This book examines the relatively new social and medical phenomenon of women in the developed countries in the world choosing to remain childless and electing for sterilization rather than continuing with other forms of contraception. 23 voluntarily childfree, sterilized women, aged 22 to 51 years, tell their stories, revealing struggles they faced in being women without children in a society that expects women to be mothers. They describe the many barriers encountered on the way to being sterilized, including prejudice ...
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This book examines the relatively new social and medical phenomenon of women in the developed countries in the world choosing to remain childless and electing for sterilization rather than continuing with other forms of contraception. 23 voluntarily childfree, sterilized women, aged 22 to 51 years, tell their stories, revealing struggles they faced in being women without children in a society that expects women to be mothers. They describe the many barriers encountered on the way to being sterilized, including prejudice from those around them as well as hostility and refusal from the medical profession. The women recall how their reasons and decisions were ignored or pathologized by doctors who held unquestioned assumptions about how women should be. Feminist and sociological perspectives are employed to highlight that voluntarily childfree women are perceived as abnormal, not "real," women, and are often the target of negative and critical comment.
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