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Just Ask Us: A Conversation with First Nations Teenage Moms
Just Ask Us A Conversation with First Nations Teenage Moms Author:Sylvia Olsen Once I got pregnant we thought we were going to have the perfect family. But after we had the baby we soon realized things would never be the same. Now we are separated and we both still think about how great life was before, when it was just the two of us. We think about how much fun and love we had. I wish we had waited and been able to have t... more »hat fun for a while longer—that young love I’m not sure I’ll ever have again. In many First Nations communities, teen pregnancy is common. In some Coast Salish communities on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, estimates are that as many as 70 percent of new families are started by teen parents. What’s going on? Sylvia Olsen takes us behind the “Indian girl with baby” stereotype to try to answer that question. We enter a conversation with Coast Salish teen mothers and hear first-hand their thoughts on sex, relationships, birth control, abortion, pornography, sex education, self-image, life on the reserve, and much more. Sometimes challenging, sometimes appalling, and always compelling, their stories are essential reading for people in any community who are dealing with teen pregnancy or seeking to better understand why it happens.« less