Misconception: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood

by Author nameNaomi Wolf

Why did I even want to read this book? I don't even know, except that I have enjoyed past Naomi Wolf books.

But I'll tell you one thing. It certainly hasn't made me any more eager to reproduce.

Frightening in its own way as Fast Food Nation, I was fascinated by this book (even though it brought me to near panic when my period was two days late). And I do suspect that anyone planning (or currently experiencing) a pregnancy would benefit from reading it.

Wolf analyzes the state of pregnancy, birth, and early childhood, based on her own experience (she has two children), that of her friends and interview subjects, and copious research. The result is an indictment of the effect the extreme medicalization of the pregnancy and birth process has had on American women — one I suspect isn't too different for Canadian women, particularly those who don't use midwives. She skilfully questions assumptions that hospital births are safer, that foetal heart monitors protect babies, that the normal birth position in hospitals is conducive to labour and delivery.

Equally interesting is portrayal of previously equal partnerships and marriages after the birth of the baby, when the male partner somehow becomes more equal than the female... and she has to “call it fair.”

With all that, it's important to note that Wolf also presents a picture of the beautiful and wonderful aspects of pregnancy and child-rearing. This isn't that grim a read. Wolf is delighted to have her two children, and she writes about that as well.