The Girls Who Went Away: Discuss!

It’s taken me far too long to compose my thoughts about this book. Mayhem has been ever-so-patient and for this I thank her. I apologize, dear readers, I do.

The Girls Who Went Away
by Ann Fessler

This book has been on BTW’s potential-read list for quite some time (since November 23, 2008, in case you were wondering) but for some reason it kept getting passed over for something or other. This cycle we were having trouble deciding what to read so we finally thought “Why not?” And I am so glad we did.

As you know, reproductive freedom is extremely high on our inalienable human rights list and that sex education in this country needs to move from abstinence-only “education” to comprehensive education. With that mindset, The Girls Who Went Away provided a depth and nuance to my understanding of these issues, supporting and furthering their veracity and necessity in my mind. Jennifer Baumgardner, in reviewing this book for Bitch, explained: “I had always been so drawn to reproductive freedom and justice as a catalyzing issue—but had never understood or really thought about the adoption piece.” I, too, had always thought of adoption as this thrilling and positive experience for all parties involved– The Girls Who Went Away exposed me to multitudes of women for whom this was certainly not the case and forced me to confront this reality. Adoption isn’t such an open and shut case for me anymore. This book was illuminating, heartbreaking, inspiring, enraging, and brilliant in its simplicity and clarity of purpose. E v e r y o n e should read this book. Everyone.

Mayhem: speaking of heartbreaking, have you started “the girls who went away” yet? i’m halfway through and i LOVE It. each new chapter breaks my heart a bit more.
me: yes. and yes. now why couldn’t BOS have been written as well as this one?
Mayhem: MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!!  BOS would’ve been so much better if it had been structured like the girls who went away. this book has everything i wish BOS would’ve had.

Remember to Read!

So pretty soon we’ll put up a post on Band of Sisters so we can discuss what we thought of the book (my opinion of the book in one word: meh) but I just wanted to remind you all that the August read is The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade. I’m over halfway through the book and already I love it. I think I’d even venture to say it’s a must-read for every person in America. Yes, bold statement. But seriously, ever chapter, every page, every story breaks my heart and makes me shocked that I’ve been ignorant about the way in which teenage mothers were treated in the 1950s and 1960s and how they were forced by their parents and society to give up their children. It’s definitely a must-read. Here’s just a snippet to entice you to go check it out:

16 and Pregnant

So I know I’m late to jumping on this bandwagon but I don’t own a television so I can be quite slow at these things sometimes. I had read article after article about MTVs new documentary series “16 and Pregnant” and curiosity got the better of me as I reluctantly navigated over to mtv.com to stream the episodes. Taking a cue from their own “True Life” series, each episode deals with (spoiler!) a 16-ish year old pregnant girl. With cartoon intros taking a page from Juno and musical transitions like Flight of the Conchords, the show begs to make documentary-style hip! But as an avid “True Life” junkie already, I didn’t need any gimmicks for me to realize that this show, with its stark honesty and refusal to proselytize or preach on the hot-button “issue” of teen pregnancy, is not only refreshing but a must-watch for all young people in America.

new books to read!

Happy summer everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the weather; it’s finally started to get beautiful here in NYC. Unfortunately I’m taking summer classes so my weekends are more writing papers designing websites than slip and slide and bbq. Such is life! Spitfire and I decided upon the new reads for the summer, so pick one up and join us here to discuss!

Mommy Mania

I bought this month’s edition of Vogue because Nicole Kidman was on the cover.

There’s something about Kidman that I’ve always admired; perhaps it’s that she seems like a woman of character or maybe it’s because she makes movies that she believes in that can be either light-hearted or heavy-hitting.

It seems, however, that John Powers has decided to paint this iconic actor in an uncharacteristically flighty and faddish light: as an airhead female actress who uses pregnancy and childbirth to monopolize the limelight and increase her personal marketability.

From the Spears boys, the Lopez-Anthony twins, to the Jolie-Pitt brood, American pop culture has become saturated with smiling mommies and pregnant bellies; “baby bumps,” “first pictures,” and baby names; it’s almost as if our societal biological clock has gone off: The whole country has gone bat shit crazy over babies.