What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us
Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Talk to women under forty today, and you will hear that in spite of the fact that they have achieved goals previous generations of women could only dream of, they nonetheless feel more confused and insecure than ever. What has gone wrong? What can be done to set it right?
These are the questions Danielle Crittenden answers in What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us. She examines the foremost issues in women's lives -- sex, marriage, motherhood, work, aging, and politics -- and argues that a generation of women has been misled: taught to blame men and pursue independence at all costs. Happiness is obtainable, Crittenden says, but only if women will free their minds from outdated feminist attitudes.
By drawing on her own experience and a decade of research and analysis of modern female life, Crittenden passionately and engagingly tackles the myths that keep women from realizing the happiness they deserve. And she introduces a new way of thinking about society's problems that may, at long last, help women achieve the lives they desire.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The founding editor of the conservative Women's Quarterly takes a long hard look at the feminist glass and decides that it is definitely half empty. With approving nods to William Kristol and other conservatives, Crittenden's political stance is clear. All readers, however, will find that she's a good writer and a persuasive advocate. It's very hard not to agree with her that working women are often overstressed and overcommitted. Crittenden argues that the newfound independence of women, for all its advantages, has caused a parallel lessening of commitment by men, who, she contends, feel a much weaker obligation than they felt in the past to support their wives and children. Women, she claims, are waiting too long to have children and regard them more as "an add-on option to a marriage, like a leather interior and digital compass in a new car." This is similar to the argument made by Naomi Wolf, that too many people view children as a mere lifestyle choice. Crittenden, however, undermines her sharp observations by heaping some awfully harsh scorn on feminists for some awfully silly reasons (e.g., taking Gloria Steinem, Susan Faludi and others to task for being childless). Her views on the perceived evils of postponing childbearing of professional mothers keeping infants in daycare will not make her popular with mothers (or their husbands) who, for economic reasons, have no choice but to work. Nevertheless, Crittenden should make readers think long and hard about how real the mantra of "choice" really is.
