Male authors of pregnancy books???

I took "Making Babies: The Science of Pregnancy" out of the library, and started to read it right away. Not a fan. It read like a biology textbook, which I expected, but I still felt like it was missing something. There was a definite absence of feeling, of understanding. Then I looked at the author's name, and saw that the author was a man.

I feel like you have to be female and a mother in order to write about this. Am I crazy? Are there good books written by men about the topic that I'm missing? What do you think?

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

It might be good for a guy to read this, to get a male POV. Plus its also only the science part of pregnancy, which to me means that anyone can write about it. I don't think its wrong for a male to write a book about it, I know DH understands everything now after we asked questions, can he feel my symptoms, no.. but I don't think that really matters.

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

I agree that men that write these books, although they may be very knowledgeable, will not have the full understanding and feeling of what it really is to be pregnant or give birth. they just can't possibly know, they will never go through it.

But I do think there could be a couple good books written by men that have really studied childbirth and have seen it a lot...

I have read "Born in the USA" by Marsden Wagner. It is kind of similar to "Pushed", talking about all of the issues that we have with maternity care in this country. (Marsden Wagner was also in Ricky Lake's documentary B.O.B.B.) It was kind of a slow read, but extremely informative.

I have heard that "Childbirth Without Fear" by Grantly ****-Read is good, but I haven't read it yet.

BUT, both of these books are about childbirth and labor. I don't know of any books worth reading that deal with the WHOLE pregnancy (not just the birthing part) and are written by men.


ETA: Childbirth Without Fear is written by
G r a n t l y D i c k - R e a d. It was blocked out... geez, its just the authors name!

Message edited 10/11/2009 12:22:46 PM.

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

lol. That's one of the reasons why I'm very firm on the fact that my OBGYN can only be a woman. I know that men can be awesome doctors too, but I'm the type who needs the sentiments & understanding. I just don't feel like a man could REALLY understand what's going on. I feel like he'll just be skilled with the scientific part of it all, but not the emotional, physical aspect of a pregnant woman. So yeah, I wouldn't want to read a pregnancy book written by a male author either. Hope that doesn't make me sound like a jerk

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

Posted by Ever-After

lol. That's one of the reasons why I'm very firm on the fact that my OBGYN can only be a woman. I know that men can be awesome doctors too, but I'm the type who needs the sentiments & understanding. I just don't feel like a man could REALLY understand what's going on. I feel like he'll just be skilled with the scientific part of it all, but not the emotional, physical aspect of a pregnant woman. So yeah, I wouldn't want to read a pregnancy book written by a male author either. Hope that doesn't make me sound like a jerk

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

Posted by Ever-After

lol. That's one of the reasons why I'm very firm on the fact that my OBGYN can only be a woman. I know that men can be awesome doctors too, but I'm the type who needs the sentiments & understanding. I just don't feel like a man could REALLY understand what's going on. I feel like he'll just be skilled with the scientific part of it all, but not the emotional, physical aspect of a pregnant woman. So yeah, I wouldn't want to read a pregnancy book written by a male author either. Hope that doesn't make me sound like a jerk

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

Posted by mrspalomino148

Posted by Ever-After

lol. That's one of the reasons why I'm very firm on the fact that my OBGYN can only be a woman. I know that men can be awesome doctors too, but I'm the type who needs the sentiments & understanding. I just don't feel like a man could REALLY understand what's going on. I feel like he'll just be skilled with the scientific part of it all, but not the emotional, physical aspect of a pregnant woman. So yeah, I wouldn't want to read a pregnancy book written by a male author either. Hope that doesn't make me sound like a jerk

But at the same time not all women OBs have been pregnant, or have children KWIM?

My experience with guy OBs were that they were OVERLY "understanding" because they just didn't know, while women OBs who have never been pregnant tell you basically to suck it up lol. I just think all people are different, so you would have different experiences with each person.

Re: Male authors of pregnancy books???

Nah. I think men writing about a process is fine. Same as a women writing about it if she was never pregnant.

Sounds like it was a scientific book & you were not looking for that.

I go to a male Ob/Gyn because he's good (well referred, makes appropriate decisions). Before that, I went to a woman. I want a good MD.... I don't want them to hold my hand & it doesn't matter what their sex is.