Meghan Daum

completely inane non-commentary which unsuccessfully attempts to quell "am i cool, guys?" class anxiety -- n. rochefort's monologue on irish girls in a certain groundbreaking youtube video could function as this review tbh. it's like 100% "my parents' 6-figure salaries are, in many ways, similar to my classmates' parents' 7-figure salaries" and then laying out, in unadorned list-style, what those reasons are -- pathetic, boooooooring, resonant for similarly status-obsessed striver lib girls with "intellectual" parents (to borrow the "music is my bag" taxonomic tool, imagine the "low" NPR lib w/high school english teacher parent or the "high" faculty brat).

the flight attendant essay is both the highlight and the most brazen missed opportunity. idk who the fuck assigned her to work on something Actually Interesting because she simply does not have the voice for it -- she herself says as much in the introduction and Boy She Delivers

american shiksa has some good lines but literally is just a tina fey bit; the polyamory one is similarly alright but has not aged well -- there are many Riper Examples immediately available to you on twitter et al any given week

cosigning other reviewers' pov: "thank god i never moved to new york" might be the big takeaway
… (mais)

I have not been asked why I don’t have children, but it has been mentioned, by people that I don’t know, that I must have children. Because I’ve said something nice to a child, because my “teacher voice” comes out occasionally, even just because I teach. The only people who pester me about when I’m going to have children are people I know. They don’t even ask if, always when, as thought the “if” is a forgone conclusion.

I’ve been making my way through this essay collection for the past year, pretty much since shortly after my husband and I got married. Until that point, everyone asked when we were getting married, so I figured once that happened, people would start asking when we were having children and ding ding ding! I was right! Thankfully, Ben and I are on the same page when it comes to having children or not, we are both in the middle – we haven’t yet decided. But I’d like the world to understand, just as the sixteen writers in this collection outline, it’s our decision.

While the collection claims to examine many different reasons for not having children, none of the authors really touch on anything besides choice. Most other topics are not covered. Most of the authors discuss simply not feeling the maternal instinct. While I enjoyed reading each of these essays, they do tend towards ranting rather than an actual sociological perspective which would be a helpful addition to society’s debate over women’s reproductive choices.… (mais)