'Adolescence', Pregnancy and Abortion : Routledge : 9780415553384 : 0415553385 : 30 Jun 2010 : Winner of the Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor's Book Award 2012! Winner of the 2011 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology! Why, despite evidence to the contrary, does the narrative of the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbearing persist? This book argues that the negativity surrounding early reproduction is underpinned by a particular understanding of adolescence. It traces the invention of "adolescence" and the imaginary wall that the notion constructs between young people and adults. Macleod examines the entrenched status of "adolescence" within a colonialist discourse that equates development of the individual with the development of civilisation, and the consequent threat of degeneration that "adolescence" implies. Many important issues are explored, such as the invention of teenage pregnancy and abortion as a social p