anymore, they turn to whatever means are available to support themselves against economic pressure. Often these means are of the kind that help them to survive, but also degrade their status leaving them more powerless and dependent on men than ever.

This is evident in the way many young girls, who get pregnant at a young age, are confronted with a compulsion to strike controversial poses for the male gaze. Conflict perspec