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Instead of taking a page from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and slut-shaming teen girls into abstinence, the Chicago Department of Public Health has reframed the conversation to focus on potential teen fathers who — in keeping with the gender double standard in this patriarchal society — tend to dodge the stigma of early parenthood.

At the Windy City’s bus stops and on billboards across the city, the ‘Unexpected’ campaign shows the bodies of teen boys — one Black and one Hispanic — photoshopped to appear pregnant, with the warning:

“Unexpected? Most ten pregnancies are. Use condoms. Or wait.”

“We wanted to create an ad campaign that would cut through the clutter and get people thinking about teen pregnancy and teen births, and how it can affect more than just teen girls,” said  Brian Richardson, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Health.

The daughters of teen mothers are more likely to become teen moms themselves. And the sons of teen moms are more likely to go to prison. These are challenges that go beyond one girl or one woman.”

The campaign is modeled after a similar one in Milwaukee that allegedly lead to  a 10 percent reduction in the teen pregnancy rate.

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