Graduation Year
Spring 2013
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Gender and Women's Studies
Reader 1
Chris Guzaitis
Reader 2
Piya Chatterjee
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2013 Denise Tupper
Abstract
In this paper I mapped the connections between historical discussions of deviant motherhood and how it provides context for MTV’s 16 and Pregnant. The connections I’ve made with media and government shows that they both are informed by the same ideologies that define young, single, mothers on welfare, and mothers who use crack as deviant. Since a deviant perspective informs government policies and media representations, consequently women are depicted as the source of deviancy degrading society with their “immoral” and “deviant” behavior. By revealing and analyzing these connections I have shown that the legacy of the Moynihan Report is still present in how teen mothers are represented on 16 and Pregnant.
Recommended Citation
Tupper, Denise, "The (Real)ity of Representation on MTV’s 16 and Pregnant: Reproducing and resisting controlling images of deviant motherhood." (2013). Scripps Senior Theses. 219.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/219
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
