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leslie_fournier95 's review for:
I really enjoyed many of the essays in this book but a few of them had some glaring issues.
A couple of them seemed rather out of touch with younger readers (Millennials and Gen Z) and one written by a Baby Boomer author even seemed to have some racist undertones. Obviously the book itself is not catered towards a specific age group and can be read by anyone, but as it is a topic that is typically being debated by younger people of child-bearing age, the essays written by Gen X and Millennial authors were more relatable and enjoyable.
It was also painfully obvious in some of the essays that they were written pre-Trump administration in terms of the language surrounding feminism and reproductive rights, so unfortunately their message was not as “timeless” as some of the others.
Lastly, I would have liked to see the final essay be written by a woman. As women who choose not to have children are the ones most often demonised by society as opposed to men who choose not to have children (for example, the fact that men without children or spouses are “bachelors” or “silver foxes,” but women of the same ilk are “spinsters” and “crazy cat ladies”) it feels only fitting for a woman to make the final stance in the book. The essay that was chosen to end the anthology is very good, but it is by a man. He even points out in the essay how unmarried childfree men are treated far better by society than women, which I found to be rather ironic.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and really felt “seen” by many of the essays.
A couple of them seemed rather out of touch with younger readers (Millennials and Gen Z) and one written by a Baby Boomer author even seemed to have some racist undertones. Obviously the book itself is not catered towards a specific age group and can be read by anyone, but as it is a topic that is typically being debated by younger people of child-bearing age, the essays written by Gen X and Millennial authors were more relatable and enjoyable.
It was also painfully obvious in some of the essays that they were written pre-Trump administration in terms of the language surrounding feminism and reproductive rights, so unfortunately their message was not as “timeless” as some of the others.
Lastly, I would have liked to see the final essay be written by a woman. As women who choose not to have children are the ones most often demonised by society as opposed to men who choose not to have children (for example, the fact that men without children or spouses are “bachelors” or “silver foxes,” but women of the same ilk are “spinsters” and “crazy cat ladies”) it feels only fitting for a woman to make the final stance in the book. The essay that was chosen to end the anthology is very good, but it is by a man. He even points out in the essay how unmarried childfree men are treated far better by society than women, which I found to be rather ironic.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and really felt “seen” by many of the essays.