BOOK REVIEW: Perspectives on Pedagogy: Pregnant Bodies, Fertile Minds: Gender, Race, and the Schooling of Pregnant Teens, by Wendy Luttrell

Abstract

What would schools look like if educators took a stance of interest and curiosity rather than discipline and punishment toward girls' fertility" (Luttrell 2003, 177)? Among the many features of Wendy Luttrell's ethnography that led me to write this review, this question stands out as a compelling and profound contribution. It is a simple question, but it opens immense possibilities for young people who are marginalized in our schools.The question frames a struggle in my work with aspiring teachers and administrators. I work to corral their urge to rush to judgment, especially regarding vulnerable populations, and to disrupt their tenacious hold on entrenched educational practices that serve many interests, but often not those of youth in schools. Luttrell's question has become my new mantra when exploring cultural conflict in schools, and her account of the experiences that follow from such a question portray in vibrant detail the humanizing effects it sets in motion.Pregnant Bodies originates from the problematic effects of labeling that unwittingly structures our lives. While Luttrell shares her engagement with "the PPPT [Piedmont Program for Pregnant Teens] girls," young women in an alternative school for pregnant teens, we can imagine many other labels routinely found in schools that mark and displace the children they represent, including labels such as at risk, BD [behavior disordered, referring to students with behavioral disorders], and fag. Labeling is a form of objectification, a process of dehumanization that yields domination, oppression, and exploitation. To disrupt that process one must rediscover, reclaim, and reassert one's subjectivity-one's agency and voice. As Paulo

Female Fertility: A Conceptual and Dimensional Analysis

“…The outcomes of the full integration of self should be researched in various settings and with diverse populations of women. This concept of female fertility will help women to perceive sexuality as a whole, incorporating affections and emotions with teachings of the body …”

“…This concept of female fertility will help women to perceive sexuality as a whole, incorporating affections and emotions with teachings of the body. 3,40…”