Subtitle: Nurturing Lives
Author: Yvonne Vissing
Subject: Sociology/Gender Studies
Cloth ISBN 0-8135-3080-6
Pages: 259 pp.
Description: Tells the stories of women who find ways to live nurturing lives without children.
One in six women in America today will never have a child. Some women deliberately choose not to have children. Others postpone motherhood, often in favor of a career, and then find themselves unable or unwilling to become mothers. Still others yearn for children and are unable to conceive or adopt. Because our society perceives the bearing and nurturing of children as central roles for women, having no children can significantly impact a woman's view of herself and her place in the world. The social bias in favor of motherhood is so strong that childless women often feel isolated and fear to discuss their lives with friends who do have children. These friends, in turn, may fall into the common assumption that women without children either suffer lifelong regret or tend to be cold and "non-nurturing."
Based on over 125 interviews, this book explodes our cultural myths by exploring not only the reasons why these women do not have children, but also how not having children affects their day-to-day lives. Vissing brings alive the central issues for these women in part by having them tell their stories in their own words. The book is organized in three main sections-the social context of "childlessness," its causes, and its meanings. Each section places the women's experiences within a demographic and sociological context to help readers understand the issues these individuals face and their efforts to make a place for themselves in a child-centered society.
Women without Children is also a celebration of the strength, beauty, and love demonstrated by women who-by accident or choice-have not borne or raised children. The book is intended simultaneously to provide understanding and insights, as well as comfort and empowerment, to those who traditionally have been made to feel less than whole because they do not have children.
Yvonne Vissing is a professor of sociology at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts, where she is the coordinator for its Center for Child Studies. She is the author of Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless Children and Families in Small-Town America.
Excerpt from Women without Children
"The stories told by the women I interviewed describe a type of life journey that has not been well chronicled. The women tell about moments of anguish and contentment, times of frustration and reflection, instances of sadness and delight, and periods of confusion and determination. As mature women, they were able to share with me their insights and candid confessions about the celebrations and challenges they had experienced. Now that they have moved beyond that period in their life when motherhood could have occurred, they have had the opportunity to reflect on what childlessness has meant to them in its totality. Their experiences may be uniquely their own, but perhaps their stories will offer a perspective for debate and dialogue. The following pages relay the stories they have shared, stories that impart valuable knowledge about how they have built lives without children."-from Women without Children: Nurturing Lives
