Praise for Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight over Women's Work by Jenny Brown: Jenny Brown compellingly explains the low U.S. birthrate: those primarily responsible for the labor of bearing and raising children (women) are responding as one should to lousy working conditions--by going on strike! Brown's bold and brilliant book ventures into terrain that left and feminist thinkers have avoided for far too long. A breathtakingly accessible analysis, supported by riveting and intimate testimonials, it's also an inspiring call to action.--Liza Featherstone, The Nation An astute analysis of power relations not only in the sphere of reproduction but also in the worlds of work, immigration, and government policy as they bear on women's ability to control their bodies. Brown illuminates the historical context of the writings of Marx and Malthus, the crusades of Comstock, and recurring elite pleas for women to supply more workers and soldiers. Birth Strike lays bare why U.S. women who want to be mothers, and those who don't, have it far worse here than in Europe. Then she tells us how to change that. --Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes A serious contribution to the debate around women's reproductive labor and its vital place in women's liberation. A must read for those seeking to understand and carry on the struggle. --Carol Hanisch, women's liberation pioneer and author of the 1969 article The Personal is Political Jenny Brown's rational and forthright answer to what the abortion struggles are about will surprise American women on both sides of the issue. Hint: it's not religion nor politics. --Peggy Dobbins, author of From Kin to Class, WITCH founder Jenny Brown's book Birth Strike is a game-changer and is equal in significance to Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique which sparked a movement in the 1960's. --Carol Downer, Feminist Women's Health Centers founder and author of A Woman's Book of Choices Birth Strike is a well-researched and wide-ranging analysis of how the public responsibilities of pregnancy and parenting have been privatized to benefit a capitalist for-profit system designed to minimize labor costs to produce wealth for the few. Offers fresh insight into how women's biological power may be harnessed to resist reproductive oppression. --Loretta J. Ross, author of Reproductive Justice: An Introduction This book lays bare how U.S. politics around race and immigration are closely connected to the struggle for reproductive freedom, both in the past and today. You will never think about reproductive rights in the same way again. --Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America By examining the failings and triumphs of previous movements for abortion rights, Without Apology manages to make perfect sense of the current political moment. This book will turn concerned individuals into activists and help beleaguered activists remember how it feels to believe that we can win. - Amelia Bonow, Shout Your Abortion Without Apology draws an exhilarating line in the sand between reformers and visionaries, between near-sighted regulation and true reproductive freedom. Jenny Brown has given us a frank, full-throated gift in an era when abortion rights are threatened by hostility and timidity both. Without Apology made me want to tweet about my abortion 'til the day I die. - Nona Willis Aronowitz Her call to move feminism toward bolder, more universal demands is likely to strike a chord with young progressives. This laser-focused polemic makes its case effectively. - Publisher's Weekly A powerful and extensively researched case for a militant approach to winning reproductive rights - Emily Janakiram, The Baffler
