Pride And Joy: The Lives And Passions Of Women Without Children [Paperback]

Terri Casey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2007

Pride and Joy: The Lives and Passions of Women Without Children is a collection of interviews with 25 women who have chosen not to have children. In lively stories and vivid voices, these diverse narrators talk proudly of their contributions to their communities, causes, and families, and they speak joyfully of intimate relationships with husbands and partners, of family and friends, work, volunteer and leisure activities, solitude, and connections with children. Their stories dispel the social myth that women must have children to be happy, and they debunk the stereotypes of childless women.

For the 20 percent of U.S. women who are currently childless by choice or by chance, Pride and Joy offers validation and community. For the millions of women deciding whether to have children, it provides inspiration. For parents, siblings, and friends of women who have chosen or may choose not to have children, it offers insight.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The diverse, real-life stories in Pride and Joy offer a valuable sense of community for women who feel they stand alone in their families and in society because they have made the choice to remain childless."

-- Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America

"This is an important, fascinating, and brave book. Women have been told how they must have children to be happy. Now here comes a book that shows how happy women can be without children. All of the women profiled are innovators, thinkers, risktakers who have listened hard to hear their own voice through the cultural din and not followed convention for convention's sake. Each tells us that there are many ways to make the journey of life worthwhile."

-- Pepper Schwartz, author of Love Between Equals: How Peer Marriage Really Works

About the Author

Terri Casey is an award-winning writer who has worked as a newspaper reporter and editor and as a marketing writer for Microsoft Corporation. Her free-lance articles have appeared in metropolitan daily newspapers and regional magazines. She lives in Seattle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books/Beyond Words; Original edition (April 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188522382X
• ISBN-13: 978-1885223821
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

264 of 267 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm not saving the world. I just don't want kids., September 30, 2001

By 

Lori A. Jacobs (York, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pride And Joy: The Lives And Passions Of Women Without Children (Paperback)

While I enjoyed reading some of the stories of these women who have chosen to live a childfree life, I came away from the book feeling a little worse about my decision not to have children. I sort of felt that if I don't have two Master's degrees, a Ph.d., if I'm not volunteering for every charity (especially children's charities)under the sun, if I haven't traveled the globe, and in short, made some effort at saving the world, then I've wasted my life, and I should be having children. Obviously women do need to justify not having children. It seems like these women feel the need to justify their choice by telling what wonderful things they've done for humanity. It seems as though they feel the need to convince the public that they have done their "duty" by contributing in other ways.

Yeah, I have one Master's degree, I like to travel, and I do a little volunteering, but mainly I simply want the freedom to come and go as I please. I want to be able to go out for a nice, relaxing dinner on a Friday night after a long week of work -- dinner, a beer, and some light adult conversation -- a luxury enjoyed only on precious rare occasions by those with children.

I'm not saving the world, I just want to be able to enjoy it on my own terms without the responsibility of raising a child.

108 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great new look at why women don't have kids, November 17, 1999

By 

Janis Cortese (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pride And Joy: The Lives And Passions Of Women Without Children (Paperback)

It was awesome to read this book for a reason that took a while to bubble up from my brain.

I'm SICK AND TIRED of hearing from people who don't want kids purely because they are environmentally conscious or are concerned about overpopulation. I'm both of those things, but to be honest, that's not why I don't want kids. I don't want kids because I just don't want kids.

It was great to read many of these portraits and hear people say the same thing. We've moved beyond the purely political reasons for not wanting kids and have started to acknowledge that childfree people don't need to JUSTIFY not wanting them or explain it. Like many of the people in the book, we just don't want them. It was refreshing to read a book about not wanting kids that didn't focus on hectoring from Earth First and overpopulation.

Many childfree people, myself included, don't obsess about politics when we think about not having kids. We just don't want them. We don't hate them -- but we just don't want them.

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just the book I needed!, September 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Pride And Joy: The Lives And Passions Of Women Without Children (Paperback)

I am 34 years old, and have been happily married to a wonderful man for the past year and a half. My husband and I have not yet made our final decision as to whether or not to have kids...but we are certainly leaning in the direction of perhaps choosing not to raise a family of our own. This book came to me at the perfect time, and has been a wonderful resource for me as I work through the very important decision of whether or not to become a parent. Like many of the women in this book, I am blessed to have a lot of great kids in my life...my friends children, plus 14 nieces and nephews that I "inherited" when I got married. I enjoy my time with them, yet do not feel any strong pull to go through pregnancy, childbirth, and the lifetime commitment it takes to parent a child to adulthood. It was a joy and a relief to read that I'm not weird, strange or missing some sort of "womanly gene" because I don't want to have a baby. Thankfully, my husband and I are on the

same page right now. We both enjoy our freedom and our time together, and feel that we can still be important and loving influences in the lives of kids around us without necessarily being parents ourselves.

This book is a wonderful testament to the fact that women can have truly fulfilling lives without having a child of their own. I would highly recommend it to any woman who is weighing the option of motherhood!