News of august
There are places where choosing not to have children is something difficult even to contemplate.
From South America to Sardinia, the stories featured in August publications show how a decision that should be a purely personal matter, continues to be shaped by society’s expectations of our lives.
From Brazil, Renato observes the growth of the favelas and reflects on the cultural, social and economic conditions that drive women to have many children. His is a voice concerned about the consequences of overpopulation, yet careful not to turn that concern into a judgement on people and their lives.
In Bolivia, Paola, on the other hand, describes how difficult it is to escape a motherhood that is still regarded as almost compulsory. For her, not having children is a deliberate and assertive choice: the opportunity to seek fulfilment elsewhere and to decide what form her life should take.
From Argentina comes Gloria, a journalist, a lunàdiga and a great cat lover. She has always known she did not want children and has consciously built her life without motherhood. She counters the belief that caregiving is the exclusive preserve of mothers with her own experience: one can care for others and play an important role in their lives without having children.
And there are those who felt that distance from motherhood even when they were still young girls.
Speaking in the Logudorese language, Laura D. tells Annotu that she did not like playing with dolls and that the desire to become a mother never arose. Her account challenges the very notion that such a desire is inherent in all women and asserts the freedom to identify with who one is, rather than with what one is expected to become.
With Rafael, the focus shifts to the other side of a system that does not assign roles solely to women. In his account, he describes recognising himself as a having sexist behaviour and beginning to change from there, challenging patriarchy even within himself.
When he speaks of fatherhood, he removes it from the realm of being an automatic path: having children, he argues, must be a free, shared and responsible decision.
But being able to choose also means being able to change course.
In the ‘Stories’ section, Claudia Mazzilli reads Mezzanotte meno un quarto by Daniela Stallo (Coda di volpe, 2026), a novel that tells the story of a voluntary termination of pregnancy in Italy in the 2000s.
Law 194/1978 guarantees the protagonist the right to choose, but it is not enough to free that choice from judgement and from a medical practice that can still turn into violence. The novel explores precisely this gap between a hard-won right and the practical possibility of exercising it.
The project RACCONTAMI – ascolto e memorie (Listening and Memories), conceived and organised by Lunàdigas with the support of Fondazione di Sardegna and CSC Alghero – Società Umanitaria, also continues. Through this project, we invite people aged 65 and over to share their memories and life experiences linked to Sardinia.
What will we talk about together?
Early childhood and adolescence, games and school, family rituals and traditions, passions and loves.
These testimonies will form the basis of a podcast series, which will bring together part of Sardinia’s collective memory in a grand, collaborative narrative.
To take part or recommend someone who might be interested:
335 389633 Tuesdays from 10 am to 1 pm Thursdays from 4 pm to 6 pm
Email us at _info@lunadigas.com
To let us know what you think, or join us on all our social media channels to discuss it together!
