ABSTRACT
This chapter considers teen pregnancy as a presence, rather than a problem. Pregnancy in Juno offers one site for thinking through current discourses of sex education, which focus on preventing teen pregnancy and creating rational neo-liberal subjects. It examines the emphasis in sex education on risk and responsibility, the discussions surrounding teen pregnancy and abortion, as well as the pleasure and confusion portrayed in Juno's pregnant embodiment. The chapter explains the ways in which Juno disrupts ideas of shame through her visibility and humour. Juno's pregnant presence is not merely abject; it acts as an embodied position from which to explore the representation of pleasure and confusion. As a 'problem', teen pregnancy is the impetus for much sex education. As Grace Spencer, Claire Maxwell, and Peter Aggleton argue, in sex education, empowering youth is about encouraging the right' choices: 'delaying sexual intercourse and avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections'.
