Collapsing Space: Reply to Gentile and Grill

This article is in response to Katie Gentile’s and Hillary Grill’s discussions of my paper “Childless.” Picking up on themes both authors articulate in their commentaries, I advocate for the expansion of space in which a woman can reflect on and locate her voice, desire, and choice in regard to motherhood, childlessness, and reproduction. Incorporating research and anecdotal evidence, I describe how, regardless of whether or not a woman has children, this space can collapse under the weight of personal, historical, and societal pressures.