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When Jennifer Case became pregnant unexpectedly with her second child, she was overwhelmed at the prospect of caring for another child in a society with high expectations and low support for mothers. She sought to reclaim control over, if not her changing body, then at least her rapidly declining mental health. Immersing herself in research, Case learned that the United States has one of the highest maternal death rates among developed countries. One in every five women develops a mental health issue as a result of pregnancy. It became clear to her that in order to address the sexism and isolation mothers face—including the racism that further marginalizes women of color—we must recognize these as social problems that affect us all.
We Are Animals draws attention to these issues by examining key moments in Case’s life where her experience as both a woman in twenty-first-century America and a child-bearing mammal, and the conflicts between these two identities, were brought into sharp relief. From the surprising salve of parasocial interactions on baby forums to the not so surprisingly intertwined history of industrial dairy farming and wearable breast pumps, Case explores an array of realities that give historical and cultural context to the experience of motherhood.
The essays collected here offer a balm for women who have struggled in silence over childbirth trauma, conflicted responses to motherhood, or a deeply felt intuition that what their bodies needed as mothers did not match what society provided. They also offer a much needed, nuanced perspective for policymakers, activists, and medical professionals who continue to shape women’s experience of motherhood.
“A searing and beautiful portrait of motherhood in America. With propulsive prose and stunning detail, Jennifer Case chronicles not just the birth of her two children but also the transformation that women undergo as they learn to care for and love their children.” — Michaeleen Doucleff, author of Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
"Jennifer Case’s lyrical, absorbing essay collection offers many kinds of birth stories—hospital births, home births, and the harrowing political landscape of forced birth. Yet her most piercing, revelatory attention is applied to the birth of the mother—this person who, while nursing, must learn to eat with a nondominant hand; this person whose safety and care are unjustly shaped by race and class; this person who navigates a new life that is so often fearful and lonely. Through it all,
"Women’s birth stories—like our bodies—struggle against cultural conditioning, paternalism, and the tensions wrought by sexism and sex differences. It is so important that we keep telling them, as Case has done in We Are Animals, a satisfying, insightful journey through early motherhood that is kept grounded with fresh reportage and fascinating biological and historical findings.” — Jennifer Block, author of Pushed: Why Health Care Needs a Feminist Revolution
"Drawing on her own experience, her wide reading, and her ample talents as a writer, Jennifer Case has produced a searing, illuminating account of motherhood in all its cultural and biological complexity.” — Scott Russell Sanders, author of The Way of Imagination: Essays
"Eloquent, beautiful, moving, and profound.” — Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
BabyCenter: An Essay on Place ………………………………… 19
On Contemplating a Second Child ……………………………… 34
Unintended……………………………………………………… 44
A Political Pregnancy …………………………………………… 49
Birth (Un)Medicalized: A Case Study……………………………. 65
A Cost Accounting of Birth …………..…………………………. 83
To Hatch Intimacy from Despair………………………………… 95
Birthwork in the Bible Belt……………………………………….. 110
On the Silence of Regret ………………………………………….. 129
On Breast Pumps and Bovines ……………………………………. 139
The Mother-Infant Dyad …………………………………………. 158
On Race and Motherhood in America……………………………. 176
Animals on the Eve of Extinction………………………………… 187
Additional Thoughts on Control…………………………………… 198
Message for the Animal Mother………………………………… 213