Portrait of a Young Mother Continued.
Some photographs of some of the gorgeous bambinos in my life.
What has class got to do with Teen Mums?
Whilst doing some ongoing research for my photographic project Portrait of a Teenage Mother, I came across an article by Hetty Frampto (School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University) titled ‘Exploring Teenage Pregancy and Media Representations of ‘Chavs’.
The main point of the document was that the stereotypes related to teenage mothers are stemmed from the representations of the working and lower classes formed by the middle and upper classes. This I felt, is an obvious point to make. The teenage mother in the press is formed by the constant (and obvious) references to their social status, family background and education. Frampto went on to analyse and then compare two articles written by the Daily Mail.
The first; ‘I didn’t want this Baby’ is a tale about a teenage mother from a working class background who is failing to take responsibility of her newborn child. The article clearly vilifies its subject Melissa and the journalist’s middle class ‘voice’ is distinctive from regional language expressed in his quotes from Melissa and her family.
The next article was ‘I had four abortions by the time I was 16’, an article about middle class teenager Lucy. The text is sympathetic and portrays Lucy as a victim of naeivity, who is desperately remorseful of her actions.
The obvious difference between the way in which Lucy and Melissa have been represented is so clearly linked to the middle class perceptions of the working class that the real issue of teenage pregnancy is negleted. The media abuses the stigma attached to the lower classes as a form of entertainment at the pleasure of the higher classes.
Teen pregnancy is an issue that affects young women from all forms of social, educational, racial, and religious backgrounds and should be treated as such. Young mothers should be treated with respect, not vilified to make ourselves feel better. We should judge ourselves. Not others.
: I just saw a post that said, "Being pregnant under the age of 20 w/out being married does not make you an "adult" or...
Then she went on to say how she felt sorry for our future children and she weeps for humanity. People like this just piss me off. I was going to reply to her post, but she took it off.
I’m pretty sure getting pregnant doesn’t make you a whore. What gives you the right to judge anyone who gets…
Portrait of a Young Mother: The Roles of a Teen Mum
I have been working on this series for around six months now and it is unbelievable how the project has evolved and continues to grow and expand. When I first started I found it extremely difficult to find my photographic style, many of the first images didn’t work because of various factors. I was unsure of what I wanted to achieve and how to communicate my message through my photographs.
Then I realised. It is not about my message, it is about Carley’s life and the lives of the millions of single mothers (teen or fully-grown) worldwide. They would all relate to Carley’s story and she has dealt with having a child.
I realised that though my work was about a young mother it also resonates with any mother which in itself defined what my initial purpose of the project was; to communicate that any woman is capable of motherhood regardless of their age and circumstance.
All mothers experience the same joy and difficulties when raising children, and they should not be judged because of whether or not they are a teenager, they should be judged by their abilities as an individual.
