About this item
When Alison Piepmeier -- scholar of feminism and disability studies, and mother of Maybelle, an eight-year-old girl with Down syndrome -- died of cancer in August 2016, she left behind an important unfinished manuscript about motherhood, prenatal testing, and disability. In Unexpected, George Estreich and Rachel Adams pick up where she left off, honoring the important research of their friend and colleague, as well as adding new perspectives to her work.Based on interviews with parents of children with Down syndrome, as well as women who terminated their pregnancies because their fetus was identified as having the condition, Unexpected paints an intimate, nuanced picture of reproductive choice in today's world. Piepmeier takes us inside her own daughter's life, showing how Down syndrome is misunderstood, stigmatized, and condemned, particularly in the context of prenatal testing.
About the Author
Alison Piepmeier directs the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the College of Charleston, where she is also associate professor of English. She is a recognized academic voice about third wave feminism. She has authored articles on third wave feminism for The Scholar & Feminist Online, The Women's Movement Today: An Encyclopedia of Third Wave Feminism (ed. Leslie Heywood, 2005) , and Bitch magazine. She is regularly interviewed by local and national media outlets for her opinions on young feminist issues ranging from roller derby to abortion to women changing their names when they marry. She has given numerous conference presentations on grrrl zines and lectures frequently about third wave feminism and grrrl zines at colleges and universities across the country. For more information, visit alisonpiepmeier.com.
