I was a teen mum from a council estate – now I have a great job but get called ‘stupid & dangerous’ by poverty-shamers
A PSYCHOLOGIST with a PHD from a renowned university has revealed she still faces challenges because of her council house upbringing.
Dr Jessica Taylor, 33, was brought up in poverty in Stoke-on-Trent and fell pregnant as a teenager but now campaigns for women’s rights and is an author of three books.
Despite her success in adulthood, her peers still look down at her for the way she was raised – and her brutal honesty about it all.
Jessica worked full time with two kids as she completed both her degree and PHD in forensic psychology, but she says her openness about the poverty she faced has been shamed by many people along the way.
Speaking to MailOnline, Jessica revealed it was this classism in her field of academia that lead to her writing her latest book, Underclass.
“I never expected to be framed as stupid, dangerous and unsophisticated just because of where I come from and my childhood,” she said.
In fact, Jessica was told to stop talking about her council estate upbringing altogether, as well as the abuse she faced and her teenage pregnancy, she told BBC‘s Woman’s Hour recently.
It wasn’t until one colleague allegedly sent an email to Jessica’s entire department saying that she would “bring the entire field into disrepute” because of her background that Jessica realised her past wasn’t so far behind her.
“I just couldn’t believe my eyes,” she said, “I thought I was here because I was smart, I thought I was here because I was capable.”
But as far as her colleagues were concerned being raised poor meant Jessica wasn’t “one of them.”
But despite what the naysayers from her own field of work might think, or email, Jessica said her upbringing gives her more of an “edge” as a psychologist.
“I have been in situations that other people have only read about,” she continued.
It’s these hard-hitting experiences that she said make her better at her job, not worse.
The mum-of-two, who now lives with her teenage sons and wife in the Midlands admitted she’s now proud of her council estate upbringing, even though that wasn’t always the case.
“I remember growing up poor as f*** and hating living on a council estate.
“Now I love that I grew up there cos it gave me the connection to real poverty & real life I need to be a great psychologist and activist. Ain’t enough of us in this field,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Now, Jessica is hoping to bring attention to the classism people face in her field of work, as well as in universities across the UK.
“So many working class academics and professionals are treated like they are thick, uncouth, uncivilised and incompetent.
“The class system in the UK is one of the worst in the world – and we barely even speak of it,” she said.