1. The storyscapes of teenage pregnancy. On morality, embodiment, and narrative agency
- Author
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R. Ruard Ganzevoort, Marianne Cense, CLUE+, Beliefs and Practices, and Faculty of Religion and Theology
- Subjects
Teenage pregnancy ,Sociology and Political Science ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Abortion ,SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being ,narratives ,Agency (sociology) ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Narrative ,Sociology ,Life-span and Life-course Studies ,Set (psychology) ,media_common ,embodiment ,05 social sciences ,050301 education ,General Social Sciences ,Gender studies ,Morality ,abortion ,agency ,Normative ,0503 education ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
Young women tell different stories about teenage pregnancies. Their stories are embedded in the storyscape of their environment, which offers a limited set of narratives. Normative discourses influence the stories young women tell about their pregnancies. Social norms and stigma play an important role in the construction of the meaning of teenage pregnancies. However, the embodiment of being pregnant constitutes meaning as well. This paper draws on findings from a qualitative study conducted in 2015 among 46 young Dutch women who got pregnant before their 20th birthday. Our study explores how young women navigate the moral arena when they are confronted with a teenage pregnancy and which role the embodiment of pregnancy plays in the construction of social meanings. The concept of storyscapes visualises how young women are constrained by their embeddedness in multiple storyscapes, defined by different and often contrasting audiences. Nevertheless, our study indicates that the momentum of pregnancy can offer agentic possibilities to take up another position towards their social environment and develop narrative agency.
- Published
- 2019