Graphic teen sex ad that shocked a nation

A FILM clip made for the UK's National Health Service has drawn criticism for its graphic depiction of a schoolgirl giving birth in a playground while being watched by students.

The film's shocking content saw it pulled from video-sharing website YouTube, but it has since reappeared on the site in several forms.

The video clip was made for the NHS in a bid to cut the rising number of teenage pregnancies across the UK, and appears to show real footage shot on a mobile phone.

Warning: Video contains graphic content

It hit the internet as The Sun broke the news in the UK that baby-faced 13-year-old Alfie Patten is not the actual father of Maisie Roxanne, a teenage pregnancy story that made headlines around the world last year.

Shocked viewers responded strongly to the playground birth video, with comments ranging from "pretty sick" to "Are they that bored in Leicester?"

Tim Rideout, chief executive of NHS Leicester City, told UK website Metro.co.uk: "We know this film is hard-hitting but so are the numbers of under-18s getting pregnant in Leicester."

"Nearly half the city's wards are classed as teen pregnancy 'hotspots'."

He said that traditional marketing, such as leaflets and posters, did not get the teenage sex and pregnancy message across to many of the target demographic.

While Alfie Patten has been released of his teenage fatherhood duty - much to his dismay - DNA tests still revealed that Maisie's father was a 15-year-old schoolboy, Tyler Barker.

According to The Sun, Tyler lives on the same estate as Maisie's mother, Chantelle Stedman, herself a 15-year-old who claimed at the time of pregnancy that Alfie was "the only boy I've been with".

"I love Alfie. I lost my virginity to him. There has been no one else," she said.

However, the DNA tests were paid for by Social Services after no less than six teenage schoolboys came forward claiming to be Maisie's father.

Tyler’s family had claimed Maisie was his child since her birth in February.

Locals heard his gleeful brother Jake, 17, running up and down the street outside their council house on the same estate after Maisie was born.

He was yelling: “My brother’s shagged Chantelle. He could be the dad.”

Thoughts?

13 year old NOT the father!

An update to a posting from Saturday February 14th 2009 @ 5:06pm

Court documents show that a 13-year-old boy who was reported to be the father of a baby girl born earlier this year in Britain is not her dad.

Newspaper photos of the baby-faced teenager, Alfie, along with the 15-year-old mother and the infant shocked the country.

They also sparked debate about sex education in Britain, which has one of Europe’s highest teen pregnancy rates.

Details of DNA testing were revealed Tuesday when a court-ordered reporting ban was lifted.

The court documents show that another boy, aged 15, is the baby’s real father.

The mother lives in Eastbourne, on the southeast coast of England.

Birth of 13-year-old dad's child sparks outrage

The birth of a child fathered by a 13-year-old boy has sparked an uproar in Britain.

Alfie Patten, who was only 12 when the baby was conceived with his girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, 15, was first pictured on the front of Friday's tabloid Sun newspaper with his daughter, Maisie Roxanne, after her birth Monday.

He told the newspaper that he thought "it would be good to have a baby."

"I didn't think about how we would afford it. I don't really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10. When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble. We wanted to have the baby but were worried about how people would react. I didn't know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it."

Chantelle, meanwhile, said, "I'm tired after the birth. I was nervous after going into labor, but otherwise I was quite excited."

She later told the Sun that they wanted to "prove to everyone" that they could give Maisie a "great future" and said both of them planned to stay in school.

The Sun reported that police had investigated but said they were not going to prosecute, as it was "not in anyone's interests."

Conservative party leader David Cameron told the British Press Association that parenthood should not be something the teenagers should even have been contemplating.

Former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, who runs the Centre for Social Justice think tank, told PA that the birth highlighted another case of "broken Britain" where "anything goes."

"It's not being accusative; it's about pointing out the complete collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what's right and wrong."

"There is no opprobrium any more about behavior, and quite often, children witness behavior that's aggressive, violent, rude and sexual. It's as if no one is saying this is wrong."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "all of us would want to avoid teenage pregnancies," PA reported.

Tony Kerridge, of the sexual health specialist Marie Stopes International, told PA that children needed better education.

"We have got the social aspect of young girls in the UK seeing having a baby as a route to getting their own place," he said.

London's The Times newspaper reported Saturday that in the past decade, more than 40 other boys younger than 14 had fathered children.

The UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe: 385 girls under the age of 14 became pregnant between 1998 and 2007.

Whatever happened to kids being kids, hanging out, playing sports, watching all the great new movies we can, playing video games..being kids...enjoying there youth? 13 year olds should not be having children, they themselves are still children, they are still developing both mentally and physically... The pressures that go with raising another human being in this world, making sure they are healthy, well nourished, cared for, clothed, have a roof over there heads... Are these things any 13 year old should have to be thinking about?? Should he/she be thinking about there excess homework load, projects due soon, getting a better post secondary education... or should they be thinking about there own child, if they're well fed, is there enough food for both them and the child, are they running out of diapers, formula, are they running out of clothes that fit.... when this kid (yes KID) is 19, when others his age are out partying, spending nights out with friends, studying hard for college/university and so on...He'll have to be thinking about his child and making sure they're in a good school, and doing well.... Is he really ready for all that??

His girlfriend, not to let her off here either, she's only 15... Is she really ready for this? They say they decided and made the decision that they wanted to be parents... What sort of real decision making can children that age really make? how well thought out can it really have been?

I fear for the future of these children (both, the parents, and the young one they brought into the world)... What happens when the kids have a change of heart (as all kids do, they'll be really interested in something one moment, lose interest in it the next) and decide they no longer want to be parents? What then? Leave the child to THERE parents and have the child raised by the grandparents?

As the saying goes "Anyone can be a dad...But, it takes a real MAN to be a father" at 13... being called a man would be a real stretch....

Thoughts???

Uproar over children's 'Big Brother' show

British broadcaster Channel 4 has been criticized for creating a new television show which looks at how children as young as eight would cope without their parents for two weeks.

Boys And Girls Alone -- which will be aired in the UK on Tuesday evening -- has been compared to adult reality show Big Brother.

The show allows 10 boys and 10 girls between the age of eight and 11 to create their own mini-societies, organizing everything from what they eat to how they should entertain themselves.

Ultimately the children are shown on camera squabbling over sleeping and cooking arrangements and, as they split into factions, some of them feel "picked on," the show's publicity says.

This has led to a stream of criticism from British lawmakers and children's charities, who have labeled Channel 4's "experiment" a disgrace that "served no purpose other than to cynically boost ratings," according to Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper.

Camila Batmanghelidjh, of the charity Kids Company, was quoted by The Daily Mirror as saying: "Any situation that leaves a group of young people without the mediating presence of a responsible adult is cruel and abusive."

Labour MP Denis MacShane told the newspaper that "children should be protected and not exploited for commercial gain."

However, Channel 4 defended the show and said it features "the kind of tussling you'd get in any playground -- but no physical violence."

It added that one boy pointed a knife and fork during the series but emphasized that no one was in any danger, Britain's Press Association reported.

"This is not a project for commercial gain. It is done with the parents' full consent," a Channel 4 spokesperson was quoted by PA as saying.

"They were watching and there were mentors and a clinical psychologist who made sure there were no problems."

What are your thoughts on this? is this going too far now?

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sex-on-beach offender's defense: I was naive

A British businessman jailed in Dubai after being convicted with a female companion for having sex on a beach said he had acted naively as he spoke publicly Monday for the first time since returning to the UK.

Vince Acors, 34, and Michelle Palmer, 36, were arrested on a Dubai beach in July and convicted to three-month jail terms in October on charges of public indecency and for having sex outside marriage. Their jail sentences were suspended on appeal and both returned to the UK last week.

Acors, a telecommunications executive, admitted to being drunk at the time of the incident after an afternoon of drinking but denied that sex between the couple had occurred and said that worldwide media interest in the case had given authorities no choice but to convict them.

"Sex in this country (the UK) is not the same as sex in Dubai," Acors told a news conference, adding that there was "physical contact but intercourse did not take place."

Acors said the Dubai authorities had confiscated his passport during deportation proceedings that took three months. He returned to Britain on Christmas Eve and is now looking to sell his story.

He said he and Palmer had since spoken only to discuss the case and don't have a relationship. She was not at the news conference.

Ok Mr. Acor, I have to ask this, because if I don't, It's just going to bug me every time I scroll past this article posting... you say (and I'll quote) "I was naive" "Sex in this country (the UK) is not the same as sex in Dubai," What do you mean by that? Do you mean that in the UK sex in public (in this case, on the beach) is "ok" and something common so you didn't think anything of it? Mr. Acor is a telecommunications executive, so by no means a dummy... not someone who wouldn't have an understanding of laws, customs, regulations or what have you...

Apparently, according to you, there was physical contact, but no sexual intercourse, you're sure of this, even though you were admittedly drunk? at best you'd be looking at public idecency and/or public lewdness charges (public intoxication as well maybe? I don't know, i'm no lawyer) .

Mr. Acor is also looking to sell his story? What sort of storyline would that carry? "lead character goes to a foreign country, parties with friends, gets drunk, fools around on a beach with his girlfriend, is arrested while intoxicated, comes back to his homeland, upset that he was arrested in the first place..

I don't see an Oscar winner with that one.....