Mamá desobediente Una mirada feminista a la maternidad

Desobedecer-- to disobey, to defy, to rebel. And to rebel against the patriarchal and neoliberal models of motherhood from a feminist practice is at the heart of this best-selling work that debuted in Spain in 2019 and subsequently spread across Latin America. Journalist and sociologist Vivas interweaves case studies and historical context with personal experiences. Well-researched and documented, she considers motherhood as a spectrum of nuanced maternal experiences: the right to choose--or not to choose--to be mothers and to make decisions about pregnancy and birth through breastfeeding and upbringing are a collective, societal responsibility. Examples include extended parental leaves and economic support for single-parent households. While mainly privileging white, middle-class, hetero-centered experiences in Spain, highlights include Vivas' analysis of surrogacy, in Spanish, vientre de alquiler (literally "womb rental"), as a capitalist commodification of the bodies of women in economic need and the discussion of obstetric violence--medical practices and attitudes harmful to mothers and newborns. In the context of the Latin American women's movements denouncing gender-based violence and la marea verde, the green wave for abortion rights, and the legislative curtailing of women's rights in the U.S., Mamá desobediente is expansive in its introduction of topics not yet sufficiently explored in Spanish-language nonfiction. A timely contribution.