Abstract representation of teenage pregnancy
This article explores the influence of class tensions in relation to news media representations of teenage pregnancy. It makes specific reference to contemporary notions of the 'chav' figure as a derogatory, yet constructed term. The article begins by considering feminist media theories of motherhood proposed by Imogen Tyler and Steph Lawler in particular relation to class and the 'chav' phenomenon; these theories are subsequently discussed with reference to news media production and questions of the ideological effects of British newspapers (namely The Daily Mail and The Guardian). The central discussion compares a small number of pertinent newspaper articles in conjunction with the aforementioned feminist theories of motherhood through discourse analysis. In particular, it examines the disparate representations of both working- and middle-class teenage pregnancies by conducting a comparative analysis of the experiences of two teenagers, Melissa and Lucy, which act to construct and reinforce dominant social ideologies through news production. Finally, concerns of diverse audience receptions, class identities and contested meanings are considered in relation to concepts of 'class pride' and important theories of an active audience response.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/reinvention/issues/volume3issue1/frampton/
The 'Chav' Phenomenon
During the last century, developments in the terminology used to refer to the working class have become increasingly negative and unconstructive, meaning that social class has become distinguished by taste, and more importantly, a perceived lack of taste (Adams and Raisborough, 2008: 1173). While social anxieties regarding working-class mothers and teenage pregnancy 'have always been a target of social stigma', a more focused class hatred can be seen with 'the fetishisation of the chav mum within popular culture [which] marks a new outpouring of sexist class disgust' (Tyler, 2008: 26).
Representing Class in Media and News Discourse
Tensions between the middle and working classes within different media forms have already been investigated and debated extensively. Tyler's examination of the 'chav' figure explores how social class is often represented in contemporary British media through highly caricatured portrayals, and can be seen as 'part of a larger process of "class making" which attempts to distinguish the [...] upper and middle classes from the white poor' (Tyler, 2008: 18). Furthermore, according to media theory,
Questions of Ideology: Constructing the News
News does not simply reflect everyday events: it creates, shapes and purposefully constructs intricate ways of seeing the world and understanding society. For instance, social scientists often 'speak of "constructing the news," of "making news," [and] of the "social construction of reality"' (Schudson, 1997: 7). One can see this ideological effect of newspapers through the sheer scale of their everyday function, as mass circulation of the national press arguably retains an extensive and irrefutable influence over predominant ideas.
Caricaturing Class: Representations of 'Chavs' and Teen Pregnancy
Tyler's claim that 'social class is often represented through caricatured figures [...] figures that are often communicated in highly emotive ways,' (2008: 19) can be seen in The Daily Mail newspaper article 'I didn't want this baby' (Johnston, 2005), which depicts the experiences of working-class teenage mother Melissa, just days after the birth of her son. Within the article, not only is Melissa caricatured throughout, but Johnston's discourse conveys the entire family in highly emotive, loaded ways: generating an impersonal, clinical representation of the working-class subjects, who are distanced through unnamed references to their position in generation rather than by Christian name. The class of Melissa and her family becomes evident through these caricatured images of behaviour, as Johnston introduces the family:
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