Get Out of My Crotch: Twenty-One Writers Respond to America’s War on Women’s Rights and Reproductive Health by J. Victoria Sanders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I gave up on writing reviews, or more formal reviews, for a while, but this book made me want to return because I felt it was a terrific example of how to discuss a very weighted topic.
When I teach argument based writing one topic that is off limits is writing about abortion. Why? Well, I could probably go into a large list of reasons, but mainly because the students who chose to write on the issue think it will be “easy” to write about. They pull up a few statistics from Google, and then quote the Bible. They consider this complete.
Most students I’ve encountered (and non-students who try to discuss this) don’t actual engage and consider the issue from a variety of angles. This collection of essays isn’t just on abortion (but most are), and I think it adequately engages the topic with personal stories and up-to-date studies/facts etc.
I like the way the book is designed, and the variety of stories shared. If I have one quibble it might be that the viewpoints could have been a bit more varied. There is one distinctly male voice (and I love that there is a graphic/comic!) although I am happy to see at least one writer that didn’t want to surrender to a specific gender identification. I think it could have also served the book well to see if anyone on the other side of the debate was wiling to jump in. Did anyone try because this is definitely a pro-choice leaning book.
That being said this is a strong collection of modern views on the issues surrounding reproductive rights as well as female health and wellness in general. I’d highly recommend this one as a start. I would love to see other collections that continue the debate.




