Denise Lievore

What if We're the Special Ones?: Childfree Women, Difference, and Desire Denise Lievore

A woman?s decision not to have children is never a simple, rational choice between equivalent outcomes, as individual reproductive decisions are made in social contexts that regulate women through their bodies. As motherhood is discursively constructed as "natural", "normal" and integral to healthy adult femininity, childfree women must redefine their understandings of femininity and gendered terms. This book celebrates the pleasures and freedoms of difference, as articulated by childfree women in interviews and focus groups. Their agentive femininity marked them as special individuals and a specialised group. The analysis provides a fresh perspective on the nature of childfree desire, its relationship with reproductive choice, and the implications for feminine subjectivity. The book also presents an original, much-needed analysis of childfree embodiment, self-care and control. It will be useful to feminists, psychologists, and sociologists interested in gender, identity, discourse, and critical social theory.