re sexually active in inappropriate ways and at inappropriate times were considered to be unable to govern their sexual impulses; they lacked the ability to repress the unconscious, psychodynamic forces urging them to engage in sex delinquency. As a result, the unwed mother was increasingly seen as an active agent in her downfall rather than an unassuming victim of seduction. Young mothers were now thought to need protection from themselves and others and society was thought to need protection from their uncontrollable sexual impulses. Many unwed mothers endured incarceration and in some cases sterilization as experts sought to rehabilitate their impaired psychological dynamics (Luker 24).By applying Freuds ideas to their work with unwed mothers, the social work community reified his theories, causing them to be accepted as reality. At one time, the idea of the unconscious mind was truly revolutionary, but as the idea was reified and integrated into the activities of the helping professions, it became institutionalized. As Luker has shown, the subjective perception of the problem of teenage pregnancy has changed dramatically throughout history. In response to changing social, political, and economic conditions, the reality of the issue has also changed. The constructionist perspective assumes that reality is created by society. Our sense of what is real is not derived only from what exists in nature but rather from taking what our senses register and defining what reality is (Roy 10). Sociologists William I. Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas argue that these socially constructed realities are just as real as if they were determined solely by nature. They articulate their point in what has now become known as the Thomas Principle: If people define situations as real, then they are real in their consequences (Roy 10). Simply stated- the more people act as though something is real, them more consequential that definition of realit...
