UNWOMANLY CONDUCT CL [Hardcover]

Morell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415906776 | ISBN-13: 978-0415906777 | Publication Date: May 5, 1994 | Edition: 1

This study examines how women who decide not to become mothers challenge the very meaning of the word "woman" in our society. Grounded in her own experiences as a not-mothering woman, a social worker and a feminist activist, the author offers an account of the experience of childlessness and a theoretical examination of how society's idealization of motherhood is dependent upon the negative counterpoint of childlessness. This study is based on extensive interviews with 34 married women, ranging in age from 40 to 78, who have made the choice to be childless. These women talk at length about their decision and the author offers political analysis of their testimonies. The detailed information provided documents the personal challenges of living a life that contradicts patriarchal and social expectations, deconstructs the discourses on childlessness that are employed to encourage motherhood as the norm, and explores and recasts existing theories of gender.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Morell (social work, Cornell Univ.) takes as her subjects 34 middle-aged, married women who (like herself) are not mothers and places their stories outside conventional scholarship, which defines such women as deficient. Finding that even feminist writing frequently identifies women and motherhood, she points to the creative alternatives pursued by these married "not-mothers," debunks prevalent myths about those who choose to remain childless, and argues convincingly that our society's persistent pronatalism ultimately disadvantages all women. This narrowly focused work says little about the decision of single women to bear children, but Morell's analysis of our culture's relentless glorification of maternalism and her data regarding poor and minority women suggest new dimensions for the study of issues surrounding illegitimacy as well. Highly recommended.
Beverly Miller, Boise State Univ. Lib., Id.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Other; 1 edition (May 5, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415906776
• ISBN-13: 978-0415906777
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,507,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An affirmation for the child-free woman, August 7, 2000

By 

Mrs. Donihue (Clear Lake Riviera, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unwomanly Conduct: The Challenges of Intentional Childlessness (Paperback)

My husband's and my decision to not have children has been met with some of the most heated, argumentative and prejudiced attitudes possible. Our former status as a cohabitating, nonmarried couple did not even approach the censure that our deliberately childless status receives.

The title of Carolyn M. Morell's book sums it up perfectly: "Unwomanly Conduct -- The Challenges of Intentional Childlessness." Society is full of pressures to reproduce and the women who go against this norm run the risk of being accused of selfishness, pitied as incomplete or having their achievements dismissed as compensation for the absence of a child.

Having encountered this kind of prejudice repeatedly, it was refreshing to read excerpts from Morell's interviews with some 40 women, mostly in their mid-40s, who have chosen to remain childfree. Actually, Morell scrupulously uses the term "childless", having dismissed "childfree" because she says it implies that a woman wants to get rid of children. I personally prefer to describe myself as "childfree" because of what I consider to be its more positive connotation.

Our differing opinons on symantics was the only part of Morell's book that I could not relate to. It was comforting to learn that many of the women profiled within have undergone the same prejudices, assumptions and dismissals heaped upon them by society at large, felt the same barriers in their relationships with mothering women -- and shared the same belief that their choice was and is a valid one.

Published in 1994, Morell's book is a groundbreaking one. Moreover, it is an affirmation for the childfree woman. Morell, herself a childfree woman, even admits that she set out to write a book that she could read. I recommend this book to any woman who wants reassurance that her decision not to bear children is a valid one.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This should be in every bookshop, September 29, 2004

By 

Ms. Felicia Davis-burden (Staines, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unwomanly Conduct: The Challenges of Intentional Childlessness (Paperback)

At last, a book which attends to a growing number of women who have made probably the most important decision of their lives. I am one of them: After considerable thought, ongoing medical problems,lousy family experiences and observing other women, I have decided that I do not want to have children. Why do I have to go online to find a book which illustrates to me that I am not alone? This book is a beautifully written revelation. It highlights the many many reasons behind deciding to remain childless/childfree. Any woman who has experienced doubts about whether motherhood is what she wants should read this book - it will help her think through her own life. Thank you for this wonderful book. All shops in the UK and USA should stock it.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Important book, but not quite thorough or comprehensive enough, January 12, 2006

By 

Vegan Viking "Difficult Woman" (San Francisco/Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unwomanly Conduct: The Challenges of Intentional Childlessness (Paperback)

It's important to know in considering this book that it is pretty much Morell's thesis, so if you dislike dry, academic work, it's probably not for you. While the book addresses many of the issues that intentionally childless women face (especially the 'compensation' and 'regret' stereotypes), it really hesitates to delve deeply into the sociopolitical/psychological causes and implications. I felt the book was far too heavily reliant on extensive and repetitive quotes from Morell's survey respondents- as such, it really prevented the narrative from gathering speed or developing into something powerful or revelatory. The scope of the research and the profiles of the intentionally childless women presented by Morell are extremely limited, as she herself acknowledges: mostly middle-aged, Caucasian, heterosexual, and married/in an LTR. In short, this book is the first of its kind, and it is groundbreaking. But as a feminist reader and a happily child-free woman, I'm ready for the next step.