Author: Dr. Amy Blackstone
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1524744107
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
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.
Author: Sue Fagalde Lick
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781733685238
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 300
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Book Description
First you marry a man who does not want children. He cheats and you divorce him. Then you marry the love of your life and find out he does not want to have children with you either. The three he has are more than enough. Although you always wanted to be a mother, you decide he is worth the sacrifice, expecting to have a long happy life together. But that's not what happens. This is the story of how a woman becomes childless by marriage and how it affects every aspect of her life. This is the book of my heart, the one I had to write. Ever since I realized I was not going to have children, I have felt recurring grief and an emptiness in my heart. I am different from most women, but I have found that I am not alone. There are many of us childless women, and I think it's important to share our stories about what it's like when you don't have children in a world where most girls grow up to become mothers. I hope this book offers comfort to those who are childless and understanding to those who are not. If it makes you smile here and there, even better.
Author: Laura S Scott
Publisher: Seal Press
ISBN: 1580053211
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 531
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Book Description
Fall in love. Get married. Have children. For most couples, marriage and children go hand in hand. And yet, the number of people choosing childlessness is on the rise. These are the childless by choice-people who have actively decided not to have children—rather than the childless by circumstance. In Two Is Enough, Laura S. Scott explores the assumptions surrounding childrearing, and explores the reasons many people are choosing to forgo this experience. Scott, founder of the Childless by Choice Project, examines the personal stories of people who have faced this decision and explores the growing trend of childlessness. Scott’s expert knowledge and analysis offer a picture of the childless by choice-who they are, why they’ve chosen to remain childless, and how they’ve had these conversations with loved ones. Honest and unapologetic, Two Is Enough recognizes the challenges of being childless in today’s society and offers suggestions on how that same society can change to make room for the childless and the childfree.
Author: Jody Day
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 150980904X
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 377
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Book Description
‘The book to recommend to patients when they face coming to terms with unavoidable childlessness.' – British Medical Journal In Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day addresses the experience of involuntary childlessness and provides a powerful, practical guide to help those negotiating a future without children come to terms with their grief; a grief that is only just beginning to be recognized by society. This friendly, practical, humorous and honest guide from one of the world’s most respected names in childless support offers compassion and understanding and shows how it’s possible to move towards a creative, happy, meaningful and fulfilling future – even if it’s not the one you had planned. Millions of people are now living a life without children, almost double that of a generation ago and the numbers are rising still. Although some are childfree by choice, many others are childless due to infertility or circumstance and are struggling to come to terms with their uncertain future. Although most people think that those without children either 'couldn't' or 'didn't want’ to be parents, the truth is much more complex. Jody Day was forty-four when she realized that her quest to be a mother was at an end. She presumed that she was through the toughest part, but over the next couple of years she was hit by waves of grief, despair and isolation. Eventually she found her way and in 2011 created Gateway Women, the global friendship and support network for childless women which has now helped almost two million people worldwide. This edition, previously titled Rocking the Life Unexpected, has been extensively revised and updated, with significant additional content and case studies from forty involuntarily childless people (mostly women) from around the world.
Author: Ellen L. Walker
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
ISBN: 1608320731
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 179
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Book Description
Examines the rewards and challenges childfree adults face living in a world that celebrates traditional families, offering advice on how to cope with the pressure of friends and family to have children, taking advantage of leisure time, and financial considerations.
Author: James H. Monach
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134953151
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 340
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Book Description
As many as one in five couples in some population groups might be involuntarily childless and, despite the attention attracted by technological advances and media coverage, people often feel themselves to be totally isolated, stigmatised, and misunderstood by many professionals and ordinary people. Childless: No Choice is based on original research into the emotional and social aspects of involuntary childlessness, the main component being a long-term study of the experiences of couples attending an infertility clinic, supported by a community survey and a study of the attitudes of general practitioners. At a time of rapidly developing treatments for infertility and new legislative controls, it is important that all those professionally involved have a full appreciation of the experiences and views of infertile people themselves. While there is enormous attention in the media given to getting pregnant and to childbirth, there is an almost total neglect of the possibility that for some people these `natural' functions may not happen. James H. Monach examines in detail the causes of childlessness and the availability of choices for childless people including artificial insemination, fostering and adoption. This book will be invaluable to doctors, sociologists, social workers, psychologists, health administrators and to anyone who works with childless couples, as well as to childless couples themselves.
Author: Meghan Daum
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250052947
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
Sixteen literary luminaries on the controversial subject of being childless by choice, in this critically acclaimed, bestselling anthology One of the most provocative and talked-about books of the year, Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed is the stunning collection exploring one of society’s most vexing taboos. One of the main topics of cultural conversation during the last decade was the supposed “fertility crisis,” and whether modern women could figure out a way to have it all—a successful career and the required 2.3 children—before their biological clocks stopped ticking. Now, however, the conversation has turned to whether it’s necessary to have it all (see Anne-Marie Slaughter) or, perhaps more controversial, whether children are really a requirement for a fulfilling life. In this exciting and controversial collection of essays, curated by writer Meghan Daum, thirteen acclaimed female writers explain why they have chosen to eschew motherhood. Contributors include Lionel Shriver, Sigrid Nunez, Kate Christensen, Elliott Holt, Geoff Dyer, and Tim Kreider, among others, who will give a unique perspective on the overwhelming cultural pressure of parenthood. This collection makes a smart and passionate case for why parenthood is not the only path to a happy, productive life, and takes our parent-centric, kid-fixated, baby-bump-patrolling culture to task in the process. In this book, that shadowy faction known as the childless-by-choice comes out into the light.
Author: Steph Penny
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780645062700
Category : Childlessness
Languages : en
Pages : 374
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Book Description
Childlessness is often viewed as a problem to be fixed. Many childless people are plagued with advice about relaxing, praying more and 'just' adopting. In church congregations, where children and families usually form the majority, childless people frequently feel isolated and excluded. The key to surviving childlessness lies not in simply 'fixing it' but in solidarity, healthy grieving and embracing one's vulnerabilities. In Surviving Childlessness I tell thirteen people's unique stories of childlessness and share my own story of being childless-by-forced-choice. With compassion, frankness and humour, we explore how healing can be found in re-discovering and re-inventing ourselves and in embracing the mysteries of God, even-or especially-in suffering.
Author: Natalie Sappleton
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1787543625
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 424
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Book Description
While interest in the drivers, consequences, nature and manifestations of voluntary and involuntary childlessness increases, knowledge progress is hampered by poor linkages across disjointed research fields. The book brings together theoretical insights and empirical investigations into the phenomenon, united within a feminist conceptual framework.
Author: Melanie Notkin
Publisher: Seal Press
ISBN: 1580055222
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
This “essential read” (Gretchen Rubin) from the author of Savvy Auntie tells the funny, sexy, and sometimes heartbreaking stories of today's well-educated, successful women who expected love, marriage, and children, but instead find themselves in the “Otherhood” as their fertile years wane. More American women are childless than ever before—nearly half those of childbearing age don’t have children. While our society often assumes these women are “childfree by choice,” that’s not always true. In reality, many of them expected to marry and have children, but it simply hasn’t happened. Wrongly judged as picky or career-obsessed, they make up the “Otherhood,” a growing demographic that has gone without definition or visibility until now. In Otherhood, author Melanie Notkin reveals her own story as well as the honest, poignant, humorous, and occasionally heartbreaking stories of women in her generation—women who expected love, marriage, and parenthood, but instead found themselves facing a different reality. She addresses the reasons for this shift, the social and emotional impact it has on our collective culture, and how the “new normal” will affect our society in the decades to come. Notkin aims to reassure women that they are not alone and encourages them to find happiness and fulfillment no matter what the future holds. A groundbreaking exploration of an essential contemporary issue, Otherhood inspires thought-provoking conversation and gets at the heart of our cultural assumptions about single women and childlessness.
