I Don’t Want to be a Mom
Although it uses the term “child-free” late in the book and sparingly, Irene Olmo’s I Don’t Want to be a Mom captures the zeitgeist of the child-free movement throughout the volume. As younger generations question cultural norms and seek their own life paths, the question of whether to have kids arises for many people. Women experience tremendous pressure about motherhood with cultural conditioning that begins for them as children. Once expected without question, now having kids is viewed as a choice.
Born and raised with her sisters in Spain, Olmo remembers playing with dolls as a child, pretending to care for them as though they were her babies and mimicking pregnancy with pillows stuffed under her shirt. At that time, it was not a question of if she would one day have children, but how many she would have. In high school, a friend’s pregnancy and a class debate about abortion prompt further thought. In college, Olmo meets a pregnant student who ends up dropping out and abandoning her dream of becoming an airline pilot. After graduation and now with a boyfriend, her friends, family, and even acquaintances ask Olmo when she’ll have kids, at times harassing her about it. She reflects and ultimately decides that she does not want to be a mom. Rather than taking a judgemental or proscriptive tone, Olmo simply details her own experiences and celebrates that she can choose not to have children just as others can choose to have them.
Olmo’s art drew me in just as much as the topic of her book did. She uses a middle range of jewel tones—teal, gold, pink, red—and always portrays herself wearing red. The cartoony people are doll-like with their large, telling eyes and bulbous heads. Although the style is not realistic, Olmo depicts a variety of facial expressions that make the characters’ emotions immediately apparent. She uses visual metaphor to great effect. The best example of this is when she depicts her isolation as being a visitor to a hostile alien planet. Olmo is inside a bubble on the planet’s surface while the cavemen-like inhabitants threaten her with clubs and spears (p. 95). Her bubble floats up and away and connects with the other bubbles of like-minded women, literally expanding her world (p. 97).
This book will appeal to adult readers who enjoy graphic memoir and/or are interested in the topic of being child-free. Aspiring cartoonists will also benefit. The book does not discuss LGBTQIA+ points of view, but queer people who have felt pressure around procreation will likely still relate. For all the books about pregnancy and parenthood, I Don’t Want to be a Mom offers another perspective.
I Don’t Want to be a Mom
By Irene Olmo
Graphic Mundi, 2023
ISBN: 9781637790595
Publisher Age Rating: 16+
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)
Creator Representation: Spanish
Character Representation: Spanish
