Price: $34.95
Page Count: 220
Publication Date: September 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77258-237-6
“What’s in a Name? Perspectives from Non-Biological and Non-Gestational Queer Mothers” Edited by Sherri Martin-Baron, Raechel Johns, and Emily Regan Wills
Queer parenthood: It’s multifaceted. It’s complex. And it is constantly changing, as laws and culture shift around us. What’s in a Name? reflects on this complexity through the voices of nonbiological/non-gestational queer mothers/parents who explore our experiences parenting across our different social and familial locations. The authors have all taken different routes to parenting, live in different countries, and understand our relationships to parenting through our own personal experiences. What we share is a commitment to parenting beyond the limits of biology, and of building families that are drawn together and maintained by the love and labour of parenting.
The fifteen essays in this book address three key moments in our parenting journeys. First, we examine the routes we took to parenting, with many of us specifically focusing on the experience of being the “other” mother while our partners were pregnant, and the particular fears, anxieties, and triumphs that come with it. Second, we locate ourselves “in the thick of it” as parents, where the experiences shared among parents are colored by our particular experiences as nonbiological/non-gestational mothers/parents. Finally, we reflect on our identities, including the identity of “mother,” and how those grow, shift, and develop throughout our parenting journeys.A must read for queer parents who are starting a family or already have kids! The stories in this book written by moms are funny, sad and written from the heart.
- Meghan Sullivan (mama to two wonderful kids and wife to a lovely lady)
"This diverse collection of essays candidly and courageously sheds light on the realities of non-gestational/non-biological (m)otherhood. A must-read for queer moms and moms-to-be alike."
- Erica Webster, MPNL, queer mama
Introduction (by Sherri Martin-Baron, Raechel Johns, and Emily Regan Wills)
• J. Ryann Peyton- “Little Arrows”
• Allie Robbins- “No, That’s Mom”
• Emily Regan Wills- “Unnatural Parenting”
• Sherri Martin-Baron- “Love is All You Need”
• Nadja Schefzig- “Vinzi is the Name of my Son”
• Jacki Jax Brown- “Big Little Love”
• Beth Cronin- “Redefining [M]other”
• Melissa Boyce – “Making a Mama Bear”
• Patricia Curmi- “Are you having the next one? Or, how I learnt to stop worrying and love my (empty) womb”
• Claire Candland- “Of Children and Choices”
• Louise Silver- “Becoming Mommy”
• Raechel Johns- “From Ambivalence to All in: Biology does not matter, love is all that counts!”
• Stacy Cannatella- “All the Ways We Didn’t Have a Baby (and a couple of ways we did)”
• Leah Oppenzato- “Family Recipe”
• Sonja Mackenzie- “Queering Biology through the ‘Glue of Love’”
Sherri Martin-Baron is the nonbiological and non-gestational mother of three fabulous kids. She lives in upstate New York where she is an instructor of English to Speakers of Other Languages at the college level. She is passionate about her family, climate change, and grammar. This is her first co-editing project.
Raechel Johns is an Australian marketing academic, and parent. Her days are spent reading, writing, participating in leadership and admin activities (she’s Department Head) and spending time with her family. When she gets time ‘off’, she’s still reading and writing, but also travelling, playing board games, watching movies and cooking.
Emily Regan Wills was born in the US and raised in feminist and anti-war movements. She is a professor of American and comparative politics at the University of Ottawa. She was everybody’s mom friend long before she was an actual mom.
