No matter where you fall on the feminist spectrum, it’s undeniable that women now have unprecedented choices about how they choose to live their lives. This is not to say these choices are free from judgment, however.
In new books about two particular choices—whether to marry and whether to have children—Kate Bolick and Meghan Daum are asking difficult questions about what gaining the ability to make these choices means. Culturally, both argue, women have more latitude in their private lives, more control over their destinies and self-definitions, than ever before. “Wife” and “mother” are not roles we as women automatically have to assume: They are socially constructed roles we can opt to take on or opt out of. But what does this mean in terms of the ability to define one’s own path? Are there social repercussions? How many women are making these choices consciously, and how are they doing so?
[For more of this story, written by Lisa Levy, go to http://www.psmag.com/books-and...-wouldnt-you-opt-out]
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