November's Chatelaine magazine

At home with a cold today & catching up on my reading, I picked up the November issue of Chatelaine magazine (a top Canadian women's magazine). Two pieces I particularly enjoyed: first, the cover interview with Sandra Oh. (I have never seen an episode of Grey's Anatomy, but I have seen & loved her in lots of other TV shows & movies.) Oh talks about being 36 and the last childless woman among her friends. The article says:

These days, motherhood is Hollywood's hottest accoutrement: look at Katie Holmes, Kate Hudson, Angelina Jolie. When an actress hits her thirties without children, it somehow becomes a public obsession, a la Jennifer Aniston. Why are we so fixated on the reproductive lives of our celebrities -- or, rather, our female celebrities? 

"Oh God, the definition of 'feminine' without children definitely needs to be explored. What is that? As soon as you don't have a child, there are certain stereotypes, whether it's spinster or lesbian, that always fall on you," says Oh. "I have to constantly clear that noise: 'That's not me, that's not me.' I don't necessarily know what is me, but I know what's not. That's the challenge of every artist, maybe every human being. Who are you? What are people putting on you? You've got to peel it away." ...

"I would be very willing to explore that idea of women without children within the context of our show. I mean, what I hope our show continues to explore is feminine power. I really think that's why people love it so much." 

The other item I enjoyed was a column by Katrina Onstad (who also did the interview with Sandra Oh) -- this month about egg freezing and titled Great Egg-spectations. A couple of choice quotes:

"Generally, I'm in favour of measures that increase women's reproductive options, but all these uncooked eggs make me queasy."

"For more than 30 years, men have donated sperm, and nobody blinked. But this is motherhood, always publicly debated and held up for judgment, in all shapes, in all forms. Some things, at least, never change."