“”It’s Not Easy to Know Who I Am”: Gender Salience and Cultural Place in the Treatment of a “Delinquent” Adolescent Mother”

Source: (2007) Feminist Criminology. 2(1): 31-56.

This article explores meanings of subjective gender and cultural place of a biracial,
bicultural, unmarried 15-year-old mother with a substantial trauma history and court
involvement. The treatment, which took place in a church-run maternity home,
addressed oppositional behavior and anger and evoked profound questions of gender
and culture. These clinical data are discussed from a multidimensional model of
gender, race, and ethnicity; cultural meanings; psychological trauma; and power.
Remarkable for examples of ego strength and insight, material in the case study provides
some understanding of a profoundly traumatized yet resilient girl who has struggled
through her experiences—and in her treatment—to keep making sense of her life.