Last night's season finale of Teen Mom 2 just drove home how
depressing these girls' stories are. Not because they involve
poverty or drug addiction or excessive leopard print, but
because, over the course of the two seasons of the show, it's
become increasingly more obvious that beneath all the bad
relationships—and even worse hair—we're watching four girls with
terrifically low self-esteem. You don't even need to play
armchair therapist to see that this is really what's at the core
of their problems. Each one of the girls has disturbed the
tenuous balance they've achieved in their lives as young mothers
by seeking validation in the worst possible way: through men.
I'm not trying to slut-shame Leah or Kailyn for cheating on
their partners. You know, it'd be one thing if they were
sleeping around and having tons of fun. But they are clearly
miserable. And they've actually expressly said that they slept
with these guys for reasons other than, you know, just getting
off. Leah wanted the attention she wasn't get