Here's one way to get out of gym....by faking a pregnancy

[Mr. Green Eyes]

Teen fakes pregnancy as school project
Six-month-long fake out was part of a social experiment for the 17-year-old's senior project

By Associated Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — A Yakima High School student faked her pregnancy for the past six months as a social experiment for her senior project.
Gaby Rodriguez revealed she was not pregnant Wednesday by taking off the belly bundle in front of a stunned student assembly that ended with a standing ovation.

Her presentation about rumors and stereotypes is part of her about the perceptions of a pregnant student. The 17-year-old will present her project in May before she graduates.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports only a handful of people knew Gaby was faking, including her mother, boyfriend and the principal. They helped keep the secret from some of her own siblings and her boyfriend's family and students and teachers.


I think that this is a very interesting idea. The idea of how society, such as a high school, perceives a pregnant teenaged girl is a good concept for a high school senior project. I guess having just completed a year and a half long major research project, that was required for me to graduate college, caused this to kinda jump out at me. Just my 2 cents.

 

[cobl04]

Kim Duthie could learn a thing or two from this girl.

 

[yolland]

That is a very interesting project! There's a fair amount of research out there on how perceived pregnancy affects certain specific situations like job interviews, but not nearly enough on more general social consequences. I'm impressed this girl and her boyfriend were able to keep the secret for that long...I would think his parents/guardians are liable to be pretty pissed about that, though?

 

[corianderstem]

I was reading about this on another site, and I was surprised to see most of the comments were expressing dismay that the girl took on a project that involved so much lying to so many people.

I can see their point, but the side that thinks it's a really cool, unique, interesting project is winning the war in my brain.

But I think she could have at least let the boyfriend's parents in on the secret ... but maybe their reactions were an important part of the research?

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I saw that on GMA this morning-it's great to see a teenage girl trying to do something positive with this whole thing, even with the lying..and not trying to get pregnant to get on Teen Mom and to be a "celebrity". I think that is much worse than lying for the purpose of a school project.

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

Well, I hope she does a hell of a good job on her project. That's about the only way to maintain any credibility. Otherwise, all she really got out of this is the 15 minutes of fame I assume she was looking for and a nice reputation for extreme dishonesty.

 

[yolland]

She got a standing ovation, so it doesn't sound like her revelation was uniformly greeted with hostility. Putting up with 6 months of that kind of voluntary isolation doesn't sound like something a 15-minutes-of-fame-type teenager would do. Plus, she graduates in a couple weeks, is already college-bound, and would certainly seem to be a highly ambitious young woman likely to go places in life, so I doubt she's worrying too much about whether a handful of disgruntled former classmates and their parents might recall her as That Bitch Who Faked Her Pregnancy. Deception is integral to most social science experiments, like it or not.

Turns out her boyfriend is a couple years older and thus not a minor anymore, which for me mitigates the concerns I had about that aspect initially (if you're going to involve my son in something like that while he's still legally my responsibility, then I damn well expect to be privy to it).

I do get why a lot of parents were freaked out by this and said they'd never let their daughter do it. On the one hand, it's an amazing feat of vision, organization, and discipline for a kid that age, and could lead to great things for her if she pulls it off, not to mention the social and academic value; on the other hand, she'd effectively be sacrificing her social life and self for months on end at an age when that could easily prove highly traumatic, no matter how willing initially. You'd have to know your daughter to be a young woman of extraordinary confidence, maturity, determination and independence.

She's a high school student, so inevitably the resulting report isn't going to be on a scholarly par with what, say, the sociology grad student she currently aspires to become might produce. But at the same time an adult professional couldn't recruit high school girls into an experimental conceit of this magnitude; that would be unethical. The initiative has to come from the subject herself.

 

[corianderstem]

 

[I Move in Mysterious Ways]

Well, while I don't agree with the harsh criticism, I also don't like her portrayal as a near-hero in some media outlets. I find it a little hard to make extreme judgments without knowing the content of her presentation.