Reviews and Comments

This was incredibly informative, and made me feel hopeful that research related to birth control and those that use it is becoming more of a going concern. I learned a lot reading this, but was also left curious about where the research stands now, and wondering if most of society is even ready to have the complex conversation this book starts. I'm going to be sitting with this one for a while. Highly recommend reading this if you use hormonal birth control or are planning to start it.

My main issues with the book were things I kind of expected out of this--gender essentialism (which, again, to be expected, but there are points where it's quite excessive), more speculation on the meaning of certain research than is warranted (e.g., "not having women who are ovulating around them is leading to men becoming less ambitious" with very thin/nonexistent research to support …

This is a fairly short book, and thus far from comprehensive. I was expecting something more similar to Desmond's previous work, Evicted, with more focus on in-depth statistics and interviews with individuals. This definitely utilizes some statistics and historical information, as well as brief anecdotes, but this work feels more like a persuasive essay rather than offering concrete information. While I don't disagree with most of what Desmond says (aside from feeling like the solutions he asks for are a bit too centrist and not nearly radical enough), I also don't feel like I really learned anything new.

If you're relatively new to learning about how poverty affects people in the United States and the various systems involved, as well as possible solutions, this is a solid primer.