The Childless Revolution: What it Means to be Childless Today [Hardcover]

Another series of important mistakes, which Cain makes repeatedly, relates to world fertility rates/ birthrates. Here, Cain seems to get TOTALLY confused, apparently mixing up "rates" with "births" or something, and also just getting the numbers wildly wrong. So, what we have is Cain in one sentence claiming that the world's total fertility rate is 1.3 (the real figure is 2.8, more than twice as high, and well above the "replacement level" of 2.1), in another that "fertility rates are increasing" (they're actually declining worldwide), and in another that "birthrates are accelerating" (also not true; birthrates are falling worldwide, and population growth is slowing rapidly). Cain's problems with numbers continue throughout the book, strongly indicating that it's not just an editorial slipup, but that Cain has her population/fertility statistics all messed up, confused, and just plain WRONG. This is not good, especially when it is the subject of the book!! To put it mildly, this calls into question the author's credibility.

On the positive side, Cain is much better in presenting the interesting voices of many women who decided not to, or could not, have children. Cain makes the important point that, despite the increasing number of women choosing not to have kids - for whatever reasons - we still live in a strongly "pronatalist" society, and also one that is biased AGAINST those without children (by the way, on several occasions Cain defines "pronatalist" as "profamily", which is not correct - "pronatalist" means bias in favor of childbearing/children, a significant difference, unless you believe that it's only a "family" when there are children). Bias against women who choose not to (or are unable to) have children includes the beliefs that, among other things, those without children are (take your choice): selfish, neurotic, immature, abnormal, not complete women, etc. Yikes!

Just a couple other comments/questions about this book: why are there no MEN'S voices here; why doesn't the author dig deeper at the socio-economic, political, health, welfare, psychological, and other factors influencing reproductive decisionmaking, as opposed to just taking women's' statements at face value? For instance, several women claim they don't want kids because overpopulation is a bad thing for the environment (no argument here!), but Cain could have dug a little deeper and tried to get at whether or not this was the REAL emotional reason, or just an intellectualization, however important.

In sum, while many of the women's voices we are introduced to in "The Childless Revolution" are interesting ones, the book overall is marred by major (and frequent) factual errors and a lack of serious analysis. Very unfortunate.

I do wonder why Cain titled this book with the word "Revolution", as there is no implication that women are not having children as a protest or reaction to any specific or unifying factor. Rather, she illustrates that the reasons for childless/free-ness are vast and varied. The title may be misleading. Except for a single sentence, Cain doesn't discuss the reasons men are childless, so perhaps a more accurate title might simply be "Woman Without Children." Furthermore, get that controversial and negative word - childLESS - off the cover and this book might be better received.

Cain categorizes childless women into 3 primary categories: Those who have chosen to be ChildFREE, applying this term only to those who are totally happy about their choice; Those who are ChildLESS due to infertility or other uncontrollable (medical) factors and are unhappy with their inability to have children; Those who are ChildLESS by happenstance, such as delaying children until past childbearing age, having a partner who doesn't want children (or more children) or being single and unwilling to have a child out of wedlock. The author acknowledges that this may be the largest percentage of childless women.

Before I even opened this book, I read the brief author bio on the back cover. As a woman without child, upon reading that the author was a mother, I immediately put up my defenses. I was happily surprised to find this was a balanced, fair and honest dissertation, that neither promoted childlessness or motherhood, but encouraged all women to be aware of their choices. Cain introduces herself as a woman who was almost childless due to infertility but endured years of medical treatments to conceive. Her identity is very strongly tied to motherhood, and admits that she had a hard time understanding women who are not driven to mother as she was. Because of the author's personal experience, the strongest focus of the book were in the section addressing infertility and regrets. She also spends several pages warning women who want children not to wait too long or believe they can rely on medicine to ensure conception. Those who are happiest with their choice receive the least ink and Cain doesn't recognize that some who are infertile or childless by happenstance come to not only to accept, but rejoice in being childfree. Finally, I would have liked more background on the pressure to have children from society, family and friends, and how the women interviewed deal/dealt with external pressures or disrespect targeted at the childless/free woman.

Overall, a well written and informative work, I would recommend The Childless Revolution to readers looking for acknowledgment and validation of their non-motherhood. I would like to see this book as required reading for family therapists, and it also may be enlightening to family members and friends of childless/free women.

No Kidding! Delaware Water Gap chapter --------------------------------