A review by shelby1994
The Parenthood Dilemma: Procreation in the Age of Uncertainty by Gina Rushton

challenging hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

 
Pairs Well With:

  • Commiserating about sexism in the group chat
  • Engaging critically with third and fourth wave feminism
  • Children of Men
 
 “Nothing so quickly confirms what you fear most about the world and yourself as the question of whether or not you want children.” 

 
Starting this year off with back-to-back explorations of open marriages and choosing whether to have a child in this dumpster fire of a society is exposing my complete lack of chill. 
Australian journalist Gina Rushton is nearing 30 when she is diagnosed with endometriosis and has to have emergency surgery to remove one of her ovaries. 
Faced with her window of fertility suddenly and rapidly closing after a lifetime of assuming she would not want a child, Rushton races to cobble together a definitive path toward either a childfree life or parenthood. 

This was everything I wanted and needed to start 2024 off with. Everyone’s opinion on parenthood seems to be violently self-assured, and it is reassuring to read Rushton’s discussions with dozens of folks as they too, stumble their way toward an uncertain future. Rushton is uncommonly generous to everyone she meets, and I was left with both a greater sense of security in my own decision to lead a childfree life, AND a deeper love for all the parents in my life. 

Thank you Astra House for the gifted copy!

 
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