Search

Our Culture Magazine Best Book of 2023 “Rushton's work is generous, thoughtful, and honest, taking care neither to romanticize nor to disparage the choice to become a parent.” —Jenny Hamilton, Booklist (starred review)A bold feminist investigation into the mother of all questions; whether or not to become a parent in these turbulent times.Should we become parents? This timeless question forces us to reckon with who we are and what we love and fear most in ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world as it is now and as it will be.When Gina Rushton admitted she had little time left to make the decision for herself, the magnitude of the choice overwhelmed her. Her search for her own “yes” or “no” only uncovered more questions to be answered. How do we clearly consider creating a new life on a planet facing catastrophic climate change? How do we reassess the gender roles we have been assigned at birth and by society? How do we balance ascending careers with declining fertility? How do we know if we've found the right co-parent, or if we want to go it alone, or if we don't want to do it at all?To seek clarity on these questions, Rushton spoke to doctors, sociologists, economists, and ethicists, as well as parents and childless people of all ages and from around the world. Here, she explores and presents policies, data, and case studies from people who have made this decision—one way or the other—and shows how the process can be revelatory in discovering who we are as individuals.Drawing on the depth of knowledge afforded by her body of work as an award-winning journalist on the abortion beat, Rushton wrote the book that she needed, and we all need, to stop a panicked internal monologue and start a genuine dialogue about what we want from our lives and why.

Meet 25 women who generated life without giving birth. In many Christian communities today, women are expected to have children—to “be fruitful and multiply.” To be childless is to be less of a woman, less of a Christian, or so it can feel. Elizabeth Felicetti is deeply familiar with this pressure as an Episcopal priest who never had the children she imagined would be part of her life. But in the landscape of her childhood in Arizona Felicetti found fresh eyes. If she's “barren,” so is the desert—and if you look closely, the desert teems with unexpected life. This is also true of women throughout history. Biblical women like Mary Magdalene, medieval mystics like Julian of Norwich, and modern activists like Rosa Parks did not have children, yet their lives bore fruit in their communities and in the church at large. In reflecting on her own experience alongside those of these remarkable women, Felicetti deepens our understanding of the many ways to be fruitful. Women without children—by choice or chance—who have felt frustrated or voiceless in the church will find solidarity and inspiration in the pages of Unexpected Abundance.

Le slogan féministe des années 1970 « Un enfant quand je veux, si je veux » résonne encore aujourd'hui. Il pose la question de la liberté de choix dans l'espacement des naissances, dans la décision des femmes d'être mère. Il interroge peu le choix de ne pas être mère. Pourtant, elles sont nombreuses à avoir fait le choix d'une vie sans enfant. Face à « l'évidence du naturel », devant l'injonction moderne au désir d'enfant, ces femmes sont souvent qualifiées de déviantes, d'anormales, d'égoïstes. Ne pas avoir d'enfant par choix demeura longtemps un impensé, y compris dans la recherche scientifique. Depuis plusieurs années, des mouvements et des groupes antinatalistes radicaux se font remarquer sur la scène médiatique par des déclarations fracassantes, des happenings ou des événements. Ceux et celles qu'on appelle désormais les « croisés de la dénatalité » se font plus visibles et revendiquent publiquement leur non-désir d'enfant. Ils et elles avancent des arguments démographiques, politiques ou écologiques. En même temps, des essayistes comme Élisabeth Badinter dénoncent une pression croissante pesant sur les femmes pour les inciter à devenir mères et à une renaturalisation de la maternité. Par ailleurs, l'expérience de la maternité elle-même se transforme et se diversifie. Ainsi, des mouvements qui ont longtemps rejeté l'institution de la famille ont récemment demandé d'y avoir accès. On le voit, la maternité et le refus de celle-ci sont au cœur de nombreux débats contemporains.Ce numéro de Sextant interroge ces mouvements et ces débats autour de la non-maternité, en définit les contours et interroge le passé afin de mieux cerner les questionnements actuels. Que signifie ne pas être mère aujourd'hui? Quels jalons et événements ont rendu ce choix possible dans la société d'aujourd'hui?

From Dr. Amy Blackstone, childfree woman, co-creator of the blog we're {not} having a baby, and nationally recognized expert on the childfree choice, comes a definitive investigation into the history and current growing movement of adults choosing to forgo parenthood: what it means for our society, economy, environment, perceived gender roles, and legacies, and how understanding and supporting all types of families can lead to positive outcomes for parents, non-parents, and children alike.As a childfree woman, Dr. Amy Blackstone is no stranger to a wide range of negative responses when she informs people she doesn't have--nor does she want--kids: confused looks, patronizing quips, thinly veiled pity, even outright scorn and condemnation. But she is not alone in opting out when it comes to children. More people than ever are choosing to forgo parenthood, and openly discussing a choice that's still often perceived as taboo. Yet this choice, and its effects personally and culturally, are still often misunderstood. Amy Blackstone, a professor of sociology, has been studying the childfree choice since 2008, a choice she and her husband had already confidently and happily made. Using her own and others'research as well as her personal experience, Blackstone delves into the childfree movement from its conception to today, exploring gender, race, sexual orientation, politics, environmentalism, and feminism, as she strips away the misconceptions surrounding non-parents and reveals the still radical notion that support of the childfree can lead to better lives and societies for all.

The shocking treatise that was a bestselling international media sensation upon its 2007 publication in France now makes its eagerly anticipated English-language debut. A mother of two herself, Maier makes her deadly serious, if at times laugh-out-loud-funny, argument with all the unbridled force of her famously wicked intellect. In forty to-the-point, impressively erudite chapters drawing on the realms of history, child psychology, politics, and the environment, Maier effortlessly skewers the idealized notion of parenthood as a natural and beautiful endeavour. Enough with this “baby-mania” that is plaguing modern society, says Maier, it's nothing but brainwashing. Are you prepared to give up your free time, dinners with friends, spontaneous romantic getaways, and even the luxury of uninterrupted thought for the “vicious little dwarves” that will treat you like their servant, cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, and end up resenting you? Speaking to the still “child-free”, to fellow suffering parents, and to adamant procreationists alike, No Kids is a controversial, thought-provoking, and undeniably entertaining read. Reasons to avoid having kids: •You will lose touch with your friends •Your sex life will be over •Children cost a fortune • Child-rearing is endless drudgery •Vacations will be nightmares •You'll lose your identity and become just “mom” or “dad” •Your children will become mindless drones of capitalism •The planet's already overcrowded •Your children will inevitably disappoint you

A book for women about how the conscious and unconscious choices we make in our ambitious and focused 20s and 30s around the big issues of career, love and sex ultimately shape and define us.It's your choice, right? Whether or not you have a career and children?Can today's women really have it all', or have we all been duped? When did the superwomen of the 80s become the wondering women of the new millennium? And where have all our achievements left us?When leading journalist Virginia Haussegger, frustrated and angry about her own childlessness, wrote an opinion piece for a major metropolitan newspaper she could never have anticipated the Pandora's Box she was opening. By outing'her own personal pain and confusion Virginia unwittingly set off a heated public debate about a raft of issues including whether and/or how feminism had failed women, where it had left us when it came to having children, and whether indeed career women'should simply quit their whingeing and shut up about the whole damn business. After all it was their choice wasn't it? Virginia pulls no punches as she explores just how the big choices we make in our twenties, thirties and forties about career, love, sex, fertility and motherhood ultimately shape and define us whether we like it or not. In this passionate, compelling, thoroughly researched and at times confronting exploration Virginia reflects on her own life and those of the many women who have let her into their hearts and minds, as she examines the impact these major, life-altering decisions is having on individuals and on society as a whole.Wonder Woman is about real choices - or the lack thereof; the women being forced to make them and how these choices will shape our future.