“How come I fell pregnant?”: Young mothers' narratives of conception

Abstract

The spontaneous narratives that a small group of English young mothers gave of their unintended conceptions are my focus here. Young mothers' accounts were gathered for research on sex and relationship education (Alldred and David 2007). They had been asked their views on school sex education, on early childbearing and about the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, an outgoing and much criticised UK policy for “social inclusion” (see Kidger 2004, Harris 2005; Alldred and David 2007; Duncan et ah, 2010). For this analysis, however, the interview transcripts have been revisited to explore narratives that were not invited. The fact that nine of the ten young mothers gave accounts of how they came to be pregnant is interpreted as indicating their desire to explain themselves or their perception that they were expected to account for their situation. The dominant cultural narratives and stereotypes that their accounts seek to counter are identified. It is argued that this perceived need to account for their pregnancy offers an insight into the UK's harsh cultural politics, but also highlights ethical issues for research with teenage mothers internationally as well as in the UK context.