My first impression of Helen Jukes is one of serene calm. She is one of those people who can make even the most nervous of interviewers, like myself, feel at ease. Jukes has written two books; her first details her experience as a first-time beekeeper, alongside her musings on her life so far as a millennial approaching thirty. Mother Animal arrives seven years later, and charts Jukes’ experiences of first time motherhood, and the disconnect she felt with society’s image of ‘natural’ pregnancy and birth. The book delves deep into the lives of all sorts of fascinating parenting examples from the natural world, reassuring the reader of the complex diversity of motherhood, a world away from the narrow narrative we are fed by western society about what is ‘natural’.
Agnes Tate: I wanted to say first of all that I wasn’t sure what to expect when HerCampus invited me to your book talk (at local bookshop FiveLeaves). I knew you were mainly writing about your experience of motherhood, something which I and most other HerCampus readers will not be able to relate to. However, I loved the talk so much. It was refreshing to see many different ages in the audience, and there were even a few men there, which was so nice to see. The focus on nature and how parenting in the natural world is so much more complex than we give it credit for will be reassuring to those of us in our early twenties. It is nice to know there is not one way to approach our adult life, and that this is reflected in nature.
Were you always environmentally aware, or was that something that you started researching more when you were older, and thinking about having children?
Helen Jukes: Sorry there’s a big tractor outside right now! I think I probably was from a young age. I grew up in a small village in the midlands, and spent a lot of time outside. I really fell in love with the outdoors, and felt very connected with it. It has meant I’ve grown up with a sense of our wider ecologies for sure.
I always miss the countryside when I’m at uni! I’m from Kent, so it’s lovely to go home and reconnect with nature.
In the talk on Tuesday, you said that ‘all of these polished pictures we have around naturalness and motherhood, they are not just false, but dangerous. Could you expand on that? What are the aspects of motherhood that you think are the most important for young people to understand, that maybe we are not always told about?
The process of writing the book had been a process of inquiry about nature in relation to motherhood, and the sense that our association of nature with motherhood is very strong. I was curious to tease that open. At first I felt that it was natural motherhood as a concept was too simple, and too easy and monotone. We have this image of a neutral passive mother, who is at one with the child and herself. In actual fact it is just more complicated than that. Then there was a point in my research where I started reading about chemicals and how the maternal body is so particularly vulnerable to these chemicals in the environment. When we reinforce this image of motherhood as a time of naturelness and purity, we are badly misrepresenting the true state of the maternal body. Without developing a clearer understanding of the ways the maternal body is open to and vulnerable to her environment we miss out on understanding the harm that is being done by corporations and regulators. They are failing to keep us safe. Forever chemicals will accumulate in our bodies throughout decades, so I will have been carrying chemicals that my mother absorbed when she was pregnant with me. It’s absotutley mad. In pregnancy, our body mobilises our fat stores to use them in the gestaton. often persistant chemicals are stored in these places, so out body is bringing these chemicals out of where theyve been waiting and shunting them into our infants. The fact that we can keep holding up this image as the mother as this essentially pure space started to feel dangerous to me.
As to how this is relevant to young women, part of feminism is to build a clear sense of who we are and what our bodies are capable of. Understanding how our bodies are affected by the wider environment is essential to this. When I think back to my early twrnties I was not remotely thinking about motherhood, but I would like to have known how essential it is to build communities of solidarity and care.
I think also a lot of people my age are seeing the promotion of so-called ‘trad wives’ on social media. They are promoting a narrative of natural mothering, in harmony with the earth, but I think that is quite dangerous. Again it is putting the onus on the mother as an individual to keep your environment safe for her child, and taking away responsibility from the corporations releasing these forever chemicals. This trend also promotes the myth of nature and natural motherhood being a limited set of ideals e.g. being a nuclear family or not having painkillers during childbirth that is just not true at all. Your book has so many examples of animal parenting being so varied, such as the phenomenon of allo-nursing, where an infant is nursed by female animals who are not their biological mothers. I think this is so important for my generation to understand, so that we know to expect the unexpected as we grow up.
What would you say to HerCampus readers when it comes to being environmentally conscious, especially about chemical pollution?
For the research for this book I talked to many chemical experts and campaigners and asked them about what action we can take ourselves. One campaigner’s answer really stood out to me. She would always say that it is not about making personal choices at home. The corporations polluting our environment are so huge, that collective action needs to be taken against them specifically. Limiting this problem to ‘how to make your home forever chemical free’ implies a certain degree of wealth and of access to information. If we want to take meaningful action, we need to demand the cessation of these environmental pollutants by these corporations.
So maybe for HerCampus writers and readers, we should be writing about this problem more, and raising awareness.
Yes, definitely write to your MPs, write to retailers. The more they become aware of consumer pressure the more they will feel obliged to change their practices. In terms of the UK and forever chemicals, we really are reaching a tipping point now. The EU is considering a group wide ban on forever chemicals, and the UK is under pressure to follow suit. With enough demand from consumers, they should follow, and it is so important that they do. We have the opportunity to have real, meaningful impact now.
A lot of environmental discourse is quite doom and gloom so It is nice to know that we have a real chance to change the environment for the better right now.
What is the best piece of advice you would give to aspiring writers?
Write what fires you! That will really come across to your readers. They have to believe that you believe in what you are writing about. Write the thing that needs to be written.
Talking to Jukes was eye-opening for me, she is so passionate about her writing and the impact of forever chemicals. What surprised me most was the feeling I had when the interview ended. Not only was I fired up about the environmental issues addressed in Mother Animal, I was also pleasantly reassured about my future. Nature shows us that there is no one right way to approach adult life.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity throughout.