Choosing Motherhood

Author : Mikki Morrissette
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page : 452 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 0618833323

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Choosing Single Motherhood by Mikki Morrissette Pdf

The comprehensive guide for single women interested in proactively becoming a mother--includes the essential tools needed to decide whether to take this step, information on how best to follow through, and insight about answering the child's questions and needs over time. Choosing Single Motherhood, written by a longtime journalist and Choice Mother (a woman who chooses to conceive or adopt without a life partner), will become the indispensable tool for women looking for both support and insight. Based on extensive up-to-date research, advice from child experts and family therapists, as well as interviews with more than one hundred single women, this book explores common questions and concerns of women facing this decision, including: - Can I afford to do this? - Should I wait longer to see if life turns a new corner? - How do Choice Mothers handle the stress of solo parenting? - What the research says about growing up in a single-parent household - How to answer a child's "daddy" questions - The facts about adoption, anonymous donor insemination, and finding a known donor - How the children of pioneering Choice Mothers feel about their lives Written in a lively style that never sugarcoats or sweeps problems under the rug, Choosing Single Motherhood covers the topic clearly, concisely, and with a great deal of heart.

Author : Elise Hahl,Lia Collings,Rosalyn C. Eves
Publisher : CFI
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1462111831

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Choosing Motherhood by Elise Hahl,Lia Collings,Rosalyn C. Eves Pdf

Motherhood or a career? Which one truly matters? Both are important in their own way, but in Choosing Motherhood learn how these bright, young LDS women from the Yale community, while their peers were putting off motherhood or forgetting it entirely, decided to become mothers and make an eternal difference in the lives of their children and their communities.

Author : Jeanne Safer
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1996-02
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9780671793449

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Beyond Motherhood by Jeanne Safer Pdf

Women from all over the country share their experiences and offer insights into what it is like not having children, and describe what factors helped shape their decision to remain childless.

Author : Jane Mattes, L.C.S.W.
Publisher : Harmony
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 1994-05-10
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9780812922462

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Single Mothers by Choice by Jane Mattes, L.C.S.W. Pdf

The first handbook for the paoidly growing number of American women choosing single motherhood, written by the director of the national organization, Single Mothers by Choice.

Author : Orna Donath
Publisher : North Atlantic Books
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2017-07-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781623171384

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Regretting Motherhood by Orna Donath Pdf

Women who opt not to be mothers are frequently warned that they will regret their decision later in life, yet we rarely talk about the possibility that the opposite might also be true—that women who have children might regret it. Drawing on years of research interviewing women from a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and professional backgrounds, sociologist Orna Donath treats regret as a feminist issue: as regret marks the road not taken, we need to consider whether alternative paths for women currently are blocked off. She asks that we pay attention to what is forbidden by rules governing motherhood, time, and emotion, including the cultural assumption that motherhood is a “natural” role for women—for the sake of all women, not just those who regret becoming mothers. If we are disturbed by the idea that a woman might regret becoming a mother, Donath says, our response should not be to silence and shame these women; rather, we need to ask honest and difficult questions about how society pushes women into motherhood and why those who reconsider it are still seen as a danger to the status quo. Groundbreaking, thoughtful, and provocative, this is an especially needed book in our current political climate, as women's reproductive rights continue to be at the forefront of national debates.

Author : Rebecca Walker
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2008-03-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781440662836

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Baby Love by Rebecca Walker Pdf

From the international bestselling author of Black, White, and Jewish comes a "wonderfully insightful" (Associated Press) book that's destined to become a motherhood classic. Now in trade. Like many women her age, thirty-four-year-old Rebecca Walker was brought up to be skeptical of motherhood. As an adult she longed for a baby but feared losing her independence. In this very smart memoir, Walker explores some of the larger sociological trends of her generation while delivering her own story about the emotional and intellectual transformation that led her to motherhood.

Author : Sheila Heti
Publisher : Knopf Canada
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2018-05-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780345810564

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Motherhood by Sheila Heti Pdf

A daring, funny, and poignant novel about the desire and duty to procreate, by one of our most brilliant and original writers. Motherhood treats one of the most consequential decisions of early adulthood—whether or not to have children—with the intelligence, wit and originality that have won Sheila Heti international acclaim, and which led her previous work, How Should a Person Be?, to be called "one of the most talked-about books of the year" (TIME magazine). Having reached an age when most of her peers are asking themselves when they will become mothers, Heti's narrator considers, with the same urgency, whether she will do so at all. Over the course of several years, under the influence of her partner, body, family, friends, mysticism and chance, she struggles to make a moral and meaningful choice. In a compellingly direct mode that straddles the forms of the novel and the essay, Motherhood raises radical and essential questions about womanhood, parenthood, and how—and for whom—to live.

Author : Rosanna Hertz
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2006-10-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780199884490

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Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice: How Women are Choosing Parenthood without Marriage and Creating the New American Family by Rosanna Hertz Pdf

A remarkable number of women today are taking the daunting step of having children outside of marriage. In Single By Chance, Mothers By Choice, Rosanna Hertz offers the first full-scale account of this fast-growing phenomenon, revealing why these middle class women took this unorthodox path and how they have managed to make single parenthood work for them. Hertz interviewed 65 women--ranging from physicians and financial analysts to social workers, teachers, and secretaries--women who speak candidly about how they manage their lives and families as single mothers. What Hertz discovers are not ideologues but reluctant revolutionaries, women who--whether straight or gay--struggle to conform to the conventional definitions of mother, child, and family. Having tossed out the rulebook in order to become mothers, they nonetheless adhere to time-honored rules about child-rearing. As they tell their stories, they shed light on their paths to motherhood, describing how they summoned up the courage to pursue their dream, how they broke the news to parents, siblings, friends, and co-workers, how they went about buying sperm from fertility banks or adopting children of different races. They recount how their personal and social histories intersected to enable them to pursue their dream of motherhood, and how they navigate daily life. What does it mean to be single in terms of romance and parenting? How do women juggle earning a paycheck with parenting? What creative ways have women devised to shore up these families? How do they incorporate men into their child-centered families? This book provides concrete, informative answers to all these questions. A unique window on the future of the family, this book offers a gold mine of insight and reassurance for any woman contemplating this rewarding if unconventional step.

Author : Amrita Nandy
Publisher : Zubaan
Page : 395 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2017-10-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789385932496

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Motherhood and Choice by Amrita Nandy Pdf

How can women live fully? If autonomy is critical for humans, why do women have little or no choice vis-à-vis motherhood? Do women know they have a choice, if they do? How 'free' are these choices in a context where the self is socially mired and deeply enmeshed into the familial? What are implications of motherhood on how human relatedness and belonging are defined? These questions underlie Amrita Nandy's remarkable research on motherhood as an institution, one that conflates 'woman' with 'mother' and 'personal' with 'political'. As the bedrock of human survival and an unchallenged norm of 'normal' female lives, motherhood expects and even compels women to be mothers—symbolic and corporeal. Even though the ideology of pronatalism and motherhood reinforce reproductive technology and vice versa, the care work of mothering suffers political neglect and economic devaluation. However, motherhood (and non-motherhood) is not just physiological. As the pivot to a web of heteronormative institutions (such as marriage and the family), motherhood bears an overwhelming and decisive influence on women's lives. Against the weight of traditional and contemporary histories, socio-political discourse and policies, this study explores how women, as embodiments of multiple identities, could live stigma-free, 'authentic' lives without having to abandon reproductive 'self'-determination. Published by Zubaan.

Author : Sarah Kowalski
Publisher : She Writes Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2017-10-17
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781631522734

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Motherhood Reimagined by Sarah Kowalski Pdf

At the age of thirty-nine, Sarah Kowalski heard her biological clock ticking, loudly. A single woman harboring a deep ambivalence about motherhood, Kowalski needed to decide once and for all: Did she want a baby or not? More importantly, with no partner on the horizon, did she want to have a baby alone? Once she revised her idea of motherhood—from an experience she would share with a partner to a journey she would embark upon alone—the answer came up a resounding Yes. After exploring her options, Kowalski chose to conceive using a sperm donor, but her plan stopped short when a doctor declared her infertile. How far would she go to make motherhood a reality? Kowalski catapulted herself into a diligent regimen of herbs, Qigong, meditation, acupuncture, and more, in a quest to improve her chances of conception. Along the way, she delved deep into spiritual healing practices, facing down demons of self-doubt and self-hatred, ultimately discovering an unconventional path to parenthood. In the end, to become a mother, Kowalski did everything she said she would never do. And she wouldn't change a thing. A story of personal triumph and unconditional love, Motherhood Reimagined reveals what happens when we release what's expected and embrace what's possible.

Author : Katherine Elizabeth Mack
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2023-12-05
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9780817361129

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The Case for Single Motherhood by Katherine Elizabeth Mack Pdf

Delves into the rhetorical work of elective single mothers (ESMs) in the late twentieth- and early twenty-first centuries as they sought--and continue to seek--to legitimize their maternal identities and family formations Scholars of rhetoric have largely overlooked the inherent rhetoricity of family. In The Case for Single Motherhood, Katherine Mack posits family as a central concern of rhetorical studies by reflecting on how language is used by single mothers who seek to reenvision the personal, social, and political meanings of family. Drawing on intersectional and rhetorical theories, Mack demonstrates how the category of elective single motherhood emerged in response to the historically differential treatment of "unwed mothers" along racial and class lines. Through her readings of a range of self-sponsored ESM texts--guidebooks, memoirs, and interactive digital media written by and primarily for other ESMs--and from her perspective as an elective single mother herself, Mack evaluates the rhetorical power, as well as the exclusions and hierarchies, that the ESM label effects. She analyzes how ESMs envision motherhood, visions that entail their musings about who can and should mother. Ultimately, Mack offers women who are considering nonnormative paths to motherhood a way to affirm their maternal identities and paths without disparaging others'. Scholars in the fields of rhetoric and feminist rhetorical studies will find in this volume an illuminating perspective on the rhetorical power of self-sponsored texts in particular. Crafting a methodology to identify and evaluate the goals and effects of legitimacy work and selecting sources that bring academic attention to varied genres of self-sponsored writings, Mack paves the way for future rhetorical studies of motherhood and family.

Author : Angela Garbes
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2018-05-29
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 9780062662965

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Like a Mother by Angela Garbes Pdf

A candid, feminist, and personal deep dive into the science and culture of pregnancy and motherhood Like most first-time mothers, Angela Garbes was filled with questions when she became pregnant. What exactly is a placenta and how does it function? How does a body go into labor? Why is breast best? Is wine totally off-limits? But as she soon discovered, it’s not easy to find satisfying answers. Your obstetrician will cautiously quote statistics; online sources will scare you with conflicting and often inaccurate data; and even the most trusted books will offer information with a heavy dose of judgment. To educate herself, the food and culture writer embarked on an intensive journey of exploration, diving into the scientific mysteries and cultural attitudes that surround motherhood to find answers to questions that had only previously been given in the form of advice about what women ought to do—rather than allowing them the freedom to choose the right path for themselves. In Like a Mother, Garbes offers a rigorously researched and compelling look at the physiology, biology, and psychology of pregnancy and motherhood, informed by in-depth reportage and personal experience. With the curiosity of a journalist, the perspective of a feminist, and the intimacy and urgency of a mother, she explores the emerging science behind the pressing questions women have about everything from miscarriage to complicated labors to postpartum changes. The result is a visceral, full-frontal look at what’s really happening during those nine life-altering months, and why women deserve access to better care, support, and information. Infused with humor and born out of awe, appreciation, and understanding of the female body and its strength, Like a Mother debunks common myths and dated assumptions, offering guidance and camaraderie to women navigating one of the biggest and most profound changes in their lives.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 138 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Artificial insemination, Human
ISBN : MINN:31951D01295482I

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Lesbians Choosing Motherhood by Anonim Pdf

Author : Denise L. Carlini,Ann Davidman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 474 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2016-11-15
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 1945252162

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Motherhood ? Is It for Me? by Denise L. Carlini,Ann Davidman Pdf

"Deciding yes or not to motherhood can be fraught with confusion, pain, and loneliness. Many a woman is undecided about arguably the most important life-defining decision she'll make in her lifetime. With the 'Motherhood -- Is it for me?' program, the authors of this book, both dedicated and seasoned psychotherapists, created a process that has helped countless women over the last 25 years. Finally available in print, this program is the perfect resource for closely examining ambivalence around this crucial life choice. Through precise steps, readers are guided on their own personal journeys toward deeper understanding and learn what they really want. The process even allows a woman who is experiencing extremely painful immobilization to find her way through to her true desire. The authors know from their professional experience that an analytical pros-and-cons approach often fails to successfully answer this most personal question. Interspersed throughout this book are twenty diverse stories of women who made conscious choices, half deciding yes and half deciding no. Their stories -- and sometimes advice -- create a valuable community that provides support to every reader, breaking the isolation they may feel."--Book cover.

Author : Rosanna Hertz
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9780195341409

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Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice by Rosanna Hertz Pdf

The remarkable number of women taking the daunting step of having children outside of marriage is explored in this account of this fast-growing phenomenon, revealing why middle-class women have taken an unorthodox approach to parenthood and how they are making it work.