Whose Body Is It

Unlock exclusive content and support the Whose Body Is It Podcast1:1 Guidance with Isabella MalbinGrowing up in England immersed in second-wave feminism, and later climate crisis narratives, overpopulation fears, and media portrayals of birth as traumatic and dangerous, Lucy absorbed the idea that motherhood was a low-status path — something she would never want for herself.Underneath those stories was something even deeper: a dislike of herself, compounded by years on hormonal birth control and cultural messaging framing female reproduction as punishment rather than power.  Lucy reflects on never holding a baby until she was 24, living for decades disconnected from her body, and how stories about motherhood shaped her identity long before she ever questioned them.I share why, despite growing up in a similar cultural soup in New York City I always knew I wanted to be a mother.Lucy also opens up about the unexpected transformation that happened in her 40s after two decades on hormonal birth control.Through our coaching work together, we discovered that Lucy subconsciously feared that wanting even more happiness through motherhood might somehow threaten the incredible relationship she already had with her husband. Could life really get any better? It turns out, it could.Lucy reflects on the strange tension of being aware of declining fertility statistics at age 44 while simultaneously tracking her biomarkers, seeing healthy cycles on paper, and feeling more vital than ever.We also explore how easily Lucy could have become vulnerable to the fear-based, predatory marketing of the fertility industry had she been single and desperate for children in her 30s — and why she never even considered engaging with “Big Fertility” once she learned how to track her cycle and move through the subconscious fears that had shaped her for decades.Follow Lucy Smith on SubstackFollow Whose Body Is It on Instagram⁠⁠Classes for anti-woke women⁠Music //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Unlock Isabella's life update for only $6✦✦✦In 2022, Mary Lou Singleton and I released an episode titled: What will happen to women if medical abortion is criminalized?We discussed medical totalitarianism, snitch culture post 2020, period tracking apps, state surveillance of women’s menstrual cycles throughout history, forced abortions, the harms of pharmaceutical contraception and the difficulty of trying to legislate morality.Since that episode aired, our feelings about abortion have changed.DISCLAIMER This isn’t a 180 episode — you won’t hear us scream “abortion is murder!!” however, we do discuss abortion as a kind of child sacrifice.This episode isn’t about the legality of abortion. It’s about what abortion is, isn’t, and what it has come to mean for women.We step back to ask the questions that often get glossed over in the abortion debate such as:What is sex for?We explore how abortion has in some circles become a cultural sacrament—tied to ideas of freedom, identity, and what it means to live fully as a FREE woman.We acknowledge the real grievances that led many women to fight for abortion access, and why that fight felt necessary.But we also ask at what cost, and whether the narrative we’ve inherited (from both sides) has left women with the full truth.From generational memories of unsafe, illegal abortions to today’s pressures around career, social status, and delayed motherhood, we hope you find this conversation holds complexity without collapsing into extremes.We talk about the women often left out of the conversation: the ambivalent majority—and ask harder questions about what drives most abortions, the role of cultural expectations, and the systems that profit from them (selling aborted fetal cells to med spas + funding Big Pharma.)We honor women in vastly different circumstances, including those for whom abortion feels like the only viable option.✦✦✦2022 abortion episode: What will happen to women if abortion is criminalized?Follow Mary Lou Singleton on InstagramFollow Mary Lou Singleton on SubstackFollow Whose Body Is It on InstagramClasses for anti-woke womenMusic //⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Time by ASHUTOSH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music promoted by Free Stock Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License