Brenda's Got a Baby: A Look at Teenage Prostitution
Posted Nov 25 2008
Brenda’s Got a Baby Questions1. Write down any initial thoughts that you have about this video. (points vary)
2. Draw a timeline of at least six events in Brenda’s life. (6 pts)
3. At what age did Brenda have her baby? (1 pt)
4. Why do you think Tupac calls her boyfriend a molester? (2 pts)
5. Who helps Brenda out once she has her baby? (1 pt)
6. Tupac says that Brenda’s “problem” affects the whole community. Write down three ways that her life impacts the community. (3 pts)
7. Write down at least two of Brenda’s identity groups that made things harder for her, and why they made things harder. (6 pts)*
8. After watching this video again and listening to the discussion, do you have any new thoughts about it? (points vary)
*This is a follow up question in reference to our work around multiple identities. Depending on one's gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc, we each have particular advantages and disadvantages in life. For example, a Muslim African-American male in the U.S. may face discrimination based on race/ethnicity (compared to Whites), religion (compared to Christians), but experience privilege due to gender (not likely to be sexually assaulted) and U.S. citizenship (over immigrants).
As a high school student, I enjoyed this activity because prior to this activity I never viewed music as a direct political vessel. Critically watching this music video gave me an inside perspective of the hardships of being a prostituted and how they end up in this situations. Sometimes people make it seem as though these females choose this life style. “Brenda’s Got a Baby” reveals the truth of the situation in which many either ignore or deny.
I think that this video and song really spoke out to people because it had a good and clear message and we knew what tupac was saying. I believe that in this song he's not specifically talking about one person but to all those girls in that sitution and I believe that if one or more of those girls was to hear this song it would speak to their lives.
I'm a high school student as well... and i think that listening to his music video is a better way of understanding the lyrics. This was my first time really hearing this song. i have herd it before but never payed attention to what it said.