Unveiling Motherhood: Jennifer Case Challenges the Politics and Nature Behind Our Most Sacred Bond
JC: The book as a whole offered a space for me to untangle what it means to have control or choice, especially reproductive control. When I had my children, especially my second, the different ways we have—or should have—control or choice, got all knotted together. We often think of control or choice as an opportunity for empowerment and autonomy, but then what happens when you lose control or choice, especially when that loss is being imposed on you by a government or social institutions? And then there are also moments in life where we will just never have control, right? Life is always going to give us unexpected challenges. Believing that we can always have choice and control over the direction our life takes—that’s just never going to happen, and we’re going to suffer a lot if we believe that it will. And yet there are also moments in life where giving up control is a kind of submission that’s empowering. I saw that in my experience of childbirth.
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