The Means Of Reproduction: Sex, Power, And The Future Of The World (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
This is a must-read book for EVERY woman, and for any one who cares about the fight for women's equality around the world. I have always known that the anti-birth control, anti-abortion movement wasn't just about religion or about "protecting life" - it was also about controlling women. But what I did not realize was how much of this anti- movement was tied up in the fear of white, Christian men becoming out-numbered by the populations of Africa and Asia, particularly if they are Muslim. It's rarely spoken out loud, but it's there. Goldberg clearly covers the ways in which, around the world, women are discriminated against and held down, simply because we are the gender that bares children. She discusses the desire that women all around the world have for smaller families, their limited access to birth control, which leads them to practice all manner of un-safe abortions; the cultural rites of female genital mutilation; the cultural reasons not to have girls in India and China, and the United States' role in all of this. I am well-read on this subject, but this book was an eye-opener for me. Outstanding. This book covers reproductive rights throughout the world and covers very, very complicated issues related to it: the problems of population growth/decline, how women and their sexuality are viewed in different societies, education, and women as financial burdens (in India, girls are not as desirable because their parents must pay increasingly expensive dowries to the groom's family when their daughters marry). It was interesting to see how all of these different issues affected ideas about reproduction. I thought the first half of the book moved along pretty well, but the rest of it seemed disorganized and was harder for me to get through.
What do You think about The Means Of Reproduction: Sex, Power, And The Future Of The World (2009)?
Excellent info, hard to pick up and wade through on any given day
—kokokong
Everybody has a moral imperative to read this book. Full stop.
—payton
Very informative and though provoking. I recommend!
—ben
