News of july

In this hot summer month, we cross the Mediterranean to hear stories about motherhood, choices (and non-choices), imposed roles and conquered freedoms. With the project MEDITERRANEA, Lunàdigas gathers precious testimonies of Albanian and Tunisian women who tell us how, across the Mediterranean sea, the very idea of being Lunàdigas – women who do not want to have children – is in many cases still unthinkable, or even unspeakable. The project “Mediterranea – Mediterranean Women’s Archive” is carried out with the support of the Mediterranean Women’s Fund – Fonds pour les Femmes en Méditerranée.

We will discover the voice of Arjola, a journalist who has consciously chosen to experience motherhood, in a country where being a mother is seen as a duty; and that of Ana, who seeks, in vain, a term to define lunàdigas in the Albanian language. Together with them, Juliana and Samanda reflect on the condition of women and the ambiguous role of the Burrneshe, figures who challenge the patriarchy while wearing its shoes. Juliana tells us up close what it means to have a “sworn virgin” aunt, free of husbands and children but acknowledged only if she is similar to a man.

Instead, from Tunisia comes the voice of Rania, who accompanies us in an intimate and powerful reflection: what does motherhood mean when the body biologically does not allow procreation? Can care also be generated elsewhere, among plants, animals, affections? Stela, finally, tells us a different perspective: that of a young woman who wants to be a mother, but only in a context of balance and fair division of family burdens. A reality still too far away for many.

In the Stories section, Claudia Mazzilli reads and comments on Sex Work is not work ** (Nettle, 2023)**, by Various Authors, taking us to another edge of the discourse on self-determination: is the choice to sell sexual services really a choice? What distinguishes freedom and exploitation in a system where the body can also become a market?

This July, we invite you to navigate with us these stories from different shores but linked by a common thread: the desire to self-determination, even when there is no word to say it.