Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood
Written by Naomi Wolf
Narrated by Celeste Oliva
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Wolf's courageous willingness to talk about the unexpected difficulties of childbirth will help every woman become a more knowledgeable planner of her pregnancy and better prepare her for the challenges of balancing a career, freedom, and a growing family. Invaluable in its advice to parents, Misconceptions speaks to anyone connected-personally, medically, or professionally-to a new mother.
Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf is a world-renowned lecturer, women's rights' advocate and author. She has lectured on the themes in her latest book Outrages at the Ashmolean Museum, Balliol College, Mansfield College, and the undergraduates in the Faculty of English Language and Literature, all at the University of Oxford. Wolf was an advisor on women's issues and messaging to both the Clinton reelection campaign and to the Gore 2000 presidential campaign; co-founded the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership and the American Freedom Campaign; and she is co-founder and CEO of DailyClout.io, a news site and legislative database. Wolf also holds an honorary doctorate from Sweet Briar College and was a Glamour Woman of the Year. For decades, Wolf has broken stories in advance of other news outlets. These range from the silicone breast implant scandal to the Department of Homeland Security coordinated crackdown of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) to menstrual dysregulation following mRNA Covid-19 vaccination. Often initially attacked, later reporting has confirmed her accuracy. Naomi Wolf received a B.A. in English literature from Yale University and D.Phil. in English language and literature from the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar at New College She is the author of eight books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Beauty Myth, Vagina: A New Biography, Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries, and The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Her many articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times (London), The Nation, The New Republic, New York Magazine, The Guardian, and The Huffington Post.
Related to Misconceptions
Related audiobooks
A Is for Advice (The Reassuring Kind): Wisdom for Pregnancy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Give Birth Like a Feminist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What No One Tells You: A Guide to Your Emotions from Pregnancy to Motherhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Motherly Guide to Becoming Mama: Redefining the Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLike a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome to Motherhood, Bitches: The Real Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Birth: Three Mothers, Nine Months, and Pregnancy in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Body Is A Big Fat Temple: An Ordinary Story of Pregnancy and Early Motherhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Birth Book: Your guide to a positive birth experience Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLabor Day: True Birth Stories by Today's Best Women Writers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/525%: One in four women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The day my vagina broke: what they don't tell you about childbirth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pregnancy 101: The Essential Audio Course Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impossible Parenting: Creating a New Culture of Mental Health for Parents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeing Red: The One Book Every Woman Needs to Read. Period. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Return to You: A Postpartum Plan for New Moms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Your Guide to Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss: Hope and Healing When You're No Longer Expecting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Taking Charge Of Your Pregnancy: The New Science for a Safe Birth and a Healthy Baby Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unexpecting: Real Talk on Pregnancy Loss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ina May's Guide to Childbirth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough About the Baby: A Brutally Honest Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Have and to Hold: Motherhood, Marriage, and the Modern Dilemma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Relationships For You
Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Love Languages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grow Up: Becoming the Parent Your Kids Deserve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Talk to Me Like I'm Someone You Love, Revised Edition: Relationship Repair in a Flash Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/58 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hit and Run Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Highly Sensitive Person in Love: Understanding and Managing Relationships When the World Overwhelms You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxiously Attached: How to Become Empowered and Secure in Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Trust Your Heart: Lead Your Journey to Self-Discovery From Within Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In the Dream House: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radiolab: The Feels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spoiler Alert: You're Gonna Die: Unveiling Death One Question at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club): A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Misconceptions
90 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an honest book, not an offensive one ♡☆ Honesty is not offensive ♡☆ This book may be instructable, although it doesn't offer deep solutions to all the problems it relfects upon ♡☆
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was an eye-opening book for me. I'm not a mother, I'm not even married, so I haven't yet looked into all these issues in depth. I also don't live in the US. So it was interesting to read about the health system there, which seems to be on the one hand very much intervention-oriented but on the other hand, there is a continually growing natural-birth movement, which is very good.I've read all of Naomi Wolf's previous books, & as I can recall, each & every one was met with lots of criticism when they first came out. There are flaws in this book, but it's a 'story' that needs to be told. As many other readers have noted, Wolf is a world-known feminist, & the fact that she decided to tackle this difficult issue may help in more public awareness of the problems of childbirth & pregnancy. One criticism I found extremely unfair is that Naomi "whines". It's true that the book has a general negative feeling about pregnancy & childbirth: but it's also true that 99,9% of information for mothers-to-be show a glowing, content, totally calm & fullfilling experience. Sure, there's talk about the pain of labour. But apart from that, there's little aknowledgment in society of a)post-partum depression, b) womens' frustration & sense of failure when they don't manage as well as they hoped work & child-rearing & when their husbands are only "helpers" & not equal partners in the new responsibilities. These issues have to be handled by the woman herself, while everyone around her finds it hard to see these difficulties. I've seen this happening in many of my friends' lives, I've seen the disappointment & the difficulties, & it would be so much better, first of all for the children, if mothers were better cared-for by their husbands but also by society as whole. Naomi Wolf proposes some interesting changes & gives some ideas at the end of the book, so that's a start.Another unfair argument is that Naomi Wolf is "privileged", that she has a sense of entitlement. Also, some readers have asked- "what is she complaining about? she had a healthy baby didn't she". Since when does the fact that a woman is well-off take away her right & even responsibility to talk about everything she's learnt? Since when does that fact that a woman had a healthy baby mean that she has to forget & erase all she went through before that? It's as if she should be grateful or something, when the fact is that most women do have healthy babies but most women also aren't encouraged to talk about their negative experiences as well as the positive. Women like Wolf have the knowledge, time & yes money to do good research & to shout out loud all this information that has to be heard. So it's not only in her self-interest that she does this, it's in the interest of all women.Even though I liked this book, there are a couple of things I wasn't happy with. First, the fact that some of Wolf's points were not very clear, & they were even contradictory at times. For example her view about abortion confused & angered me. She does not take a clear pro-choice position but rather says she takes this position while on the other hand she finds herself confused & persuaded partly by pro-lifers. Also, she talks about breast-feeding glowingly, & then goes on to put down "La leche league" as "lactation fascists".A final note: the book is very very badly edited. There's not a complete bibliography in the end, & there are MANY typos. I found myself holding a pen, crossing out wrongly spelled words, or adding missing words. This to me is unacceptable & even a little embarrassing for the editors & indeed, the author.All in all, a book well worth reading, which maybe doesn't contain wide research but which definitely leads a reader to do more research on their own.Comment
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vital reading for feminists, mothers and feminist mothers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An angry book. It needed to be written and makes for a very difficult read. Remember it is based on the American experience of childbirth, and they are somewhat ahead of Australia in the realm of medicalised childbirth.