cover image Kid Me Not: An Anthology by Child-Free Women of the ’60s, Now in Their 60s

Kid Me Not: An Anthology by Child-Free Women of the ’60s, Now in Their 60s

Edited by Aralyn Hughes. Violet Crown, $12 trade paper (126p) ISBN 978-1-938749-10-0

Fifteen women in their 60s share personal reminiscences of their youth, praising birth control, abortion access, and the support of activists who told them that they had more options than babymaking and secretarial work, and showing how life without children—either by choice or circumstance—worked out perfectly fine for them. Alternating with joyful photo collages and cute lists of events, TV shows, movies, and music from individual years in the ’60s, these narratives of sex, love, career, family, and relationships together give a warm impression of women whose paradigms were changing, whether they fought for it and or just found themselves at the forefront of new opportunities. Lovely pictures of the writers as young women and in the present accompany each vignette and serve as a delightful testament to aging gracefully. Younger feminists might find that compassion for the struggles of their second-wave foremothers is evoked by the words of well-spoken, everyday women who look like their own mothers and grandmothers. Their stories are a reminder that our choices now do carry us into the rest of our lives. (BookLife)