Adolescent pregnancy: A feminist issue
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434360 , vital:73051 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7_6
- Description: Pregnancy and mothering are enduring and central concerns of feminism. DiQuinzo (1999) sums this up in stating that “mothering is both an important site at which the central concepts of feminist theory are elaborated and a site at which these concepts are challenged and reworked.” Stephens (2004) argues, ‘…reproduction and mothering are central to theories of patriarchy and women’s unequal position in Western society…Childbirth can paradoxically be seen as both a cause of women’s subordinate position in society and a means of empowerment.’ Yet, despite the pivotal nature of pregnancy and mothering in feminist literature, there has been surprisingly little direct engagement by feminists in the area of ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ The engagement that there has been is a whisper in relation to the plethora of public health, medical, and psychological writings on ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ The feminists who have engaged with ‘adolescent pregnancy’ have, from their initial engagement and to varying degrees, tried to undermine simple interpretations of ‘adolescent pregnancy’ as a social problem and to link micro- and macro-level gender relations to occurrence of, and responses to, ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ Thus, for example, in the 1980s, Chilman (1985) asserted, ‘Sexism particularly afflicts programs and policies for these young people [unmarried teenage parents] as well as the behaviors that lead up to their becoming unmarried parents.’ In the 1990s, Pillow (1997), using a combination of feminist and postmodern theory, argued that ‘teen research and policy interventions can be understood as entrenched in the dilemmas of modernism, resulting often in normative assumptions that reflect our paradoxical attitudes and practices concerning female sexuality.’ More recently, Wilson and Huntington (2005) observed ‘adolescent pregnancy’ at a time when rates of fertility among young women are decreasing in ‘Western’ societies is ‘underpinned by changing social and political imperatives regarding the role of women in these countries.’
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434360 , vital:73051 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7_6
- Description: Pregnancy and mothering are enduring and central concerns of feminism. DiQuinzo (1999) sums this up in stating that “mothering is both an important site at which the central concepts of feminist theory are elaborated and a site at which these concepts are challenged and reworked.” Stephens (2004) argues, ‘…reproduction and mothering are central to theories of patriarchy and women’s unequal position in Western society…Childbirth can paradoxically be seen as both a cause of women’s subordinate position in society and a means of empowerment.’ Yet, despite the pivotal nature of pregnancy and mothering in feminist literature, there has been surprisingly little direct engagement by feminists in the area of ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ The engagement that there has been is a whisper in relation to the plethora of public health, medical, and psychological writings on ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ The feminists who have engaged with ‘adolescent pregnancy’ have, from their initial engagement and to varying degrees, tried to undermine simple interpretations of ‘adolescent pregnancy’ as a social problem and to link micro- and macro-level gender relations to occurrence of, and responses to, ‘adolescent pregnancy.’ Thus, for example, in the 1980s, Chilman (1985) asserted, ‘Sexism particularly afflicts programs and policies for these young people [unmarried teenage parents] as well as the behaviors that lead up to their becoming unmarried parents.’ In the 1990s, Pillow (1997), using a combination of feminist and postmodern theory, argued that ‘teen research and policy interventions can be understood as entrenched in the dilemmas of modernism, resulting often in normative assumptions that reflect our paradoxical attitudes and practices concerning female sexuality.’ More recently, Wilson and Huntington (2005) observed ‘adolescent pregnancy’ at a time when rates of fertility among young women are decreasing in ‘Western’ societies is ‘underpinned by changing social and political imperatives regarding the role of women in these countries.’
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Beyond coming out: lesbians’ (alternative) stories of sexual identity told in post-Apartheid South Africa
- Gibson, Alexandra F, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Gibson, Alexandra F , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Book chapter
- Identifier: vital:6304 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016063
- Description: Over the last several decades, the ‘coming out’i story has become entrenched as the central narrative with which lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people can narrate their experiences of claiming a sexual identity and storying their lives in general (Bacon, 1998; Blackburn, 2009). It has developed into a “canonical narrative” (Bruner, 1987, p. 15), or a culturally recognisable story for LGB people, in that it involves the recounting of a series of familiar events in moving from a place of shame to one of self-acceptance about one’s sexual identity (Cohler & Hammack, 2007; Plummer, 1995). The ‘coming out’ canonical narrative additionally operates as a counter-narrative, which has enabled LGB people to voice their sexuality within heterosexist and heteronormative confines (Blackburn, 2009). Nevertheless, there are limitations (and limiting effects) to this narrative, and further refinement of how we understand sexual identity narratives is required. To illustrate this argument, we draw on a narrative-discursive study of eight lesbians’ stories of sexual identity in post-apartheid South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Gibson, Alexandra F , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Book chapter
- Identifier: vital:6304 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016063
- Description: Over the last several decades, the ‘coming out’i story has become entrenched as the central narrative with which lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people can narrate their experiences of claiming a sexual identity and storying their lives in general (Bacon, 1998; Blackburn, 2009). It has developed into a “canonical narrative” (Bruner, 1987, p. 15), or a culturally recognisable story for LGB people, in that it involves the recounting of a series of familiar events in moving from a place of shame to one of self-acceptance about one’s sexual identity (Cohler & Hammack, 2007; Plummer, 1995). The ‘coming out’ canonical narrative additionally operates as a counter-narrative, which has enabled LGB people to voice their sexuality within heterosexist and heteronormative confines (Blackburn, 2009). Nevertheless, there are limitations (and limiting effects) to this narrative, and further refinement of how we understand sexual identity narratives is required. To illustrate this argument, we draw on a narrative-discursive study of eight lesbians’ stories of sexual identity in post-apartheid South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Celebrating 30 years of Feminism and Psychology
- Macleod, Catriona I, Capdevila, Rose, Marecek, Jeanne, Braun, Virginia, Gavey, Nicola, Wilkinson, Sue
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Capdevila, Rose , Marecek, Jeanne , Braun, Virginia , Gavey, Nicola , Wilkinson, Sue
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444262 , vital:74211 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0452-2"
- Description: Feminism and Psychology (FandP) was launched in 1991 with a sense of possibility, enthusiasm and excitement as well as a sense of urgent need – to critique and reconstruct mainstream psychology (theory, research methods, and clinical practice). Thirty years have now passed since the first issue was produced. Thirty volumes with three or four issues have been published each year, thanks to the efforts of many. On the occasion of FandP’s 30th anniversary, we, the present and past editors, reflect on successes, changes and challenges in relation to the journal. We celebrate the prestigious awards accruing to the journal, its editors, and authors, and the significant contributions the journal has made to critical feminist scholarship at the interface of feminisms and psychologies. We note some of the theoretical and methodological developments and social changes witnessed over the last three decades. We highlight challenges facing feminist researchers in academia as well as international feminist publishing. We conclude that the initial enthusiasm and excitement expressed by the then editorial collective was justified. But, there is still much work to be done.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Capdevila, Rose , Marecek, Jeanne , Braun, Virginia , Gavey, Nicola , Wilkinson, Sue
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444262 , vital:74211 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0452-2"
- Description: Feminism and Psychology (FandP) was launched in 1991 with a sense of possibility, enthusiasm and excitement as well as a sense of urgent need – to critique and reconstruct mainstream psychology (theory, research methods, and clinical practice). Thirty years have now passed since the first issue was produced. Thirty volumes with three or four issues have been published each year, thanks to the efforts of many. On the occasion of FandP’s 30th anniversary, we, the present and past editors, reflect on successes, changes and challenges in relation to the journal. We celebrate the prestigious awards accruing to the journal, its editors, and authors, and the significant contributions the journal has made to critical feminist scholarship at the interface of feminisms and psychologies. We note some of the theoretical and methodological developments and social changes witnessed over the last three decades. We highlight challenges facing feminist researchers in academia as well as international feminist publishing. We conclude that the initial enthusiasm and excitement expressed by the then editorial collective was justified. But, there is still much work to be done.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Cracks in reproductive health rights: knowledge of abortion legislation stipulations amongst learners in Buffalo City, South Africa
- Macleod, Catriona I, Seutlwadi, Lebogang, Steele, Gary I
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Seutlwadi, Lebogang , Steele, Gary I
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6296 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014772
- Description: Background: The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act legalised abortion on request in South Africa until up to 12 weeks of gestation and thereafter under specified conditions. Within the context of liberal legislation, accurate information is a necessary (although not sufficient) requirement for women to exercise their reproductive rights. Objectives: This research investigated Grade 11 learners’ knowledge of the CTOP Act and its stipulations. Methods: Survey research was conducted with respondents drawn from a range of schools in Buffalo City, South Africa. Multi-stage sampling was used, namely stratified random sampling of schools and purposive sampling of grades used within schools. The data were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires in group situations. Results: Results indicate that knowledge of the legal status of abortion, as well as of the various stipulations of the law, was poor. Various misunderstandings were evident, including that spousal approval is required in order for married women to have an abortion. Significant differences between the knowledge of respondents at the various schools were found, with those learners attending schools formerly designated for African learners during Apartheid having the least knowledge. Conclusion: Given the multiple factors that may serve as barriers to women accessing abortion, it is imperative that at least the most fundamental aspect of reproductive rights, that is, the right to information, is not undermined.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Seutlwadi, Lebogang , Steele, Gary I
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6296 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014772
- Description: Background: The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act legalised abortion on request in South Africa until up to 12 weeks of gestation and thereafter under specified conditions. Within the context of liberal legislation, accurate information is a necessary (although not sufficient) requirement for women to exercise their reproductive rights. Objectives: This research investigated Grade 11 learners’ knowledge of the CTOP Act and its stipulations. Methods: Survey research was conducted with respondents drawn from a range of schools in Buffalo City, South Africa. Multi-stage sampling was used, namely stratified random sampling of schools and purposive sampling of grades used within schools. The data were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires in group situations. Results: Results indicate that knowledge of the legal status of abortion, as well as of the various stipulations of the law, was poor. Various misunderstandings were evident, including that spousal approval is required in order for married women to have an abortion. Significant differences between the knowledge of respondents at the various schools were found, with those learners attending schools formerly designated for African learners during Apartheid having the least knowledge. Conclusion: Given the multiple factors that may serve as barriers to women accessing abortion, it is imperative that at least the most fundamental aspect of reproductive rights, that is, the right to information, is not undermined.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Pregnancy among young women in South Africa
- Macleod, Catriona I, Tracey, Tiffany
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Tracey, Tiffany
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434371 , vital:73052 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7
- Description: In 1994, South Africa witnessed its first democratic elections after centuries of colonial and then apartheid rule. As time passes since that euphoric moment in 1994, the difficulties of transformation have become evident. In terms of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS is acknowledged as one of the most significant challenges, with South Africa having one of the highest infection rates globally. Pregnancy among teenage women is receiving increasing attention as well. For example, public concern has been expressed that the recently introduced Child Support Grant (CSG) acts as a ‘perverse incentive’ for young women to bear children. This emotional claim was refuted by separately commissioned reviews of research on girls who received the grant. National statistics paint an interesting picture that negates the popular opinion in South Africa that rates of teenage pregnancy and childbearing are escalating. The 1998, the South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS) indicated that 35 % of women had had a child by the age of 19 years, while in the 2003 SADHS survey, this had decreased to 27 %. The rights-based approach adopted by the South African government to sexual and reproductive health enshrines a young woman’s right to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, to plan a pregnancy with her partner should they wish, to make an independent decision concerning the outcome of a pregnancy, to terminate that pregnancy safely should she wish, and to access non-discriminatory prenatal and postnatal care should she take the pregnancy to term. While there are still many obstacles and challenges associated with the issues of ‘adolescent pregnancy,’ it is important to remember the success represented by, and that arises from, this rights-based legislation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Tracey, Tiffany
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434371 , vital:73052 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8026-7
- Description: In 1994, South Africa witnessed its first democratic elections after centuries of colonial and then apartheid rule. As time passes since that euphoric moment in 1994, the difficulties of transformation have become evident. In terms of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS is acknowledged as one of the most significant challenges, with South Africa having one of the highest infection rates globally. Pregnancy among teenage women is receiving increasing attention as well. For example, public concern has been expressed that the recently introduced Child Support Grant (CSG) acts as a ‘perverse incentive’ for young women to bear children. This emotional claim was refuted by separately commissioned reviews of research on girls who received the grant. National statistics paint an interesting picture that negates the popular opinion in South Africa that rates of teenage pregnancy and childbearing are escalating. The 1998, the South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS) indicated that 35 % of women had had a child by the age of 19 years, while in the 2003 SADHS survey, this had decreased to 27 %. The rights-based approach adopted by the South African government to sexual and reproductive health enshrines a young woman’s right to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, to plan a pregnancy with her partner should they wish, to make an independent decision concerning the outcome of a pregnancy, to terminate that pregnancy safely should she wish, and to access non-discriminatory prenatal and postnatal care should she take the pregnancy to term. While there are still many obstacles and challenges associated with the issues of ‘adolescent pregnancy,’ it is important to remember the success represented by, and that arises from, this rights-based legislation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
A performative-performance analytical approach: infusing Butlerian theory into the narrative-discursive method
- Morison, Tracy, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6212 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003065 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077800413494344
- Description: Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical language for thinking about gender. Despite this, Butlerian theory is difficult to apply, as Butler does not provide guidance on actual analysis of language use in context. In order to address this limitation, we suggest carefully supplementing performativity with the notion of performance in a manner that allows for the inclusion of relational specificities and the mechanisms through which gender, and gender trouble, occur. To do this, we turn to current developments within discursive psychology and narrative theory. We extend the narrative-discursive method proposed by Taylor and colleagues, infusing it with Butlerian theory in order to fashion a dual analytical lens, which we call the performativity-performance approach. We provide a brief example of how the proposed analytical process may be implemented.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6212 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003065 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077800413494344
- Description: Judith Butler’s theory of performativity provides gender theorists with a rich theoretical language for thinking about gender. Despite this, Butlerian theory is difficult to apply, as Butler does not provide guidance on actual analysis of language use in context. In order to address this limitation, we suggest carefully supplementing performativity with the notion of performance in a manner that allows for the inclusion of relational specificities and the mechanisms through which gender, and gender trouble, occur. To do this, we turn to current developments within discursive psychology and narrative theory. We extend the narrative-discursive method proposed by Taylor and colleagues, infusing it with Butlerian theory in order to fashion a dual analytical lens, which we call the performativity-performance approach. We provide a brief example of how the proposed analytical process may be implemented.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Deconstructing Developmental Psychology–Twenty years on: Reflections, implications and empirical work
- Callaghan, A A Jane, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Callaghan, A A Jane , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446231 , vital:74483 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353513495213"
- Description: Erica Burman’s book Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (DDP), which appeared in first edition in 1994 and in second edition in 2008, critically appraised mainstream psychology’s approaches to child development, using feminist and post-structuralist theory. In it she examines the historical contingencies and cultural assumptions that form the conditions of possibility for the elaboration of the various Developmental Psychology approaches. She shows how these approaches form powerful discursive resources in regulating women and families, in marginalizing working class and ethnic minority people, and in pathologizing mothers. In this special focus, to appear over three issues, we seek to unpack the impact of the book since its first publication 20 years ago.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Callaghan, A A Jane , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446231 , vital:74483 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353513495213"
- Description: Erica Burman’s book Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (DDP), which appeared in first edition in 1994 and in second edition in 2008, critically appraised mainstream psychology’s approaches to child development, using feminist and post-structuralist theory. In it she examines the historical contingencies and cultural assumptions that form the conditions of possibility for the elaboration of the various Developmental Psychology approaches. She shows how these approaches form powerful discursive resources in regulating women and families, in marginalizing working class and ethnic minority people, and in pathologizing mothers. In this special focus, to appear over three issues, we seek to unpack the impact of the book since its first publication 20 years ago.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Developing principles for research on young women and abortion
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434384 , vital:73053 , ISBN 9781919895581 , https://rowman.com/ISBN/9789280812275/Jacketed-Women-Qualitative-Research-Methodologies-on-Sexualities-and-Gender-in-Africa
- Description: Soon after the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act of 1996, which legalised abortion for the first time, was passed. Women may now request abortions up to the twelfth week of pregnancy. After this, abortions may still be performed but under specified conditions, for instance, if continued pregnancy will significantly affect the woman’s social or economic circumstances. The Act also promotes the provision of non-mandatory counselling before and after abortions are performed. Minors are counselled to notify their parents or guardian but do not require consent for an abortion. Since the introduction of the CTOP, a number of studies have been conducted on abortion in South Africa. Many have taken a health-related focus, for example, studies on the quality of care provided by midwives (Dickson-Tetteh and Billings 2002); profiles of women seeking abortions (Ramonate, Hiemstra, De Coning and Nel 2001); attitudes, beliefs and experiences of health providers (Buga 2002; Da Costa and Donald 2003); the cost of termination of pregnancy services (Reproductive Rights Alliance 2000); prevalence of morbidity in termination of pregnancies (Jewkes, Brown, Dickson-Tetteh, Levin and Rees 2002); the proportion of pregnancies that end in termination of pregnancy (Buchmann, Mensah and Pillay 2002); and impediments in the provision of services (Engelbrecht, Pelser, Ngwena and Van Rensburg 2000).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434384 , vital:73053 , ISBN 9781919895581 , https://rowman.com/ISBN/9789280812275/Jacketed-Women-Qualitative-Research-Methodologies-on-Sexualities-and-Gender-in-Africa
- Description: Soon after the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy (CTOP) Act of 1996, which legalised abortion for the first time, was passed. Women may now request abortions up to the twelfth week of pregnancy. After this, abortions may still be performed but under specified conditions, for instance, if continued pregnancy will significantly affect the woman’s social or economic circumstances. The Act also promotes the provision of non-mandatory counselling before and after abortions are performed. Minors are counselled to notify their parents or guardian but do not require consent for an abortion. Since the introduction of the CTOP, a number of studies have been conducted on abortion in South Africa. Many have taken a health-related focus, for example, studies on the quality of care provided by midwives (Dickson-Tetteh and Billings 2002); profiles of women seeking abortions (Ramonate, Hiemstra, De Coning and Nel 2001); attitudes, beliefs and experiences of health providers (Buga 2002; Da Costa and Donald 2003); the cost of termination of pregnancy services (Reproductive Rights Alliance 2000); prevalence of morbidity in termination of pregnancies (Jewkes, Brown, Dickson-Tetteh, Levin and Rees 2002); the proportion of pregnancies that end in termination of pregnancy (Buchmann, Mensah and Pillay 2002); and impediments in the provision of services (Engelbrecht, Pelser, Ngwena and Van Rensburg 2000).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Introducing a Critical Pedagogy of Sexual and Reproductive Citizenship: Extending the ‘Framework of Thick Desire'
- Macleod, Catriona I, Vincent, Louise
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434411 , vital:73056 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203069141-7/introducing-critical-pedagogy-sexual-reproductive-citizenship-catriona-macleod-louise-vincent
- Description: In Michelle Fine’s influential 1988 paper,‘Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire’, she examined the “desires, fears, and fantasies”(p. 30) shaping responses to sex education in the United States in the 1980s. Fine’s work encouraged a ‘turn to pleasure’in sexuality education research. This work focused on and critiqued Fine’s idea, elaborated below, of a ‘missing discourse of desire’in the education of young people and of young women in particular (see for instance Allen, 2004, 2005; Connell, 2005; Rasmussen, 2004, 2012; Tolman, 1994; Vance, 1993). Less taken up, however, was a second major thread in Fine’s 1988 paper, namely the ‘absence of entitlement’in which she argued that not only the absence of a discourse of desire but also the absence of “viable life options” for young women combined to produce their vulnerability (Fine, 1988, p. 49). Almost twenty years later, in a 2006 article, Fine, with Sara McClelland, revisited the missing discourse of desire, this time in the context of an educational crusade in the United States advocating Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) approaches to sexuality education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/434411 , vital:73056 , ISBN 978-1-4899-8025-0 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203069141-7/introducing-critical-pedagogy-sexual-reproductive-citizenship-catriona-macleod-louise-vincent
- Description: In Michelle Fine’s influential 1988 paper,‘Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire’, she examined the “desires, fears, and fantasies”(p. 30) shaping responses to sex education in the United States in the 1980s. Fine’s work encouraged a ‘turn to pleasure’in sexuality education research. This work focused on and critiqued Fine’s idea, elaborated below, of a ‘missing discourse of desire’in the education of young people and of young women in particular (see for instance Allen, 2004, 2005; Connell, 2005; Rasmussen, 2004, 2012; Tolman, 1994; Vance, 1993). Less taken up, however, was a second major thread in Fine’s 1988 paper, namely the ‘absence of entitlement’in which she argued that not only the absence of a discourse of desire but also the absence of “viable life options” for young women combined to produce their vulnerability (Fine, 1988, p. 49). Almost twenty years later, in a 2006 article, Fine, with Sara McClelland, revisited the missing discourse of desire, this time in the context of an educational crusade in the United States advocating Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) approaches to sexuality education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Men and talk about legal abortion in South Africa : equality, support and rights discourses undermining reproductive ‘choice’
- Macleod, Catriona I, Hansjee, Jateen
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Hansjee, Jateen
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6295 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014770 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2013.802815
- Description: Discursive constructions of abortion are embedded in the social and gendered power relations of a particular socio-historical space. As part of research on public discourses concerning abortion in South Africa where there has been a radical liberalisation of abortion legislation, we collected data from male group discussions about a vignette concerning abortion, and newspaper articles written by men about abortion. Our analysis revealed how discourses of equality, support and rights may be used by men to subtly undermine women's reproductive right to ‘choose’ an abortion. Within an Equal Partnership discourse, abortion, paired with the assumption of foetal personhood, was equated with violating an equal heterosexual partnership and a man's patriarchal duty to protect a child. A New Man discourse, which positions men as supportive of women, was paired with the assumption of men as rational and women as irrational in decision-making, to allow for the possibility of men dissuading women from terminating a pregnancy. A Rights discourse was invoked to suggest that abortion violates men's paternal rights.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Hansjee, Jateen
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6295 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014770 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2013.802815
- Description: Discursive constructions of abortion are embedded in the social and gendered power relations of a particular socio-historical space. As part of research on public discourses concerning abortion in South Africa where there has been a radical liberalisation of abortion legislation, we collected data from male group discussions about a vignette concerning abortion, and newspaper articles written by men about abortion. Our analysis revealed how discourses of equality, support and rights may be used by men to subtly undermine women's reproductive right to ‘choose’ an abortion. Within an Equal Partnership discourse, abortion, paired with the assumption of foetal personhood, was equated with violating an equal heterosexual partnership and a man's patriarchal duty to protect a child. A New Man discourse, which positions men as supportive of women, was paired with the assumption of men as rational and women as irrational in decision-making, to allow for the possibility of men dissuading women from terminating a pregnancy. A Rights discourse was invoked to suggest that abortion violates men's paternal rights.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Reflecting on South African psychology: published research, ‘relevance’ and social issues
- Macleod, Catriona I, Howell, Simon
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Howell, Simon
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6219 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006277
- Description: As South Africa prepared to host the 30th International Congress of Psychology in 2012, a call was made to reflect on the strengths of and challenges facing contemporary South African Psychology. This paper presents our response to our brief to focus on social issues by presenting the results of a situational analysis of South African Psychology over the last five years and comparing this corpus of data to a similar analysis reported in Macleod (2004). Articles appearing in the South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) and abstracts in PsycINFO with the keyword ‘South Africa’ over a 5½ year period were analysed. The content of 243 SAJP articles and 1986 PsycINFO abstracts were analysed using the codes developed by Macleod (2004). Results indicate: an increase in the number of articles, a reduction in the percentage of articles using quantitative methodologies and ‘hard’ science theoretical frameworks (particularly in the SAJP), and an increase in qualitative, theoretical, and methodological papers, and papers using systems-oriented theory (particularly in the SAJP). Traditional topics of assessment, stress and psychopathology continue to dominate, with social issues such as housing, land reform, development programmes, water resources and socio-economic inequities being largely ignored. Most research continues to be conducted in Gauteng, KwaZulu/Natal and the Western Cape, predominantly with adult, urban-based, middle-class participants, sourced mainly from universities, hospitals or clinics and schools. Collaborations or comparisons with other African, Asian, South American and Middle East countries have decreased. While the analysis presented in this paper is limited by its exclusion of books, theses, research reports and monographs, it shows that in published research there are some positive trends and some disappointments. The limited number of social issues featuring in published research, the under-representation of certain sectors of the population as participants, and the decrease in collaboration with, or comparison to, countries from the global ‘South’ represent challenges that require systematic attention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Howell, Simon
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6219 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006277
- Description: As South Africa prepared to host the 30th International Congress of Psychology in 2012, a call was made to reflect on the strengths of and challenges facing contemporary South African Psychology. This paper presents our response to our brief to focus on social issues by presenting the results of a situational analysis of South African Psychology over the last five years and comparing this corpus of data to a similar analysis reported in Macleod (2004). Articles appearing in the South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) and abstracts in PsycINFO with the keyword ‘South Africa’ over a 5½ year period were analysed. The content of 243 SAJP articles and 1986 PsycINFO abstracts were analysed using the codes developed by Macleod (2004). Results indicate: an increase in the number of articles, a reduction in the percentage of articles using quantitative methodologies and ‘hard’ science theoretical frameworks (particularly in the SAJP), and an increase in qualitative, theoretical, and methodological papers, and papers using systems-oriented theory (particularly in the SAJP). Traditional topics of assessment, stress and psychopathology continue to dominate, with social issues such as housing, land reform, development programmes, water resources and socio-economic inequities being largely ignored. Most research continues to be conducted in Gauteng, KwaZulu/Natal and the Western Cape, predominantly with adult, urban-based, middle-class participants, sourced mainly from universities, hospitals or clinics and schools. Collaborations or comparisons with other African, Asian, South American and Middle East countries have decreased. While the analysis presented in this paper is limited by its exclusion of books, theses, research reports and monographs, it shows that in published research there are some positive trends and some disappointments. The limited number of social issues featuring in published research, the under-representation of certain sectors of the population as participants, and the decrease in collaboration with, or comparison to, countries from the global ‘South’ represent challenges that require systematic attention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Teenage pregnancy
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6301 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015906
- Description: In a book on preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes in developing countries, the World Health Organisation (2011) declares that ‘adolescent pregnancy’ contributes to maternal, perinatal and infant mortality, and to a vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. This statement reflects the common public assumption that ‘teenage pregnancy’ represents an individual, social, health, educational and financial risk that requires remediation. This kind of public perception is spurred by media coverage in which young girls with large protruding stomachs are etched in profile and stories of calamity are told (e.g. Time (21 June 2005) magazine). And yet the very notion of 'teenage pregnancy' is a relatively recent one. Depending on the country one talks about, it has been around since between the 1960s and 1980s. In the United States, for example, the rise of ‘teenage pregnancy’ as a social problem was associated with a shift in gendered power relations. Prior to the late 1960s the morally loaded concepts of 'unwed mother' and 'illegitimate child' were used to describe young women who conceived. For the most part, young pregnant women were excluded from society, with the accompanying shame around the lack of proper conjugal arrangements. The use of the term 'teenage pregnancy' removed the implied moral judgment and replaced it with seeming scientific neutrality. Young pregnant women now became publicly visible and thus the object of scientific scrutiny (Arney & Bergen, 1984).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6301 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015906
- Description: In a book on preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes in developing countries, the World Health Organisation (2011) declares that ‘adolescent pregnancy’ contributes to maternal, perinatal and infant mortality, and to a vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. This statement reflects the common public assumption that ‘teenage pregnancy’ represents an individual, social, health, educational and financial risk that requires remediation. This kind of public perception is spurred by media coverage in which young girls with large protruding stomachs are etched in profile and stories of calamity are told (e.g. Time (21 June 2005) magazine). And yet the very notion of 'teenage pregnancy' is a relatively recent one. Depending on the country one talks about, it has been around since between the 1960s and 1980s. In the United States, for example, the rise of ‘teenage pregnancy’ as a social problem was associated with a shift in gendered power relations. Prior to the late 1960s the morally loaded concepts of 'unwed mother' and 'illegitimate child' were used to describe young women who conceived. For the most part, young pregnant women were excluded from society, with the accompanying shame around the lack of proper conjugal arrangements. The use of the term 'teenage pregnancy' removed the implied moral judgment and replaced it with seeming scientific neutrality. Young pregnant women now became publicly visible and thus the object of scientific scrutiny (Arney & Bergen, 1984).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
When veiled silences speak: reflexivity, trouble and repair as methodological tools for interpreting the unspoken in discourse-based data
- Morison, Tracy, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6220 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006280 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468794113488129
- Description: Researchers who have attempted to make sense of silence in data have generally considered literal silences or such things as laughter. We consider the analysis of veiled silences where participants speak, but their speaking serves as ‘noise’ that ‘veils’, or masks, their inability or unwillingness to talk about a (potentially sensitive) topic. Extending Lisa Mazzei’s ‘problematic of silence’ by using our performativity-performance analytical method, we propose the purposeful use of ‘unusual conversational moves’, the deployment of researcher reflexivity, and the analysis of trouble and repair as methods to expose taken-for-granted normative frameworks in veiled silences. We illustrate the potential of these research practices through reference to our study on men’s involvement in reproductive decision-making, in which participants demonstrated an inability to engage with the topic. The veiled silence that this produced, together with what was said, pointed to the operation of procreative heteronormativity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Morison, Tracy , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6220 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006280 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468794113488129
- Description: Researchers who have attempted to make sense of silence in data have generally considered literal silences or such things as laughter. We consider the analysis of veiled silences where participants speak, but their speaking serves as ‘noise’ that ‘veils’, or masks, their inability or unwillingness to talk about a (potentially sensitive) topic. Extending Lisa Mazzei’s ‘problematic of silence’ by using our performativity-performance analytical method, we propose the purposeful use of ‘unusual conversational moves’, the deployment of researcher reflexivity, and the analysis of trouble and repair as methods to expose taken-for-granted normative frameworks in veiled silences. We illustrate the potential of these research practices through reference to our study on men’s involvement in reproductive decision-making, in which participants demonstrated an inability to engage with the topic. The veiled silence that this produced, together with what was said, pointed to the operation of procreative heteronormativity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
(Dis)allowances of lesbians’ sexual identities: Lesbian identity construction in racialised, classed, familial, and institutional spaces
- Gibson, Alexandra F, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Gibson, Alexandra F , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6222 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006536 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353512459580
- Description: This article explores how lesbian identity construction is facilitated and constrained by the raced, classed, gendered, familial, and geographical spaces that women occupy. We present a narrative-discursive analysis of eight lesbians’ stories of sexuality, told within a historically white university in South Africa. Three interpretative repertoires that emerged in the narratives are discussed. The ‘disallowance of lesbian identity in particular racialised and class-based spaces’ repertoire, deployed by black lesbians only, was used to account for their de-emphasis of a lesbian identity through the invocation of a threat of danger and stereotyping. The ‘disjuncture of the (heterosexual) family and lesbian identity’ repertoire emphasised how the expectation of support and care within a family does not necessarily extend to acceptance of a lesbian identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Gibson, Alexandra F , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6222 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006536 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353512459580
- Description: This article explores how lesbian identity construction is facilitated and constrained by the raced, classed, gendered, familial, and geographical spaces that women occupy. We present a narrative-discursive analysis of eight lesbians’ stories of sexuality, told within a historically white university in South Africa. Three interpretative repertoires that emerged in the narratives are discussed. The ‘disallowance of lesbian identity in particular racialised and class-based spaces’ repertoire, deployed by black lesbians only, was used to account for their de-emphasis of a lesbian identity through the invocation of a threat of danger and stereotyping. The ‘disjuncture of the (heterosexual) family and lesbian identity’ repertoire emphasised how the expectation of support and care within a family does not necessarily extend to acceptance of a lesbian identity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Feminist health psychology and abortion : towards a politics of transversal relations of commonality
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015959
- Description: In 1992 Speckhard and Rue argued in the Journal of Social Issues for the recognition of a diagnostic category, post-abortion syndrome (PAS). This term was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue in testimony to the American Congress, but was only formalised in a published paper a decade later. Speckhard and Rue (1992) posit that abortion is a psychosocial stressor that may cause mild distress through to severe trauma, creating the need for a continuum of categories, these being post-abortion distress, post-abortion syndrome and post-abortion psychosis. PAS, which is the main focus of their paper, and which has taken root in some professional language as well as lay anti-abortion discourse, is described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Feminist health psychology and abortion : towards a politics of transversal relations of commonality
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:6303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015959
- Description: In 1992 Speckhard and Rue argued in the Journal of Social Issues for the recognition of a diagnostic category, post-abortion syndrome (PAS). This term was first used in 1981 by Vincent Rue in testimony to the American Congress, but was only formalised in a published paper a decade later. Speckhard and Rue (1992) posit that abortion is a psychosocial stressor that may cause mild distress through to severe trauma, creating the need for a continuum of categories, these being post-abortion distress, post-abortion syndrome and post-abortion psychosis. PAS, which is the main focus of their paper, and which has taken root in some professional language as well as lay anti-abortion discourse, is described as a type of post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Representations of the subject ‘woman’ and the politics of abortion: an analysis of South African newspaper articles from 1978 to 2005
- Macleod, Catriona I, Feltham-King, Tracey
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Feltham-King, Tracey
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446286 , vital:74487 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2012.685760"
- Description: A key element in cultural and gender power relations surrounding abortion is how women who undergo an abortion are represented in public talk. We analyse how women were named and positioned, and the attendant constructions of abortion, in South African newspaper articles on abortion from 1978 to 2005, a period during which there were radical political and legislative shifts. The name ‘woman’ was the most frequently used (70% of articles) followed by ‘girl/teenager/child’ (25%), ‘mother’ (25%), ‘patient’ (11%) and ‘minor’ (6%). The subject positionings enabled by these names were dynamic and complex and were interwoven with the localised, historical politics of abortion. The ‘innocent mother’ and the bifurcated ‘patient’ (woman/foetus) positionings were invoked in earlier epochs to promote abortion under medical conditions. The ‘dangerous mother’ and woman as ‘patient’ positionings were used more frequently under liberal abortion legislation to oppose and to advocate for abortion, respectively. The positioning of the ‘girl/teenager/child’ as dependent and vulnerable was used in contradictory ways, both to oppose abortion and to argue for a liberalisation of restrictive legislation, depending on the attendant construction of abortion. The neutral naming of ‘woman’ was, at times, linked to the liberal imaginary of ‘choice’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Feltham-King, Tracey
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/446286 , vital:74487 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2012.685760"
- Description: A key element in cultural and gender power relations surrounding abortion is how women who undergo an abortion are represented in public talk. We analyse how women were named and positioned, and the attendant constructions of abortion, in South African newspaper articles on abortion from 1978 to 2005, a period during which there were radical political and legislative shifts. The name ‘woman’ was the most frequently used (70% of articles) followed by ‘girl/teenager/child’ (25%), ‘mother’ (25%), ‘patient’ (11%) and ‘minor’ (6%). The subject positionings enabled by these names were dynamic and complex and were interwoven with the localised, historical politics of abortion. The ‘innocent mother’ and the bifurcated ‘patient’ (woman/foetus) positionings were invoked in earlier epochs to promote abortion under medical conditions. The ‘dangerous mother’ and woman as ‘patient’ positionings were used more frequently under liberal abortion legislation to oppose and to advocate for abortion, respectively. The positioning of the ‘girl/teenager/child’ as dependent and vulnerable was used in contradictory ways, both to oppose abortion and to argue for a liberalisation of restrictive legislation, depending on the attendant construction of abortion. The neutral naming of ‘woman’ was, at times, linked to the liberal imaginary of ‘choice’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Rights discourses in relation to people with intellectual disability: towards an ethics of relations, critique and care
- Mckenzie, Judith A, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Mckenzie, Judith A , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6282 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014123 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.631795
- Description: In this paper we argue that human rights approaches for intellectually disabled people have failed to recognise the complexity of rights claims made by and on behalf of this group. Drawing on a research project into discourses of education for intellectually disabled people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa we discern three rights discourses; namely, rights to full participation, rights to special services and rights to protection. These draw off a social model, a medical model and a protective model, respectively. We note that these discourses may be set up in contestation with each other. However, we argue that they can be seen as complementary if viewed within an ethics of care that enables participation. Within this conceptualisation, participation is viewed within relations of care but is subject to a critique that examines the role of context and disciplinary power in constructing dependency.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Mckenzie, Judith A , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6282 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014123 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.631795
- Description: In this paper we argue that human rights approaches for intellectually disabled people have failed to recognise the complexity of rights claims made by and on behalf of this group. Drawing on a research project into discourses of education for intellectually disabled people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa we discern three rights discourses; namely, rights to full participation, rights to special services and rights to protection. These draw off a social model, a medical model and a protective model, respectively. We note that these discourses may be set up in contestation with each other. However, we argue that they can be seen as complementary if viewed within an ethics of care that enables participation. Within this conceptualisation, participation is viewed within relations of care but is subject to a critique that examines the role of context and disciplinary power in constructing dependency.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
The deployment of the medico-psychological gaze and disability expertise in relation to children with intellectual disability
- Mckenzie, Judith A, Macleod, Catriona I
- Authors: Mckenzie, Judith A , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6294 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014732 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2010.540042
- Description: In this study, we adopt the concepts of Michel Foucault on the medical gaze and Nikolas Rose on psychological expertise to differentiate between two forms of expertise evident in the education of intellectually disabled children. We draw on a discourse analytic study carried out in South Africa on intellectual disability in relation to educational practice to examine the operation of a medico-psychological gaze that calls for disability expertise in the management of disability. We conclude our discussion by noting that the dichotomy between impairment and disability that is proposed in the social model of disability does little to destabilise the power of the medico-psychological gaze since impairment is conceded to biomedical knowledge as an object of positive knowledge. This tacit acceptance of the medical authority gives sanction to disability expertise that operates in diffuse ways to regulate the educational experience of learners with intellectual disability. The implications of this conception for inclusive education are briefly explored, and further areas for research are suggested.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Mckenzie, Judith A , Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6294 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014732 , http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2010.540042
- Description: In this study, we adopt the concepts of Michel Foucault on the medical gaze and Nikolas Rose on psychological expertise to differentiate between two forms of expertise evident in the education of intellectually disabled children. We draw on a discourse analytic study carried out in South Africa on intellectual disability in relation to educational practice to examine the operation of a medico-psychological gaze that calls for disability expertise in the management of disability. We conclude our discussion by noting that the dichotomy between impairment and disability that is proposed in the social model of disability does little to destabilise the power of the medico-psychological gaze since impairment is conceded to biomedical knowledge as an object of positive knowledge. This tacit acceptance of the medical authority gives sanction to disability expertise that operates in diffuse ways to regulate the educational experience of learners with intellectual disability. The implications of this conception for inclusive education are briefly explored, and further areas for research are suggested.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Culture as a discursive resource opposing legal abortion
- Macleod, Catriona I, Sigcau, Nomakhosi, Luwaca, Pumeza
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Sigcau, Nomakhosi , Luwaca, Pumeza
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6293 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014721 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2010.492211
- Description: The notion of ‘culture’ features in the abortion literature to explicate, first, contestation of the meaning of abortion (as in the ‘culture wars’ about abortion), second, the normalisation of abortion in certain countries (as in ‘abortion culture’), third, the response of women to abortion within a particular social milieu and fourth, cross-cultural variability in attitudes towards and experiences of abortion. What is missing is an exploration of how ‘culture’ may be deployed as a discursive resource to oppose legal abortion. In this article, we report on a study conducted in a rural area of South Africa. We conducted focus group discussions utilising hypothetical vignettes to stimulate talk. Although, inconsistencies were evident in participants’ talk, in the context of cultural discussions, abortion was constructed as killing and inevitably destructive of cultural values and traditions. Abortion was equated with colonialist interventions and as something that should be opposed in the preservation of culture. Furthermore, cultural opposition to abortion was rooted in fears around the breakdown of gendered and generational power relations. Examples of how culture may be used in everyday interactions to induce shame and negative experiences are also discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I , Sigcau, Nomakhosi , Luwaca, Pumeza
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6293 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014721 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2010.492211
- Description: The notion of ‘culture’ features in the abortion literature to explicate, first, contestation of the meaning of abortion (as in the ‘culture wars’ about abortion), second, the normalisation of abortion in certain countries (as in ‘abortion culture’), third, the response of women to abortion within a particular social milieu and fourth, cross-cultural variability in attitudes towards and experiences of abortion. What is missing is an exploration of how ‘culture’ may be deployed as a discursive resource to oppose legal abortion. In this article, we report on a study conducted in a rural area of South Africa. We conducted focus group discussions utilising hypothetical vignettes to stimulate talk. Although, inconsistencies were evident in participants’ talk, in the context of cultural discussions, abortion was constructed as killing and inevitably destructive of cultural values and traditions. Abortion was equated with colonialist interventions and as something that should be opposed in the preservation of culture. Furthermore, cultural opposition to abortion was rooted in fears around the breakdown of gendered and generational power relations. Examples of how culture may be used in everyday interactions to induce shame and negative experiences are also discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
‘Adolescence’, pregnancy and abortion: constructing a threat of degeneration
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Adolescent Development Gender identity Gender studies
- Language: English
- Type: Book
- Identifier: vital:545 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014341 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13691058.2013.774523
- Description: Why, despite evidence to the contrary, does the narrative of the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbearing persist? This book outlines a critical view of "teenage pregnancy" and abortion, arguing that the negativity surrounding early reproduction is underpinned by a particular understanding of adolescence. The book traces the invention of "adolescence" and the imaginary wall that the notion of "adolescence" constructs between young people and adults. It examines the entrenched status of "adolescence" within a colonialist discourse that equates development of the individual with the development of civilisation, and the consequent threat of degeneration that is implied in the very notion of "adolescence". Many important issues are explored, such as the ideologies and contradictions contained within the notion of "adolescence"; the invention of teenage pregnancy as a social problem; the construction of abortion as the new social problem; issues of race, culture and tradition in relation to teenage pregnancy; and health service provider practices, specifically in relation to managing risk. In the final chapter, an argument is made for a shift from the signifier "teenage pregnancy" to "unwanted pregnancy". Using data gathered from studies from four continents, this book highlights central issues in the global debate concerning teenage pregnancy. It is suitable for academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students of health psychology, women’s studies, nursing and sociology, as well as practitioners in the fields of youth and social work, medicine and counselling.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Adolescent Development Gender identity Gender studies
- Language: English
- Type: Book
- Identifier: vital:545 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014341 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13691058.2013.774523
- Description: Why, despite evidence to the contrary, does the narrative of the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbearing persist? This book outlines a critical view of "teenage pregnancy" and abortion, arguing that the negativity surrounding early reproduction is underpinned by a particular understanding of adolescence. The book traces the invention of "adolescence" and the imaginary wall that the notion of "adolescence" constructs between young people and adults. It examines the entrenched status of "adolescence" within a colonialist discourse that equates development of the individual with the development of civilisation, and the consequent threat of degeneration that is implied in the very notion of "adolescence". Many important issues are explored, such as the ideologies and contradictions contained within the notion of "adolescence"; the invention of teenage pregnancy as a social problem; the construction of abortion as the new social problem; issues of race, culture and tradition in relation to teenage pregnancy; and health service provider practices, specifically in relation to managing risk. In the final chapter, an argument is made for a shift from the signifier "teenage pregnancy" to "unwanted pregnancy". Using data gathered from studies from four continents, this book highlights central issues in the global debate concerning teenage pregnancy. It is suitable for academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students of health psychology, women’s studies, nursing and sociology, as well as practitioners in the fields of youth and social work, medicine and counselling.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011