Review: Homeland Maternity by Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz

Homeland Maternity by Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz (March 2, 2019 from University of Illinois Press)
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Goodreads Summary:
In US security culture, motherhood is a site of intense contestation--both a powerful form of cultural currency and a target of unprecedented assault. Linked by an atmosphere of crisis and perceived vulnerability, motherhood and nation have become intimately entwined, dangerously positioning national security as reliant on the control of women's bodies. Drawing on feminist scholarship and critical studies of security culture, Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz explores homeland maternity by calling our attention to the ways that authorities see both non-reproductive and "overly" reproductive women's bodies as threats to social norms--and thus to security. Homeland maternity culture intensifies motherhood's requirements and works to discipline those who refuse to adhere. Analyzing the opt-out revolution, public debates over emergency contraception, and other controversies, Fixmer-Oraiz compellingly demonstrates how policing maternal bodies serves the political function of securing the nation in a time of supposed danger--with profound and troubling implications for women's lives and agency.

My Review:
I took a Women's Studies class in college which focused on the various patriarchal pillars of military regimes. Going into the class I assumed we would focus on "other" countries, but as the class progressed my eyes were opened to the layers of control the United States military holds over our nation's citizens and those we "protect". 

As the saying goes "hindsight is 20/20" and it is easy to pinpoint previous times in American history where reproduction was forced or heavily encouraged as a form of patriotism, such as enslaved colonial African-American women or white, suburban "Baby Boomer" women. It is also easy to see times when reproduction was disapproved of and thwarted, most notably during forced sterilizations of Black, Native American, and institutionalized women in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Now we see a daily news cycle highlighting the various new ways the government wants to control every aspect of reproduction. 

While this definitely is an example- and proof-heavy text, Fixmer-Oraiz has organized the various aspects of how national security is entwined with reproduction into an understandable (yet jarring) piece of work.