The Childless Revolution [Hardcover]

Madelyn Cain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2001

Due in part to birth control, later marriages, and the emergence of two-career couples, 42 percent of the American female population is childless, representing the fastest-growing demographic group to emerge in decades. These women are reshaping the definition of womanhood in a fundamental way, yet they are largely misunderstood. Whether childless by choice or by chance, they are alternately pitied and scorned, and are rarely asked directly about their childlessness; like the elephant in the living room, childlessness is a taboo subject.Asking the hard questions, Madelyn Cain uncovers the many reasons for childlessness-some biological, some economic and even political-and explores the ramifications, for both the individual and society. Simultaneously compassionate and journalistically curious, The Childless Revolution is informed by the stories of over 100 childless women, at long last giving voice to their experience and validating the jumble of emotions women feel about being a part of this controversial population. This is the first book to put a face on those women who cannot conceive-or, for reasons as varied as womanhood itself, have chosen not to.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Childless women power many industries, in which they are often expected to cover for working moms and judged for not having children. A professional actress, Cain (First Time Mothers, Last Chance Babies: Parenting at 35+) divides childless women into three subsets: those who don't have children by choice, by chance, and by happenstance. Childless-by-choice (aka, "childfree") women literally choose not to have children, either because they flat-out dislike them or because of idealistic religious or environmental reasons. Women who are childless by chance always wanted to have children but were prevented by infertility issues. Cain's childless-by-happenstance category is a catchall of women whose other life choices ended up stopping them from having children; some didn't have children because of their spouses' attitudes, some because they had no spouse at all, and some because they waited too long and their biological clocks stopped ticking. Citing a 1993 American Demographics article that claims there will be a 44 percent increase in the number of childless couples by 2010, Cain asserts that despite that projected increase, society will still harshly criticize women without children as complete aberrations. This is a bland read, but many women may take comfort in its findings. Appropriate for all public libraries; women's studies bibliographers may also be interested. Pam Matthews, Musselman Lib., Gettysburg Coll., PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Excellent." -- Elle August, 2003 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st Edition, 1st Printing edition (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738204609
• ISBN-13: 978-0738204604
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,222,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting topic, but major factual errors hurt credibility, September 8, 2001

By 

L. Feld "lowkell" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Childless Revolution (Hardcover)

This is not a bad book overall, but it could have been a far better one. The main problem is that the author, Madelyn Cain, described on the book jacket as an English teacher, doesn't seem to have much ability in statistics, or quantitative skills in general. The reason I say this is that Cain makes numerous large, and important, factual errors (see examples below). While this does not totally destroy the book, it seriously undermines the author's credibility. It's too bad, because Cain is onto an interesting, important topic here, and I find many of the stories of the people she interviews to be very interesting.
Let me just list a few of the most egregious errors. For one, Cain claims at separate points in the book that 42.2% of all women are childless, and that 41% of women over 40 "never have a child." The problem here, besides the confusing English ("never have a child" - huh?), is not so much that the NUMBERS are wrong (and they are, at least the way Cain explains them), but that the interpretation is all messed up. What Cain is TRYING to say, I think, is that the proportion of childless women has increased over the past few decades. And that IS true, according to the US Census Bureau. The problem is that the 42.2% figure refers to a huge age range (15-44), and that the vast majority of what Cain calls "childless" women are actually under age 25. Census Bureau statistics from 1998 show that the incidence of childlessness declines as women age, from 90.1% of 15-19 year olds, to 64% of 20-24 year olds, to 19.8% of 35-39 year olds, to 19.0% of 40-44 year olds. So, the relevant number here is more like 19.0% (not 42.2%), which is the percent of women moving out of childbearing years who have not had a child. And this number is indeed up since over the past couple of decades, from 10% in 1980. A big increase, but it still represents only a relative minority of women.

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.

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Over-Simplified Analysis, March 31, 2004

By 

"kennettk" (Saskatoon SK Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Childless Revolution (Hardcover)

I was looking for affirmation of my own decision to remain childless, but did not find it here. Madeyln Cain makes it clear at the beginning of the book that she did not understand why women chose to remain childless. Her analysis did not convince me, by the book's conclusion, that she understands the issues in any real depth. As someone who has chosen to remain "childfree", I do not dislike children, I do not want to save the planet and I did not have a traumatic childhood. It's much more complex than that . . . . I believe it has a lot to do with your own experiences as a child, your relationships with your family members and your values, beliefs, etc. I didn't particularly like being a kid; my mother was a frustrated, unhappy stay-at-home mother. I was a middle child. I don't like looking after other people (and I'm not good at it - I don't have the patience). I am continually challenging tradition. I dislike routine - and I've always been told that children need routine! Motherhood is a huge responsibility that I was not prepared to accept. At the age of 13, when I realized I had a choice, I made my decision. Although I am now reaching an age when I will no longer have that choice, I still think I made the right decision for me.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and well-researched, July 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Childless Revolution (Hardcover)

This book is a comprehensive, and well researched documentation of the many reasons women do not have children. Cain provides an in-depth historical and statistical background to birthrates and childlessness, which is very informative, as well as short biographies of several famous women without children. It is an easy read, a nice balance of facts and personal interviews with over 100 childless (Cain's chosen term) women.

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 --------------------------------