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In Greece, women speak of mothering as "within the nature" of a woman. But this durable association of motherhood with femininity exists in tension with the highest incidence of abortion and one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe. In this setting, how do women think of themselves as proper individuals, mothers, and Greek citizens? In this anthropological study of reproductive politics and ethics in Athens, Greece, Heather Paxson tracks the effects of increasing consumerism and imported biomedical family planning methods, showing how women's "nature" is being transformed to meet crosscutting claims of the contemporary world. Locating profound ambivalence in people's ethical evaluations of gender and fertility control, Paxson offers a far-reaching analysis of conflicting assumptions about what it takes to be a good mother and a good woman in modern Greece, where assertions of cultural tradition unfold against a backdrop of European Union integration, economic struggle, and national demographic anxiety over a falling birth rate.

Public opinion --- Birth control --- Motherhood --- Women --- Feminist anthropology --- Opinion, Public --- Perception, Public --- Popular opinion --- Public perception --- Public perceptions --- Judgment --- Social psychology --- Attitude (Psychology) --- Focus groups --- Reputation --- Population control --- Pregnancy --- Family planning --- Contraception --- Reproductive rights --- Maternity --- Mothers --- Parenthood --- Human females --- Wimmin --- Woman --- Womon --- Womyn --- Females --- Human beings --- Femininity --- Feminist ethnography --- Feminist ethnology --- Anthropology --- Public opinion. --- Social conditions. --- Prevention --- Athens (Greece) --- Social life and customs. --- abortion. --- anthropological study. --- anthropologists. --- athens. --- birth control. --- contemporary greece. --- cultural traditions. --- economic struggles. --- ethical issues. --- ethics. --- europe. --- european union. --- falling birth rate. --- family planning. --- femininity. --- fertility control. --- fertility rates. --- gender studies. --- greece. --- greek citizens. --- greek demographics. --- modern motherhood. --- motherhood. --- nonfiction. --- reproductive politics. --- social analysts. --- social cultural. --- urban setting. --- womens issues. --- womens roles.