ABSTRACT
The "split subjectivities" may result in contradictory reflections such as those that Fine and Zane found in their discussions with minority girls of low income. These authors suggested that, through these contradictory reflections, the participants "merge their experience, their critiques and longings for what could be". Each of the contradictions may be reframed as an instance in which an espoused norm or belief—often society's "official version"—is at variance with the participants' own experiences. The participants' discussions support the fact that they have been raised to believe that they must rely on themselves to get what they need. For some, pregnancy seems to be an attempt to burst through the contradictions they live—in particular, to deal with the conflict between the "espoused" norm versus the "real" norm, as well as knowledge based in their own experiences. The consideration of the paradoxical themes engages the complicated realities and beliefs that shape the young women's lives.
