Bangor events slated to celebrate Blackstone’s ‘Childfree by Choice’ book

Amy Blackstone will celebrate the June 11 release of her first book “Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of Independence” at two Bangor events.

The Briar Patch will host a Sip & Sign at COESPACE 5:30–6:30 p.m. Copies of the book will be available for signing.

Then at 6:30 p.m., Novio’s Bistro will host a five-course pairing dinner that includes a copy of the book. The menu will be inspired by childhood favorites. Reservations may be made at 207.945.5600.

Blackstone, a professor in the Department of Sociology and at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, studies childlessness and the childfree choice, workplace harassment and civic engagement.

Book topics include the history of the childfree choice; Blackstone’s experiences as a childfree woman; the myth of innate maternal instinct; troubling links between reproductive politics, patriotism and eugenics; why choosing to forgo parenthood isn’t selfish; how childfree people view children; expansion of the definition of family; aging without children; and how the childfree choice and movement are evolving.

“I hope that readers take from the book an understanding that parenthood — whether they do it or not — really, truly is a choice and that we’ll all be better off when we learn to accept one another’s choices, whatever they may be,” says Blackstone.

A Kirkus reviewer calls the book thoroughly researched and illuminating. “With quiet humor and without stridency, the author explores the subtle and not-so-subtle pressures people, in particular married women, feel to have children and the conscious or unconscious assumption that life without children is incomplete and that a ‘family’ must include children.”