Motherhood That Is Einfach anders

abstract: Nearly a decade ago, a controversial debate raged in Germany under the English-language hashtag #regrettingmotherhood. Set off by a 2015 study conducted by the Israeli sociologist, Orna Donath, this debate hinged on the question of maternal regret: could mothers regret having children? That same year, filmmaker Sheri Hagen released the short film, Einfach anders ( Simply Different ), about a different kind of maternal regret that turns on the unfulfilled desire to be a mother. Without positioning Hagen's film in antagonistic opposition to the phenomenon of regretting motherhood, this essay queries the difference that Blackness introduces to this discourse.