“Some people think of an existential crisis as a literal threat to existence, and in some sense it is,” she explained, when we talked. “Mortality is very much there for women. But I also talk about it using crisis from the Greek crisis (κρίσις), to choose or to decide. Everything has to be chosen again. What is important to them? How are they going to mother? How are they going to incorporate this identity of mother into themselves?” Through the lens of existential thought, it seems inevitable that many women should find the transition to motherhood challenging, even madness-invoking. “The
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