Misconceptions Naomi Wolf Summary

The book titled ‘Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood’ by Naomi Wolf is a book detailing the author’s perspectives and experiences of her pregnancy, birth, and motherhood period. It is a well researched book intersecting with personal accounts of experiences of pregnancy and birth while relating it to the birth culture in America. The book had three major parts which detailed the author’s pregnancy period, the birth period and the period after birth
In part one of the book titled Pregnancy, she discusses about her discovery that she was pregnant and having ambivalent feelings about her pregnancy. She also shared her perspectives on the service rendered by her obstetrician as she felt a lack of compassion in the service provided. She explained that the hospitals care more about its policies than the actual preferences of the patient. During this section, she examined her views on abortion being a strong …show more content…
The inequality in the sexual division of power and labor in the household environment was seen. Through her experiences and that of her friends, women are seen to bear the brunt of the daily care of their children with or without combination with their professional roles while men provided little to no support. This can be attributed to an unwritten cultural/societal rule that women are in charge of the daily care of their babies. This disparity that favors men over women has a profound implication on women’s health and well-being. This is because, most women end up becoming dissatisfied, leading to negative feelings and mental health issues e.g.postpartum depression. She also described the complexities of breastfeeding. Another major issue remarked upon is the lack of support fro the new mother /expectant mother which can culminate is postpartum depression. FMLA, abortion