Sex, Power, And The Future Of The World

Women’s Reproduction in a Global Era Q&A with Michelle Goldberg

by Lorrie Klosterman and illustrations by Annie Internicola, March 25, 2010

On April 15 at 5:30pm, author Michelle Goldberg will be at the Wallkill River School in Montgomery, to read from and discuss her latest book, The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World (Penguin Books, 2009). Goldberg, an award-winning journalist and the New York Times-bestselling author of Kingdom Coming:  The Rise of Christian Nationalism (Norton, 2006), now reveals the complex interplay among women’s reproductive rights or lack thereof and key global issues. In early chapters she describes attempts over the last several decades by interested parties in developed nations to curb exponential population growth in the developing world by targeting women’s wombs, and the steps taken to oppose that by fundamentalist religious groups and the Vatican. Later chapters recount the realities women face in individual countries or cultures today, including serious health challenges and high mortality associated with pregnancy and birth, rampant HIV infection among faithful married women in Africa, genital cutting of millions of girls as a rite of passage and marriage requirement, abortion laws intolerant of exception, arranged marriages and forced pregnancies at a young age in lieu of schooling, and even the problem of international aid meant to improve women’s situations causing unexpected outcomes and backlash. First-person accounts and scores of referenced documents create a stunning, and disturbing, picture of reproductive constraints placed on women around the globe, and build the case that diverse societal woes will not improve until women’s human rights, including those of reproductive freedom, are taken seriously.

I spoke with Goldberg by phone in anticipation of her visit to the Hudson Valley; the following are excerpts from our conversation.