Mother Tongue Magazine

Mother Tongue is a female-founded media brand devoted to amplifying women’s stories—in print, on social and through live events. In our biannual magazine we interrogate modern motherhood through a cultural lens with stories that span art, sex, food and pop culture, fueling conversations that challenge and evolve predominant narratives. It's not about kids or how to parent them; it’s about women and the nuanced lives we are living—as moms, and so much more.

Issue 2: In Mother Tongue Issue 2, rest gets radical, Kim Gordon says no to James Franco, writer Sarah Hoover goes hunting for her lost libido, poet Kate Baer texts her friends, The Vegan Hood Chefs serve food justice with coconut whipped cream, author Kimberly Harrington overshares (and cares), and we head to the strip club with photographer Bronwen Parker-Rhodes to find feminism on the main stage. More from the issue: What happens when having kids isn’t part of the plan and you suddenly inherit three of them? Are massage guns the cure for all our (existential) woes? And did we find the secret to self-preservation in the Shizuoka province of Japan?

Issue 4: In Mother Tongue issue four, we analyze dreams (about sexy lions) with Bat For Lashes, and talk Real Housewives and real smiles with Jenna Lyons. We make sense of Whitney Houston with Amil Niazi and tend to songbirds of a different kind with artist Sheida Soleimani. We hit the road in Texas, as Dina Gachman takes us on a winding tale of revenge without remorse, and build a house for the future with Christene Barberich. Photographer Martina Zanin asks us to consider what happens when feline fixations go too far, and illustrator Rachel Deutsch conjures the everyday horror of our children’s unmeetable expectations. Sophie Ebrard contemplates sex and intimacy after kids, author Angela Garbes bridges the mother-daughter divide, and Ruby Warrington and Pooja Lakshmin discuss whether having children even makes sense anymore?

Issue 8: In this issue we not only have grand visions for tomorrow, but we also look back: at history, nostalgia and childhood, as we think about what we choose to remember and what we wish we could forget. We look at the way women are treated (in the media, in the justice system, in the culture) and how narratives get twisted or taken over altogether; we revisit the idea of utopias, redefine sluttiness and discuss sex and intimacy in fascist times. Thankfully, we also swim in the Mediterranean, drink martinis and nourish ourselves with so-called blood porridge. We consider freedom (of thought and of personhood) and the domino effect of singular moments and impromptu decisions. We look at genetic engineering in the era of techbros, the myths of adulthood and the correct way to make hummus (according to any hardcore Lebanese grandma). We talk about so-called "women of ill repute" with Amanda Knox, and go down a transcendental meditation rabbit hole with writer Nina St. Pierre. Crucially, we also embrace the power of im