When you say you want to have a child,” “what is it you’re after? Do you mean you want to raise a child? Give birth? Get pregnant?
Body agency is a topic that isn't always talked about in a patriarchal society like ours. It's a no-go area, and people who exercise body agency are called so many negative and derogatory names set out to "shame" them.
How dare you want to have breast implants or a reduction? How dare you want a child but without a father? How dare you even think about children without marriage? How can you take a stranger's sperm from a sperm bank to conceive? Wait on God! God gives children, and you must do it the right way. You must not alter your body even if you don't feel comfortable in it…
They go on and on and on with the rules- with what you can and cannot do with your own self, your own body.
What Kawakami does in this book with body agency is incredible. She teaches, empowers, and gets you to question your politics and ideas.
Breasts and Eggs centers on the choices of two sisters. One wants her breasts done, and the other wants a baby alone, without a man existing in the equation.
Kawakami gets you to ask certain deep questions and rethink and reevaluate certain choices. It's empowering. She encourages you to own your body, mind and being. I was nodding my way throughout because what I often thought and had trouble explaining to others, Kawakami did in a story.
I have learned that it's okay not to want sex, and it's okay if you don't like penetration. Parenting is a verb and not a noun; you need to get to know your child for who they are. Also, you don't have to be biologically related to a child to be a parent. You can be a single parent, and that's totally fine; it doesn't make you less of a person.
I enjoyed reading this book so much, and I highly recommend it!
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“You don’t need a partner,” Rika said. “If you have a baby, that baby is yours. It doesn’t matter who the dad is. Even if you don’t give birth, the child can be yours
