My name is Andie

My name is Andie. I write about motherhood from various perspectives, including feminist, economic, political, and personal. I am the author of the blog blue milk and also a contributing author to the book, The 21st Century Motherhood Movement: Mothers Speak Out On Why We Need To Change the World And How To Do It. I have presented at conferences, had my work quoted on television, and written for magazines, newspapers and blogs. Although I write sometimes under my own name, when I write about parenthood I often write under a pseudonym, one that I have been using for the past four years. As a parent I need to be mindful of the fact that my writing can compromise the privacy, and even the safety, of my two young children. And as my anonymity has inevitably declined, so too has my appetite for exploring the more contentious areas of parenthood – such as sexuality, parenting regrets, and negotiations with my partner. This is unfortunate, because everyone loves a good parenting confession, and one of my main reasons for writing was to get things like this off my chest. Motherhood, at least in terms of the mainstream, is cautious, conservative and competitive. Each of these stifles proper debate and discussion. We can ensure more adventurous, truthful and informative discussion about parenthood by allowing writers to take risks in their story-telling and we’ll do that by maintaining the avenue of anonymity for those who need it.