Overview

The dominant narrative of teen pregnancy persuades many people to believe that a teenage pregnancy always leads to devastating consequences for a young woman, her child, and the nation in which they reside. Jenna Vinson draws on feminist and rhetorical theory to explore how pregnant and mothering teens are represented as problems in U.S. newspapers, political discourses, and teenage pregnancy prevention campaigns since the 1970s. Vinson shows that these representations prevent a focus on the underlying structures of inequality and poverty, perpetuate harmful discourses about women, and sustain racialized gender ideologies that construct women's bodies as sites of national intervention and control. Embodying the Problem also explores how young mothers resist this narrative. Analyzing fifty narratives written by young mothers, the recent #NoTeenShame social media campaign, and her interviews with thirty-three young women, Vinson argues that while the stigmatization of teenage pregnancy and motherhood does dehumanize young pregnant and mothering women, it is at the same time a means for these women to secure an audience for their own messages. More information on the author's website (https://jennavinson.com)

Full Product Details

9780813591001

Table of Contents

Reviews

This myth-busting work rejects stigmatizing statistics and narratives about young motherhood that depict the young pregnant or parenting body as always only a problem. Young and young-of-color mothers emerge as fierce advocates for themselves and their children. Vinson includes voices and visions from within to tell new stories and to reveal new needs and possibilities for reproductive justice. --Adela C. Licona Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, University of Arizona Embodying the Problem presents a refreshing and original argument that provides analysis of the language and visual rhetoric of public campaigns framing teenage motherhood as a problem and provides, in dramatic response, the unexplored concerns and resistant voices of teenage mothers themselves. --Barbara Tomlinson author of Feminism and Affect at the Scene of Argument

This myth-busting work rejects stigmatizing statistics and narratives about young motherhood that depict the young pregnant or parenting body as always only a problem. Young and young-of-color mothers emerge as fierce advocates for themselves and their children. Vinson includes voices and visions from within to tell new stories and to reveal new needs and possibilities for reproductive justice. --Adela C. Licona Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, University of Arizona Embodying the Problem presents a refreshing and original argument that provides analysis of the language and visual rhetoric of public campaigns framing teenage motherhood as a problem and provides, in dramatic response, the unexplored concerns and resistant voices of teenage mothers themselves. --Barbara Tomlinson author of Feminism and Affect at the Scene of Argument

A considerably impressive work of original and erudite scholarship. --Midwest Book Review Draws on feminist and rhetorical theory in a study of the creation, circulation, and reception of often-stigmatizing discourse on teenage pregnancy and motherhood; also analyzes the narratives, in resistance, of teen mothers themselves. --Chronicle Far From 'Tragic' Author Jenna Vinson on the Misrepresentation of Young Mothers by Gloria Malone--Rewire Jenna Vinson's Book Counters Doom-and-Gloom Narrative by Katharine Webster Q&A with author--UMass Lowell News Through analyzing various ways that young mothers resist the harmful narratives about them and their children, Vinson's work binds data and stories to highlight how young parents simultaneously live within a stereotype and defy it at the same time. --Rewire English professor publishes new book on shaming young mothers by Jessica Kergo feature on book--UMass Lowell Connector Jenna Vinson's Embodying the Problem spotlight--The Page 99 Test This myth-busting work rejects stigmatizing statistics and narratives about young motherhood that depict the young pregnant or parenting body as always only a problem. Young and young-of-color mothers emerge as fierce advocates for themselves and their children. Vinson includes voices and visions from within to tell new stories and to reveal new needs and possibilities for reproductive justice. --Adela C. Licona Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, University of Arizona Embodying the Problem presents a refreshing and original argument that provides analysis of the language and visual rhetoric of public campaigns framing teenage motherhood as a problem and provides, in dramatic response, the unexplored concerns and resistant voices of teenage mothers themselves. --Barbara Tomlinson author of Feminism and Affect at the Scene of Argument

Through analyzing various ways that young mothers resist the harmful narratives about them and their children, Vinson's work binds data and stories to highlight how young parents simultaneously live within a stereotype and defy it at the same time.

A considerably impressive work of original and erudite scholarship. --Midwest Book Review Far From 'Tragic' Author Jenna Vinson on the Misrepresentation of Young Mothers by Gloria Malone--Rewire Draws on feminist and rhetorical theory in a study of the creation, circulation, and reception of often-stigmatizing discourse on teenage pregnancy and motherhood; also analyzes the narratives, in resistance, of teen mothers themselves. --Chronicle Jenna Vinson's Book Counters Doom-and-Gloom Narrative by Katharine Webster Q&A with author--UMass Lowell News Through analyzing various ways that young mothers resist the harmful narratives about them and their children, Vinson's work binds data and stories to highlight how young parents simultaneously live within a stereotype and defy it at the same time. --Rewire This myth-busting work rejects stigmatizing statistics and narratives about young motherhood that depict the young pregnant or parenting body as always only a problem. Young and young-of-color mothers emerge as fierce advocates for themselves and their children. Vinson includes voices and visions from within to tell new stories and to reveal new needs and possibilities for reproductive justice. --Adela C. Licona Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, University of Arizona Embodying the Problem presents a refreshing and original argument that provides analysis of the language and visual rhetoric of public campaigns framing teenage motherhood as a problem and provides, in dramatic response, the unexplored concerns and resistant voices of teenage mothers themselves. --Barbara Tomlinson author of Feminism and Affect at the Scene of Argument English professor publishes new book on shaming young mothers by Jessica Kergo feature on book--UMass Lowell Connector Jenna Vinson's Embodying the Problem spotlight--The Page 99 Test

Author Information

JENNA VINSON is an assistant professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. 

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available