<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Too "Creative"
Review: Being a 38-year-old, childfree-by-choice-and-loving-it woman, I read this as one of five books I am exploring on childfree women, hoping to identify viewpoints similar to mine and examining how our society is viewing women who do not bear children. I give this a reluctant three stars, one more star than I really want to, just because of the content of childfree women, a subject that really needs attention.There are editorial mistakes, which I particularly despise in a book, especially in a book such as this that tauts its professional or scientific approach. The psychologist author's use of the phrase "creative energy" as she seems to equate that with motherhood is way, way overdone. I became irritable reading this equation that pervades throughout the book, as well as reading what seemed to be her psychological synopsis of what each woman she interviewed for this book was going through re motherhood and their surrounding choices and not-choices. She groups women without children into three categories--traditional, transitional, and transformative--which I suppose is a fresh-enough approach, yet it does not allow for individuality. Freud abounds, with all its usual stench; and she actually relies on his theories to explain away many things related to the subject of women without children. This is just amazing to me! Like Freud knew anything about women, much more women without children. The appendix, with her explanation of what her "study" of these 100 women without children involved, lends some credence to what she otherwise dissects using her own analyses and freudian drivel. Overall, the book reads somewhere between the college level and pop culture. If you skim the freudian part (which, believe me, hasn't changed if you've ever read Freud) and are a relatively proficient reader, you should be able to consume this book in four to six hours. I wouldn't own this book...unless I was a serious collector of women's studies books. Recommended: Read it for its women-without-children and women focus, but borrow it or buy it used.
Rating: 
Summary: With our without child, this is a MUST READ for ALL WOMEN
Review: I sat down, opened this book and did not put it down until I was finished. Even then, I re-read three chapters. This book is a neccessary read for those of us without children, struggling to find our purpose in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Great! Technical and In-depth
Review: This is another great book that supports women who choose to not have children. The author theorizes that women can fall into one of three catagories (or a combination thereof): Traditional, Transitional, and Transformative. Pyschological theories abound and there are personal stories about real women. There's a little too much Freud for my taste - but it does help the reader get the full picture not only from the author's view, but from ordinary women and the world of psychology as well. This book is a little more in-depth than some other books on the subject -it's not a quick read- but is well worth the time invested. I think psychology and women's studies students - even if they don't agree witht the content - should read this book. I really hope the author is right when she talks about a future day when people will shudder in disbelief at the cruel stereotypes that were directed at childfree women - just as we do now at past thinking that a woman not married by the age of 25 was an old spinster!
Rating:
Summary: Great! Technical and In-depth
Review: This is another great book that supports women who choose to not have children. The author theorizes that women can fall into one of three catagories (or a combination thereof): Traditional, Transitional, and Transformative. Pyschological theories abound and there are personal stories about real women. There's a little too much Freud for my taste - but it does help the reader get the full picture not only from the author's view, but from ordinary women and the world of psychology as well. This book is a little more in-depth than some other books on the subject -it's not a quick read- but is well worth the time invested. I think psychology and women's studies students - even if they don't agree witht the content - should read this book. I really hope the author is right when she talks about a future day when people will shudder in disbelief at the cruel stereotypes that were directed at childfree women - just as we do now at past thinking that a woman not married by the age of 25 was an old spinster!
<< 1 >>
| 
