Comments | menthe_reglisse: Crowdsourcing my teaching needs

menthe_reglisse

Crowdsourcing my teaching needs

Nov 02, 2011 12:14

I have just spent an hour on YouTube failing to find a short video clip where teen or young parents (or just one teen parent) talks about being a parent younger than is usually expected. I'm looking for something which does not villify teen parents but is either upbeat about what being young can bring to being a parent or balanced - talking about ( Read more... )

teaching, work, pedagogy, ageism

Comments 9

hfnuala November 2 2011, 12:48:56 UTC

http://girlmom.com/ ?

menthe_reglisse November 2 2011, 12:59:35 UTC

Ah, thank you. I'd misremembered the name, or they've changed the spelling.

It used to have a girl-on-a-motorbike logo rather than the rather more bland current owls, so they may have have deliberately gone more mainstream with the spelling. The rather defensive thing on the first page about not promoting teen motherhood is new too, I think, which supports that thesis.

Sending the students to the site, or to the guardian article about Bee Lavender might work, but a video would be better.

hfnuala November 2 2011, 13:06:52 UTC

I think Bee and her stuff started way before there was the infrastructure to support video easily. Also, I think there used to be another teen mum site which was explicitly anti-adoption as a option and more radical but the woman who ran it committed suicide. I'll think further about places for video.

menthe_reglisse November 2 2011, 13:29:12 UTC

Yes, you're probably right. I was definitely reading it (and Hip Mama) in the late 1990s and it was pretty amazing to have a bulletin board (as we quaintly called it).

hfnuala November 2 2011, 13:17:09 UTC

I've just found this, which is great: http://thepushback.org/ No videos on the first page, but it has some useful links which may get you what you want.

menthe_reglisse November 2 2011, 13:46:43 UTC

Thanks, will investigate.

hfnuala November 2 2011, 13:34:49 UTC

I've got to go have lunch, but this or some of her other videos might suit?

http://www.youtube.com/user/LaurenandtheCrew#p/u/1/OULJMr1FztU

menthe_reglisse November 2 2011, 13:48:35 UTC

Thanks. I had already found her (seems to be one of the few UK teen mum that comes up!). She's a bit ... vague for what I want. A bit waffly and takes a long time to make the points I'm interested in. But possible, thanks.

menthe_reglisse November 2 2011, 13:56:45 UTC

Actually, no, 'vague' isn't what I mean. She doesn't fit my purposes because I need something were the person talks about there being norms about what age you should have children. She hardly mentions that and when she does it's quite subtle. Politically, I think it is lovely that she doesn't seem to feel much pressure to justify her position as teen parent, but for my purposes in a section about non-normative life courses, I need that orientation. (Thanks for helping me clarify my thoughts. Will amend original post accordingly).