Teenage Pregnancy and the Construction of Adolescence: Scientific literature in South Africa (original) (raw)
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The conjugalisation of reproduction in South African teenage pregnancy literature
Psychology in Society (PINS), 2003
The “conjugalisation of reproduction”, in which childbearing is legitimated only within a marital alliance, underlies some of the pathologisation of the single, female-headed household in the pre-democracy South African teenage pregnancy literature. I utilise a poststructural feminist framework that draws on elements of Derrida’s and Foucault’s work to analyse the conjugalisation of reproduction in South African research. The conjugalisation of reproduction relies on (1) the insidious “unwed” signifier which interpenetrates the term “teenage pregnancy”, allowing the scientific censure of non-marital adolescent re-production without the invocation of moralisation, and (2) the fixation of the husband-wife and parents-children axes of alliance as the main elements for the deployment of sexuality and reproduction in the form of the family. Pregnant teenagers are, in Derridean terms, undecidables: they are neither children (owing to their reproductive status) nor adults (owing to their age), but simultaneously both. Marriage is the authority that decides them, allowing them to join the ranks of adult reproductive subjects.
Feminism & Psychology, 2001
The mainstream literature on teenage pregnancy highlights teenagers' inadequate mothering as an area of disquiet. `Revisionists', such as feminist critics, point out that a confluence of negative social factors is implicated in teenagers' mothering abilities. Whether arguing that teenagers make bad mothers or defending them against this, the literature relies on the `invention of "good" mothering'. In this article I highlight the taken-for-granted assumptions concerning mothering (mothering as an essentialized dyad; mothering as a skill; motherhood as a pathway to adulthood; fathering as the absent trace) appearing in the scientific literature on teenage pregnancy in South Africa. I indicate how these assumptions are implicated in the regulation of mothering through the positioning of the teenage mother as the pathologized other, the splitting of the public from the private, domestic space of mothering, and the legitimation of the professionalization of mothering. I explore the gendered implications of the representations of mothering in this literature.
Teenage Pregnancy in South Africa: A Challenge to Democracy
Teenagers continue to fall pregnant despite living in countries which not only guarantee their reproductive and sexual rights but also attempt to protect them. Some have argued that these teenagers are being irresponsible but this is illogical as it reflects a myopic view of society regarding teenage issues. Teenage pregnancy is a result of environment/structural issues and society’s failure to protect young girls. Males of all ages make unwanted sexual advances towards teenage girls with impunity. Force seems to be the main contributor to teenage pregnancy, but myriad factors such as gender stereotypes, the efficacy and expansiveness of Adolescent Health Programmes, the inaccessibility of family planning services and inadequate knowledge about sexuality and reproduction cannot be discounted. The present paper, therefore, examines some of the issues which may contribute to teenage pregnancy. It is anticipated the paper would help clarify the problems of teenage pregnancy and also suggest effective ways to deal with the problem.
Teenage Pregnancy and the Construction of Adolescence
Childhood, 2003
The depiction of teenage pregnancy as a social problem relies on the assumption of adolescence as a separable stage of development. Utilizing a Derridian framework, the author analyses how the dominant construction of adolescence as a transitional stage: (1) acts as an attempt to decide the undecidable (namely, the adolescent who is neither child nor adult, but simultaneously both) - an attempt which collapses in the face of teenage pregnancy; (2) relies on the ideal adult as the endpoint of development; and (3) has effects in terms of gendered and expert/parent/adolescent power relations.
Psycho-Medical Discourse in South African Research on Teenage Pregnancy
Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 2003
There is currently a fairly large body of research on teenage pregnancy in South Africa. This research can roughly be divided into two categories, viz research that (1) investigates the consequences of early child-bearing, and (2) explores factors associated with conception in the teenage years (Macleod 1999a, 1999b). There are various points of tension in these literatures, which are by no means seamless bodies of knowledge. The main tension runs between what has been called 'mainstream' and 'revisionist' approaches in the American literature (eg, see the exchange between Furstenberg (1991, 1992) and Geronimus(1991)). 'Mainstream' writers see teenage pregnancy as a social problem that leads to the disruption of schooling, poor obstetric outcomes, inadequate mothering, poor child outcomes, relationship difficulties with family, partner and peers, and to demographic concerns around an increasing population (see Macleod 1999a for review of this literature in South Africa). Postulated contributory factors include reproductive ignorance, risk-taking behaviour, precocious pubertal development, single-parent, female-headed households, family dysfunction, poverty, poor self-esteem and moral development, poor health services, peer influence, coercive sexual relations, the breakdown of tradition and, conversely, the cultural value placed on fertility (see Macleod 1999b for review of this literature in South Africa). Preston-Whyte and colleagues (Preston-Whyte 1991, Preston-Whyte and Allen 1992, Preston-Whyte and Zondi 1989,1991,1992) present a revisionist argument. They postulate that early reproduction represents a rational reaction to a number of personal and structural constraints experienced by teenagers in the African community. Indeed, early reproduction may be encouraged by the number of successful, single parent women in the African community and the fact that motherhood is viewed as an avenue to achieving adulthood status in the event of a delay
Teenage Pregnancy and its ‘Negative’ Consequences: Review of South African Research — Part 1
South African Journal of Psychology
Teenage pregnancy emerged as a social issue within the United States in the 1970s, and somewhat later in South Africa. In this article I review South African research and literature concerning the consequences of teenage pregnancy, because it is on this level that teenage pregnancy is formulated as a problem. The literature is reviewed against the backdrop of some international research in order to provide a basis for comparison. Research on the disruption of schooling, socio-economic disadvantage, obstetric outcomes, inadequate mothering, neglect and abuse, relationship difficulties and demographic concerns is reviewed. Various gaps in the South African literature are identified. These include an inadequate theoretical grounding, a lack of gender and historical analyses, and no exploration of the power relations within which teenage pregnancy occurs.
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2002
The signifiers, ‘race’, ‘culture’ or ‘ethnicity’ are utilized in the teenage pregnancy literature (1) to highlight ‘differences’ in adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour and (2) as explanatory tools. When ‘white’ teenagers are the focus of research, psychological explanations are usually invoked, while for ‘black’ teenagers, explanations are socio-cultural in nature. In this paper, we explore how, through a process of racialization, the psycho-medical literature on teenage pregnancy in South Africa contributes to the entrenchment of ‘race’, ‘culture’ and ‘ethnicity’ as fixed, ‘natural’ signifiers. We utilize Derrida’s notion of différance, together with Phoenix and Woollett’s adaptation – ‘normalized absence/pathologized presence’ – to indicate how ‘black’ people are cast as the Other, the pathologized presence which relies on the normalized absent trace, ‘whiteness’, for definition. We analyse how the notions of ‘tradition’ and ‘culture’ are deployed to sanitize or disguise the underlying racializing project. ‘Black’ is exoticized and rendered strange and thus open to scrutiny, monitoring and intervention. ‘Culture’ and ‘tradition’ appeal to the myth of origin, thus providing pseudo-historical explanations which essentialize and naturalize racialized collectivities.
Racializing Teenage Pregnancy: 'Culture' and 'Tradition' in South African Scientific Literature
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2002
The signifiers, 'race', 'culture' or 'ethnicity' are utilized in the teenage pregnancy literature (1) to highlight 'differences' in adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour and (2) as explanatory tools. When 'white' teenagers are the focus of research, psychological explanations are usually invoked, while for 'black' teenagers, explanations are socio-cultural in nature. In this paper, we explore how, through a process of racialization, the psycho-medical literature on teenage pregnancy in South Africa contributes to the entrenchment of 'race', 'culture' and 'ethnicity' as fixed, 'natural' signifiers. We utilize Derrida's notion of différance, together with Phoenix and Woollett's adaptation-'normalized absence/pathologized presence'-to indicate how 'black' people are cast as the Other, the pathologized presence which relies on the normalized absent trace, 'whiteness', for definition. We analyse how the notions of 'tradition' and 'culture' are deployed to sanitize or disguise the underlying racializing project. 'Black' is exoticized and rendered strange and thus open to scrutiny, monitoring and intervention. 'Culture' and 'tradition' appeal to the myth of origin, thus providing pseudo-historical explanations which essentialize and naturalize racialized collectivities.