Amanda van Scoyoc

This morning there is an article in Duke’s newspaper about the exhibit. One of the difficulties that I have had with this exhibit is trying to articulate my thoughts on teen pregnancy generally. I tried very hard with the exhibit to show the negative and the positive aspects of young motherhood and allow viewers to make their own judgements.

I have found that there is the tendency for the viewer to see the negative when I see the positive, and this is difficult for me. I certainly hope that people do not see the exhibit and see only the negatives. If negative stereotypes are at all solidified than I had failed completely. The duke article is a good article but I cringed once with the word “listless” because I guess that it is true, Christina does look listless in that particular photograph, but it still implies an attitude to her child which is anything but true.

I have had one Duke professor contact me so far to question why all of the people in the exhibit are minorities. He felt that this pushed the stereotype that all teen parents are minorities which certainly isn’t true. Should I have written more about race in the intro panel? The young people are Latino and Black and mixed because that is the make-up of Chelsea, MA. I feel that pushing the race question would have been pushing an issue that wasn’t really pertinent to the community I worked with. Anyhow, I anticipate more criticism that is difficult to respond to.