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Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women
A bracing feminist chronicle of the history of the West told through seven texts, exposing where our most virulent ideas about women came from.
The dangerous belief that granting women reproductive freedom poses a threat to "traditional" values is a myth that has long prospered in American politics, playing an especially vicious role in the development of totalitarianism in the West. How did such damaging ideas arise?
In Reproductive Wrongs, acclaimed translator and cultural historian Sarah Ruden exposes how ideologies that oppress women and families in the service of power took hold. Ruden traces a sweeping history through her trenchant analysis of seven pieces of literature that, she argues, marked key inflection points across two thousand years. From propagandistic poetry written by Ovid in the early Roman Empire to the biography of an evangelical American "abortion survivor," Ruden lays bare how doctrines of control over women were invented and propagated.
Scathing and vital, Reproductive Wrongs unearths the evolution of a right-wing radicalism that endures to this day, when half of the United States population is losing access to basic human rights.
The dangerous belief that granting women reproductive freedom poses a threat to "traditional" values is a myth that has long prospered in American politics, playing an especially vicious role in the development of totalitarianism in the West. How did such damaging ideas arise?
In Reproductive Wrongs, acclaimed translator and cultural historian Sarah Ruden exposes how ideologies that oppress women and families in the service of power took hold. Ruden traces a sweeping history through her trenchant analysis of seven pieces of literature that, she argues, marked key inflection points across two thousand years. From propagandistic poetry written by Ovid in the early Roman Empire to the biography of an evangelical American "abortion survivor," Ruden lays bare how doctrines of control over women were invented and propagated.
Scathing and vital, Reproductive Wrongs unearths the evolution of a right-wing radicalism that endures to this day, when half of the United States population is losing access to basic human rights.
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First published March 3, 2026
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About the author
Sarah Ruden
24 books118 followersSarah Elizabeth Ruden is an American writer of poetry, essays, translations of Classic literature, and popularizations of Biblical philology, religious criticism and interpretation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
February 21, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.
I really wanted to love this book. Indeed, I loved a tremendous number of individual ideas, anecdotes, and histories imparted by the author throughout each of the seven chapters. I was indeed adequately horrified, stunned, and scoffing in turn at each direct quote from a man or woman in the past, who the author posits as being the central figures in creating the backwards and harmful ideas about women in their roles in child rearing, autonomy, and their relation to men.
What was most frightening of all was the fact that these ideas ranging from thousands of years ago to only decades ago are still with us. They are in my own religious upbringing, in the minds of people I still know, and perpetuated in ways big and small, particularly in the legal policies of modern America.
Overall, the book unfortunately suffered from a convolution of writing style that had me rereading sentences or paragraphs five or six times just to understand the main thing I was supposed to get out of it, as well as a bit of “ when all you have as a hammer, everything seems like a nail” syndrome. I know this book was laser focused on harmful ideas from the past that still resonate strongly today, but each of the attributions could still feel like a bit of a stretch at times.
Overall, very much worth reading in order to gain clarity about some of the most contentious topics of our time and their historical roots.
I really wanted to love this book. Indeed, I loved a tremendous number of individual ideas, anecdotes, and histories imparted by the author throughout each of the seven chapters. I was indeed adequately horrified, stunned, and scoffing in turn at each direct quote from a man or woman in the past, who the author posits as being the central figures in creating the backwards and harmful ideas about women in their roles in child rearing, autonomy, and their relation to men.
What was most frightening of all was the fact that these ideas ranging from thousands of years ago to only decades ago are still with us. They are in my own religious upbringing, in the minds of people I still know, and perpetuated in ways big and small, particularly in the legal policies of modern America.
Overall, the book unfortunately suffered from a convolution of writing style that had me rereading sentences or paragraphs five or six times just to understand the main thing I was supposed to get out of it, as well as a bit of “ when all you have as a hammer, everything seems like a nail” syndrome. I know this book was laser focused on harmful ideas from the past that still resonate strongly today, but each of the attributions could still feel like a bit of a stretch at times.
Overall, very much worth reading in order to gain clarity about some of the most contentious topics of our time and their historical roots.
March 3, 2026
Absurd and bewildering. Truly, the propaganda it takes to keep women down is incredible. How is it that we're still having to fight the same fights over and over again, have the same goddamn conversations? I am sick and tired of the patriarchy. All those "advancements" and we're still all fucking miserable.
March 20, 2026
2.5 stars, rounded up
This book had some interesting takes, and I was appreciative of its exploration of early Christianity. However, the author acknowledges early on that her focus is on the western world, but I found this to be a thinly veiled excuse for white feminism. The author is a classicist, so I understand the early focus on Europe. It’s the more contemporary look at history where “women” lacks any intersectionality, typically meaning “white women.” She looks at eugenics but the focus is somehow on wealthy white women. Meanwhile, she regularly uses The Handmaid’s Tale as a comparison to the plight of white women, but she never acknowledges that it was the actual reality of enslaved black women. Again, some interesting points but I noticed quite a few times that people were being excluded from the conversation.
This book had some interesting takes, and I was appreciative of its exploration of early Christianity. However, the author acknowledges early on that her focus is on the western world, but I found this to be a thinly veiled excuse for white feminism. The author is a classicist, so I understand the early focus on Europe. It’s the more contemporary look at history where “women” lacks any intersectionality, typically meaning “white women.” She looks at eugenics but the focus is somehow on wealthy white women. Meanwhile, she regularly uses The Handmaid’s Tale as a comparison to the plight of white women, but she never acknowledges that it was the actual reality of enslaved black women. Again, some interesting points but I noticed quite a few times that people were being excluded from the conversation.
March 3, 2026
Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.
This was a deeply necessary, if occasionally difficult, exploration of the historical roots of modern reproductive politics. The author sets out to trace the "DNA" of our current crisis back through centuries of religious and social thought, and for the most part, the results are as illuminating as they are infuriating.
The strength of this book lies in its anecdotes. Seeing direct quotes from historical figures—men and women who shaped the foundational "norms" of child-rearing and autonomy—is staggering. The author successfully demonstrates that these are not dead ideas; they are "zombie" concepts that have been rebranded for the 21st century. As someone who recognized these patterns from my own religious upbringing, the book felt incredibly validating and, at times, frighteningly relevant to modern American policy.
While the content is vital, the delivery was often a barrier. I frequently found myself trapped in a "convolution of style," needing to reread paragraphs multiple times to find the core thesis. The prose tends to get in its own way, making an already heavy subject feel even more dense.
Additionally, the book occasionally falls into the "hammer and nail" trap. In its laser-focus on how past harms influence the present, some of the historical attributions felt like a stretch—as if every historical event was being forced to fit a very specific modern narrative.
Despite the dense writing and a few reaching arguments, this is a book very much worth reading. It provides much-needed clarity on why our current "contentious topics" are so deeply entrenched. It’s a sobering reminder that we aren't just fighting new battles; we’re fighting ghosts that have been haunting us for millennia.
This was a deeply necessary, if occasionally difficult, exploration of the historical roots of modern reproductive politics. The author sets out to trace the "DNA" of our current crisis back through centuries of religious and social thought, and for the most part, the results are as illuminating as they are infuriating.
The strength of this book lies in its anecdotes. Seeing direct quotes from historical figures—men and women who shaped the foundational "norms" of child-rearing and autonomy—is staggering. The author successfully demonstrates that these are not dead ideas; they are "zombie" concepts that have been rebranded for the 21st century. As someone who recognized these patterns from my own religious upbringing, the book felt incredibly validating and, at times, frighteningly relevant to modern American policy.
While the content is vital, the delivery was often a barrier. I frequently found myself trapped in a "convolution of style," needing to reread paragraphs multiple times to find the core thesis. The prose tends to get in its own way, making an already heavy subject feel even more dense.
Additionally, the book occasionally falls into the "hammer and nail" trap. In its laser-focus on how past harms influence the present, some of the historical attributions felt like a stretch—as if every historical event was being forced to fit a very specific modern narrative.
Despite the dense writing and a few reaching arguments, this is a book very much worth reading. It provides much-needed clarity on why our current "contentious topics" are so deeply entrenched. It’s a sobering reminder that we aren't just fighting new battles; we’re fighting ghosts that have been haunting us for millennia.
February 13, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I found this was a really interesting look at a world in crisis about reproductive rights, although it was a short look in some ways and I would have loved to have more information and context. With that said, I am absolutely aware that could have been a whole other book and a whole other can of worms, so this is a really good introductory essay into women’s bodies, reproduction, and where we went wrong.
I found the chapters about the ancient world fascinating, but probably the most interesting to me was the examination of Dickens, his impact on the popular culture and zeitgeist, and the legacy of the Victorian era. It’s no secret that Queen Victoria had significant issues in having as many children as she did in the modern era, but I imagine at the time she would have been seen as the epitome of motherly grace. The way the ‘big family’ concept wormed into society and took over the norm was fascinating.
These kinds of texts are absolutely vital to us understanding the world we’re currently in and how we can make it a better place than what we’ve found in it. I love that it contained so many zingers of knowledge and ammunition for further discussion. I do feel like some of the content in the Marie Stopes chapter could have been edited a bit better, and I would have loved some more info all around, but as a whole? This is well worth the read to understand our modern age and where we need to go from here.
I found this was a really interesting look at a world in crisis about reproductive rights, although it was a short look in some ways and I would have loved to have more information and context. With that said, I am absolutely aware that could have been a whole other book and a whole other can of worms, so this is a really good introductory essay into women’s bodies, reproduction, and where we went wrong.
I found the chapters about the ancient world fascinating, but probably the most interesting to me was the examination of Dickens, his impact on the popular culture and zeitgeist, and the legacy of the Victorian era. It’s no secret that Queen Victoria had significant issues in having as many children as she did in the modern era, but I imagine at the time she would have been seen as the epitome of motherly grace. The way the ‘big family’ concept wormed into society and took over the norm was fascinating.
These kinds of texts are absolutely vital to us understanding the world we’re currently in and how we can make it a better place than what we’ve found in it. I love that it contained so many zingers of knowledge and ammunition for further discussion. I do feel like some of the content in the Marie Stopes chapter could have been edited a bit better, and I would have loved some more info all around, but as a whole? This is well worth the read to understand our modern age and where we need to go from here.
March 24, 2026
super quick audiobook seething with rage. a historical look at the thirst for power that targets those that have consistently been denied autonomy. covers a lot from the idealized large family, religious values, and the roots of birth control in eugenics. read this immediately after watching the louis theroux: Inside the manosphere and wow ladies, shit is not looking good
March 24, 2026
Not an easy book to read, but I feel like the whole point of the sporadically written style was to spark curiosity, whether or not it was successful.
March 10, 2026
3.5 stars rounded up.
Sarah Ruden is a classicist who was convinced to write about the history of how men talk about women, basically. She was confused by the suggestion of this task (as was I, initially), but it is a necessary examination in a time when reproductive rights are being constantly and consistently attacked. In Reproductive Wrongs, Ruden looks into historical writings related to abortion to examine how these writings impacted future views on reproductive rights. It's incredibly interesting, particularly when she puts these writings into context that many of us non-classical historians would not know. While this wasn't the most interesting piece of work, I think it will be incredibly useful to those working in this field.
I received this book through a GoodReads giveaway, thank you W.W. Norton and Company!
Sarah Ruden is a classicist who was convinced to write about the history of how men talk about women, basically. She was confused by the suggestion of this task (as was I, initially), but it is a necessary examination in a time when reproductive rights are being constantly and consistently attacked. In Reproductive Wrongs, Ruden looks into historical writings related to abortion to examine how these writings impacted future views on reproductive rights. It's incredibly interesting, particularly when she puts these writings into context that many of us non-classical historians would not know. While this wasn't the most interesting piece of work, I think it will be incredibly useful to those working in this field.
I received this book through a GoodReads giveaway, thank you W.W. Norton and Company!
March 22, 2026
Read this for the bookmark but it was toughhh. Good content and informative but it often was spinning circles around old philosophers that I lost the plot
March 4, 2026
Super interesting book, that makes you question the world (and men) even more. Didn’t think that was possible, but here we are.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
A brilliant and challenging book about horrific history.
March 25, 2026
Sarah Ruden’s Reproductive Wrongs really opened my eyes to how harmful ideas about women and reproduction have lasted for centuries. From ancient texts to modern times, women’s bodies have been controlled, blamed, and punished, often in the name of religion, morality, or science.
The book starts with Ovid and ancient myths, showing how women were seen as dangerous or manipulative, especially sexually. Early Christian thought, like Augustine’s, framed female sexuality as sinful and tied control over women’s bodies to God and morality. There is shocking hypocrisy in Greek mythology where men (and also women) could do horrible things to living children (like feeding them to their own fathers), but abortion was considered the ultimate crime.
Ruden also shows how ideas about love and romance were used to control women. Pagan and Christian beliefs treated romance as a distraction for men that kept them from higher goals, while today we celebrate love and marriage as something to enjoy with someone you like being around.
The witch hunts were horrible to read. Women were punished violently, often just for existing or knowing things about their bodies. Men’s impulses were blamed on women, not themselves. Because of course the fact that good Christian men couldn't control themselves around women must mean that they had enchanted them into thinking sinful thoughts.... Seriously?
Even famous figures like Charles Dickens could preach empathy but treat their own wives and children badly, showing that harmful ideas can exist even in supposedly good people.
The book also highlights how women’s bodies have been controlled in practical ways. Lying on your back to give birth is still the norm in many places, even though squatting or using a birthing chair is safer and easier, because it is more convenient for the doctor. Religion, especially Christianity, has been a big part of all this, used to justify laws against abortion and punishments for women. Pro-life often means protecting the fetus while completely ignoring the woman, and some women were even sentenced to death for having an abortion. Reading about the brutal ways abortions were done in history was grueling, and the fact that women still do not fully control their own bodies today is heartbreaking.
This book is frustrating, enraging, and eye-opening. It shows how deeply these ideas are built into society. As a young woman myself, it angers me to my very core that these stories are not fiction, but still a current truth. If only women had full control over what happens to their own bodies, the world would be a much better place.
The book starts with Ovid and ancient myths, showing how women were seen as dangerous or manipulative, especially sexually. Early Christian thought, like Augustine’s, framed female sexuality as sinful and tied control over women’s bodies to God and morality. There is shocking hypocrisy in Greek mythology where men (and also women) could do horrible things to living children (like feeding them to their own fathers), but abortion was considered the ultimate crime.
Ruden also shows how ideas about love and romance were used to control women. Pagan and Christian beliefs treated romance as a distraction for men that kept them from higher goals, while today we celebrate love and marriage as something to enjoy with someone you like being around.
The witch hunts were horrible to read. Women were punished violently, often just for existing or knowing things about their bodies. Men’s impulses were blamed on women, not themselves. Because of course the fact that good Christian men couldn't control themselves around women must mean that they had enchanted them into thinking sinful thoughts.... Seriously?
Even famous figures like Charles Dickens could preach empathy but treat their own wives and children badly, showing that harmful ideas can exist even in supposedly good people.
The book also highlights how women’s bodies have been controlled in practical ways. Lying on your back to give birth is still the norm in many places, even though squatting or using a birthing chair is safer and easier, because it is more convenient for the doctor. Religion, especially Christianity, has been a big part of all this, used to justify laws against abortion and punishments for women. Pro-life often means protecting the fetus while completely ignoring the woman, and some women were even sentenced to death for having an abortion. Reading about the brutal ways abortions were done in history was grueling, and the fact that women still do not fully control their own bodies today is heartbreaking.
This book is frustrating, enraging, and eye-opening. It shows how deeply these ideas are built into society. As a young woman myself, it angers me to my very core that these stories are not fiction, but still a current truth. If only women had full control over what happens to their own bodies, the world would be a much better place.
March 21, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.
The research of this book is sound, but the convoluted writing style did a huge disservice. The fact that it only focuses on strictly Western ideas is also something that bothered me.
I would have found the book to be more fleshed out if it examined ideas on women & reproduction from across the globe.
The research of this book is sound, but the convoluted writing style did a huge disservice. The fact that it only focuses on strictly Western ideas is also something that bothered me.
I would have found the book to be more fleshed out if it examined ideas on women & reproduction from across the globe.
March 10, 2026
3.5 for me.
A fascinating and often unsettling look at the long history of suspicion and control directed at women and women’s bodies. What struck me most is how systemic the cruelty is, embedded across legal, medical, and religious structures for centuries and still visible today. It’s not just about abortion, but the wider reality of inequality, violence, and mistrust that women continue to live with. At times it genuinely reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale. I sometimes admired the argument more than I loved the writing, but it’s a thought-provoking and worthwhile read.
A fascinating and often unsettling look at the long history of suspicion and control directed at women and women’s bodies. What struck me most is how systemic the cruelty is, embedded across legal, medical, and religious structures for centuries and still visible today. It’s not just about abortion, but the wider reality of inequality, violence, and mistrust that women continue to live with. At times it genuinely reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale. I sometimes admired the argument more than I loved the writing, but it’s a thought-provoking and worthwhile read.
March 23, 2026
2.5 ⭐️ this wasn’t what I was hoping it would be
March 5, 2026
3,5 ⭐⭐⭐
faktisk ganske bra, det var veldig interessant og spennende å høre om, syns den var skrevet bra
anbefalt :)
Leste for Goodreads "Her Story" bokmerket
faktisk ganske bra, det var veldig interessant og spennende å høre om, syns den var skrevet bra
anbefalt :)
Leste for Goodreads "Her Story" bokmerket
March 7, 2026
this was a book I did as an audio for a good reads challenge. this is not my typical read.
it was thought provoking, but at times I felt lost because of not knowing the history or theology Ruden was referencing.
it challenged things that I was taught as a woman and as a catholic.
it is incredibly evident that women's "rights" have been lacking for the history of time.
men have generally always been perceived as the greater sex. oof.
3 ⭐ based on my general interest and ability to follow along.
it was thought provoking, but at times I felt lost because of not knowing the history or theology Ruden was referencing.
it challenged things that I was taught as a woman and as a catholic.
it is incredibly evident that women's "rights" have been lacking for the history of time.
men have generally always been perceived as the greater sex. oof.
3 ⭐ based on my general interest and ability to follow along.
March 9, 2026
great idea, bad execution. some of the evidence and arguments leads to different directions (with little correlation), i sometimes forgot what the book is about. the writing style is not my favourite either, it's hard for no reason.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Seven Ways of Looking at a Misogynist*
A review of the NetGalley eBook ARC of the W.W.Norton / Liveright hardcover/ebook/audiobook (to be published March 3, 2026).
I've been both backtracking and following the ongoing work of translator Sarah Ruden, a self-described Classical philologist, since reading her translation of The Gospels: A New Translation (2021). That work has expanded recently into biographies for the Yale University Press's Ancient Lives series (e.g. Vergil (2023) & Perpetua (2025)) and now into social commentary with this new work Reproductive Wrongs.
For this study, Ruden takes a look at the historical basis for the policing of women's reproductive rights and points to 7 documents / books written over a two-thousand-year span as epitomizing or promoting that control. Some of the choices are to be expected, some are a total surprise and some others might be viewed as being rather obscure. But each of them to have a part to play in the overall scheme of things. The focus is on Classical Western writing as that is admittedly Ruden's area of expertise.
The 7 documents / books are as follows:
1. Satire VI aka "Against Women" from The Sixteen Satires by Juvenal (c. 55 to 138 AD)
2. The Pastoral Epistles aka Timothy I & II and Titus from The New Testament in The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References): Old and New Testaments attributed to Paul the Apostle (c. 5 to c. 64/65 AD) but likely written after his death by someone else.
3. The City of God (426 AD) by Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430 AD).
4. The Malleus Maleficarum aka The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum (1485) by Heinrich Kramer (1429-1504).
5. The Chimes (1844) by Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
6. Radiant Motherhood (1920) by Marie Stopes (1880-1958).
7. Gianna: Aborted, and Lived to Tell about It (1995) by Jessica Shaver Renshaw (?) and Gianna Jessen (1977-).
The Augustan poet Juvenal leads the way with his Satire VI Against Women. The Bible's Pastoral Epistles begin Christianity's female subjugation. The late-in-life repudiation of women by Augustine advocates for celibacy. The mediaeval Hammer of Witches sets the pattern for the persecution and torture of independently thinking wives and midwives. Charles Dickens and his "magical waif" philosophy propagandizes multiple child production regardless of economic circumstances. Stopes' Radiant Motherhood disguises an agenda driven by selective eugenics. The biography of abortion survivor Gianna Jessen acts as a banner for the anti-choice movement.
I am admittedly biased about Ruden's writing, but I found this to be a fascinating and revelatory overview. Many may point to omissions of other major classical misogynist texts, but you have to draw the line somewhere and the selection of these 7 as being significant is well thought out and researched.
Footnote
* My lede header is inspired by the subtitle / alternative title of Umberto Eco's How to Spot a Fascist which is "Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt."
A review of the NetGalley eBook ARC of the W.W.Norton / Liveright hardcover/ebook/audiobook (to be published March 3, 2026).
I've been both backtracking and following the ongoing work of translator Sarah Ruden, a self-described Classical philologist, since reading her translation of The Gospels: A New Translation (2021). That work has expanded recently into biographies for the Yale University Press's Ancient Lives series (e.g. Vergil (2023) & Perpetua (2025)) and now into social commentary with this new work Reproductive Wrongs.
For this study, Ruden takes a look at the historical basis for the policing of women's reproductive rights and points to 7 documents / books written over a two-thousand-year span as epitomizing or promoting that control. Some of the choices are to be expected, some are a total surprise and some others might be viewed as being rather obscure. But each of them to have a part to play in the overall scheme of things. The focus is on Classical Western writing as that is admittedly Ruden's area of expertise.
The 7 documents / books are as follows:
1. Satire VI aka "Against Women" from The Sixteen Satires by Juvenal (c. 55 to 138 AD)
2. The Pastoral Epistles aka Timothy I & II and Titus from The New Testament in The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (with Cross-References): Old and New Testaments attributed to Paul the Apostle (c. 5 to c. 64/65 AD) but likely written after his death by someone else.
3. The City of God (426 AD) by Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430 AD).
4. The Malleus Maleficarum aka The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus Maleficarum (1485) by Heinrich Kramer (1429-1504).
5. The Chimes (1844) by Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
6. Radiant Motherhood (1920) by Marie Stopes (1880-1958).
7. Gianna: Aborted, and Lived to Tell about It (1995) by Jessica Shaver Renshaw (?) and Gianna Jessen (1977-).
The Augustan poet Juvenal leads the way with his Satire VI Against Women. The Bible's Pastoral Epistles begin Christianity's female subjugation. The late-in-life repudiation of women by Augustine advocates for celibacy. The mediaeval Hammer of Witches sets the pattern for the persecution and torture of independently thinking wives and midwives. Charles Dickens and his "magical waif" philosophy propagandizes multiple child production regardless of economic circumstances. Stopes' Radiant Motherhood disguises an agenda driven by selective eugenics. The biography of abortion survivor Gianna Jessen acts as a banner for the anti-choice movement.
I am admittedly biased about Ruden's writing, but I found this to be a fascinating and revelatory overview. Many may point to omissions of other major classical misogynist texts, but you have to draw the line somewhere and the selection of these 7 as being significant is well thought out and researched.
Footnote
* My lede header is inspired by the subtitle / alternative title of Umberto Eco's How to Spot a Fascist which is "Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt."
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A surprising lack of Aristotle. And Foucault, for that matter.
This book is about anti-abortion arguments in Western civilization. The author uses the term propaganda and it suits. It is about the control of women, focusing on different texts, starting in Ancient Rome and ending in contemporary United States. The arguments differ as the social conditions and specific intentions of the authors differ, but the shape of it is that the sexual autonomy of women is bad and needs to be stopped. This is usually in the pursuit of turning women into breeding stock, and is usually about erasing anything that does not fit that image.
If you want a bitchin’ polemic, get a Classicist. The number of professional pundits and philosophers, almost exclusively on the political right, who think that they write like this, and do not, is all of them. In other hands this would be an indictment of the West as a concept, except that it is written by someone who loves it and lives it, knowing it better than you do.*
The strongest argument here is on Saint Augustine. This is also the funniest argument. It takes Augustine’s ecclesiastical moves and rereads them through a biographical critique, putting Our Man in Hippo on the psychoanalyst's couch to take his doctrinal writings and do pathology on them. You can imagine the movie of this view of the saint's life, a sort of Shakespeare in Love meets Life of Brian where Catholic doctrine arises out of a rom-com.** It is a sort of argumentation that customarily goes wrong, but it is so amazing well-stitched here I cannot deny its persuasiveness.
A more general strength of the author in the text is her ability to work within the original sources, and do all her own translations. This leads to some revelations on their own.
The weakest argument is the chapter on Marie Stopes’ Married Love. The chapter on Charles Dickens tends to print the legend and accept the Victorians at face value in an (admittedly weird) Dickens story. But the eugenics chapter is Texas Sharpshooter in finding the propaganda that fits the premise of a top-down, anti-women structure. It is not like Margaret Sanger et al is more humanist, but the arguments in other Feminist eugenicists either lack or invert the meaning of the argument around this semi-patriarchy.
The opening quip is intended as an opening quip, but after writing it, I started to feel the stick to it. It is the weakness, or at least the complication, of this book. There is a much larger discourse that this book floats on the surface of. On the principle of charity, that is strategic rather than ignorant. But I repeat myself; I wrote it was a polemic.
However, more than a lot of books I review, I wonder about the reception on this one. The reviews will be a referendum on abortion rights, probably without reading the text. Which is a mistake. Not many books leave me charting my favorite one-liners in the text. *** But there is light to the heat here, with a few lines of thought worth better exploration, even if I remain uniquely confident that zero people are going to. Culture war is a tar pit.
My thanks to the author, Sarah Ruden, for writing the book, and to the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, for making the ARC available to me.
-
* - At first I was a bit confused at an abortion advocate with a significant National Review byline collection, but no, of course it is. This is what National Review thinks it is, not how it acts.
** - All fourteen of us would find this hilarious to watch.
*** - "Erotic anthrax" won.
This book is about anti-abortion arguments in Western civilization. The author uses the term propaganda and it suits. It is about the control of women, focusing on different texts, starting in Ancient Rome and ending in contemporary United States. The arguments differ as the social conditions and specific intentions of the authors differ, but the shape of it is that the sexual autonomy of women is bad and needs to be stopped. This is usually in the pursuit of turning women into breeding stock, and is usually about erasing anything that does not fit that image.
If you want a bitchin’ polemic, get a Classicist. The number of professional pundits and philosophers, almost exclusively on the political right, who think that they write like this, and do not, is all of them. In other hands this would be an indictment of the West as a concept, except that it is written by someone who loves it and lives it, knowing it better than you do.*
The strongest argument here is on Saint Augustine. This is also the funniest argument. It takes Augustine’s ecclesiastical moves and rereads them through a biographical critique, putting Our Man in Hippo on the psychoanalyst's couch to take his doctrinal writings and do pathology on them. You can imagine the movie of this view of the saint's life, a sort of Shakespeare in Love meets Life of Brian where Catholic doctrine arises out of a rom-com.** It is a sort of argumentation that customarily goes wrong, but it is so amazing well-stitched here I cannot deny its persuasiveness.
A more general strength of the author in the text is her ability to work within the original sources, and do all her own translations. This leads to some revelations on their own.
The weakest argument is the chapter on Marie Stopes’ Married Love. The chapter on Charles Dickens tends to print the legend and accept the Victorians at face value in an (admittedly weird) Dickens story. But the eugenics chapter is Texas Sharpshooter in finding the propaganda that fits the premise of a top-down, anti-women structure. It is not like Margaret Sanger et al is more humanist, but the arguments in other Feminist eugenicists either lack or invert the meaning of the argument around this semi-patriarchy.
The opening quip is intended as an opening quip, but after writing it, I started to feel the stick to it. It is the weakness, or at least the complication, of this book. There is a much larger discourse that this book floats on the surface of. On the principle of charity, that is strategic rather than ignorant. But I repeat myself; I wrote it was a polemic.
However, more than a lot of books I review, I wonder about the reception on this one. The reviews will be a referendum on abortion rights, probably without reading the text. Which is a mistake. Not many books leave me charting my favorite one-liners in the text. *** But there is light to the heat here, with a few lines of thought worth better exploration, even if I remain uniquely confident that zero people are going to. Culture war is a tar pit.
My thanks to the author, Sarah Ruden, for writing the book, and to the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, for making the ARC available to me.
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* - At first I was a bit confused at an abortion advocate with a significant National Review byline collection, but no, of course it is. This is what National Review thinks it is, not how it acts.
** - All fourteen of us would find this hilarious to watch.
*** - "Erotic anthrax" won.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Turning on the news or scrolling through social media today, there is no dearth to the bad ideas people have about women, reproductive rights, and "traditional values". While some days it feels like we've really just come into this age of ridiculousness over the course of a certain presidency, there have always been bad ideas about women, from propagandistic poetry written by Ovid in the early Roman Empire to the biography of an evangelical American “abortion survivor". In "Reproductive Wrongs", translator and cultural historian Sarah Ruden follows history to reveal how doctrines of control over women were invented and propagated, and why understanding the history of 'then' can help in the 'now', where a fast-evolving right–wing radicalism continues to decimate the reproductive and general rights of half the population.
I read a lot of feminist literature, and especially a lot of books about reproductive justice in these dark times, and I really liked the deep dive this author took into the far-flung historical ways in which ideas about women and their "roles" and right developed. I liked getting snapshots with each section of life and the important writings related to reproductive justice through the centuries, and definitely learned more than I knew before about scholarly attitudes towards women even in the last few centuries than I did before. A compartmentalization of women into pre-defined roles based on feelings and a desire for power has always been present, and I think it's important for the women and femme-presenting people of today to realize that as we face the same attitudes and challenges to rights in 2025 that women of the 1800s, 1600s, 1300s, and before did. This book would be a great launching pad for those who want a bird's eye view of the big picture with some specific examples, and will hopefully encourage those who read to do more exploration into texts that do a deeper dive on certain topics.
I read a lot of feminist literature, and especially a lot of books about reproductive justice in these dark times, and I really liked the deep dive this author took into the far-flung historical ways in which ideas about women and their "roles" and right developed. I liked getting snapshots with each section of life and the important writings related to reproductive justice through the centuries, and definitely learned more than I knew before about scholarly attitudes towards women even in the last few centuries than I did before. A compartmentalization of women into pre-defined roles based on feelings and a desire for power has always been present, and I think it's important for the women and femme-presenting people of today to realize that as we face the same attitudes and challenges to rights in 2025 that women of the 1800s, 1600s, 1300s, and before did. This book would be a great launching pad for those who want a bird's eye view of the big picture with some specific examples, and will hopefully encourage those who read to do more exploration into texts that do a deeper dive on certain topics.
March 16, 2026
Reproductive Wrongs by Sarah Ruben
Is disappointing.
Honestly, in so many ways. Not the least of which is my belief in humanity- or let’s be honest - men. Ruben covers most of European Classical and Christian time, with focuses on biblical influences, literature, and writings in various forms; examining the thoughts and attitudes on women's bodies mostly in regards to reproduction.
However, it’s disappointing also in its regard to the subtitle: A Short History About Bad Ideas About Women. It’s not necessarily obvious what these bad ideas are, besides the ideas just being hatred of women and equating them to less than. Each chapter can be its own book. It became repetitive and redundant investigating fictional stories like A Christmas Carol and extracting its influence on society's views on women. It lacked that extra punch. It’s not like it’s talking about women who were thought to be shapeshifters or that trains made their uteruses fly out. Ruben is simply talking about the idea that women are evil, whores, who need to be controlled because they are simultaneously able to trick me into doing whatever they wish and too stupid tie their own shoes.
The exploration was interesting, for sure, and I learnt many things I did not know- like JFK forcing Jackie into electric shock therapy because she was "irate" about his affairs. But the writing would be aided with more legal documentation or nonsubjective evidence. The witch hunt section did an excellent job of this. Too much of the writing was overly complicated or summarized to the point of boredom which then muddied Ruben’s agreement.
This book is for anyone who enjoys feminist writing, has a particular interest in Christian writing, European history and literature as well as the American pro-choice movement (in a critical sense).
Is disappointing.
Honestly, in so many ways. Not the least of which is my belief in humanity- or let’s be honest - men. Ruben covers most of European Classical and Christian time, with focuses on biblical influences, literature, and writings in various forms; examining the thoughts and attitudes on women's bodies mostly in regards to reproduction.
However, it’s disappointing also in its regard to the subtitle: A Short History About Bad Ideas About Women. It’s not necessarily obvious what these bad ideas are, besides the ideas just being hatred of women and equating them to less than. Each chapter can be its own book. It became repetitive and redundant investigating fictional stories like A Christmas Carol and extracting its influence on society's views on women. It lacked that extra punch. It’s not like it’s talking about women who were thought to be shapeshifters or that trains made their uteruses fly out. Ruben is simply talking about the idea that women are evil, whores, who need to be controlled because they are simultaneously able to trick me into doing whatever they wish and too stupid tie their own shoes.
The exploration was interesting, for sure, and I learnt many things I did not know- like JFK forcing Jackie into electric shock therapy because she was "irate" about his affairs. But the writing would be aided with more legal documentation or nonsubjective evidence. The witch hunt section did an excellent job of this. Too much of the writing was overly complicated or summarized to the point of boredom which then muddied Ruben’s agreement.
This book is for anyone who enjoys feminist writing, has a particular interest in Christian writing, European history and literature as well as the American pro-choice movement (in a critical sense).
March 26, 2026
Very disappointed in this one, I think the synopsis was very misleading…There were a few stories and pieces of information that were interesting but for the most part it was nothing new. Most importantly though I felt like the writing style completely ruined any chance this book had of being good. The sentences were so long and convoluted by the time I got to the end of one I didn’t even know what was being said. I also feel like her tone throughout the entire book is so intense, angry, and dripping with sarcasm and hatred that it takes away from the content. Like I understand why but damn girl we get it! It felt almost performative. I was expecting shocking specific stories about beliefs people held about women through history….instead i feel like I got a bunch of long drawn out history lessons about different men from hundreds of years ago and their literature- with a vague, rushed explanation of how their thoughts about women were oppressive (like duh tell me something I don’t know)
Not at all what I was expecting :(
Not at all what I was expecting :(
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Reproductive Wrongs by Sarah Ruden is an ambitious and well researched look at the historical roots of harmful ideas about women’s reproductive lives. Ruden brings her background as a translator and cultural historian to bear on a range of texts, from ancient Roman writers to early modern thinkers, showing how male authors helped shape persistent narratives about female bodies and autonomy.
I appreciated the breadth of sources and Ruden’s clear, engaging writing. There were moments that made me rethink how older attitudes still influence today’s debates about reproductive rights. However, the book didn’t always land for me. At times the connections between eras felt more asserted than convincingly argued, and I wanted a bit more nuance in the interpretation of some historical figures.
I found it thoughtful and informative, but uneven in its execution. Worth reading for anyone interested in the history of ideas about gender and reproduction.
I appreciated the breadth of sources and Ruden’s clear, engaging writing. There were moments that made me rethink how older attitudes still influence today’s debates about reproductive rights. However, the book didn’t always land for me. At times the connections between eras felt more asserted than convincingly argued, and I wanted a bit more nuance in the interpretation of some historical figures.
I found it thoughtful and informative, but uneven in its execution. Worth reading for anyone interested in the history of ideas about gender and reproduction.
March 24, 2026
Wow, a conservative man would HATE this book, which makes me very happy. Overall, this nonfiction novel was a deep dive into 7 different historical time periods/ works that help give a better understanding of why there is such deep rooted misogyny and sexism in modern day American politics when it comes to women’s autonomy and specifically reproductive rights.
One quote that summed up the different historical documents for me came during the discussion of the Hammer, a text focusing on the witch-hunts of the 16th and 17th century, “As alleged centuries before, the only really the important set of crimes, the fountainhead of evil, is female.”
Overall, I found this story very interesting and the author was extremely descriptive and opinionated on this topic (same) but thought that some of the analysis was slightly too repetitive and I would have enjoyed more examples vs. the ongoing descriptions of each piece. Personal opinion! 3.5/5 ⭐️
One quote that summed up the different historical documents for me came during the discussion of the Hammer, a text focusing on the witch-hunts of the 16th and 17th century, “As alleged centuries before, the only really the important set of crimes, the fountainhead of evil, is female.”
Overall, I found this story very interesting and the author was extremely descriptive and opinionated on this topic (same) but thought that some of the analysis was slightly too repetitive and I would have enjoyed more examples vs. the ongoing descriptions of each piece. Personal opinion! 3.5/5 ⭐️
March 23, 2026
DNF during chapter 2
The author appears to suffer the same issues she accused Ovid of, forgetting what the point is and going off on a rant about other things. These other things are rarely relevant to the theme of the book and often the book reads like a boring sermon. For a book about the ideas of women's bodies, a lot of time is dedicated to discussion of what men believe about religion or politics with little reference to women or their bodies at all. The second chapter about the early church is particularly egregious in this way.
While the author states that she is a classicist, there is an emphasis on white women's bodies, rights and health and ignores the women who existed in the classical Greece and Rome who were not white.
The author appears to suffer the same issues she accused Ovid of, forgetting what the point is and going off on a rant about other things. These other things are rarely relevant to the theme of the book and often the book reads like a boring sermon. For a book about the ideas of women's bodies, a lot of time is dedicated to discussion of what men believe about religion or politics with little reference to women or their bodies at all. The second chapter about the early church is particularly egregious in this way.
While the author states that she is a classicist, there is an emphasis on white women's bodies, rights and health and ignores the women who existed in the classical Greece and Rome who were not white.
March 25, 2026
Reading Challenge
Not sure what to say about this book. i read it because i wanted to finish a reading challenge and i wanted to read something that i would not normally read.
Well argued and at points interesting this is a look at how fiction, philosophy, media, and other tools of propaganda have been used to denounce and attack the act of abortion or family planning. The writer uses seven examples that are all fairly good and cover a period from the Greek civilization to contemporary times. Wish i had more to say but i do not think i am the audience for this book and the writer did not do enough to really engage me or 'care' about what she was writing about.
But this is not to say it is a bad book. it is more me than the book :)
Not sure what to say about this book. i read it because i wanted to finish a reading challenge and i wanted to read something that i would not normally read.
Well argued and at points interesting this is a look at how fiction, philosophy, media, and other tools of propaganda have been used to denounce and attack the act of abortion or family planning. The writer uses seven examples that are all fairly good and cover a period from the Greek civilization to contemporary times. Wish i had more to say but i do not think i am the audience for this book and the writer did not do enough to really engage me or 'care' about what she was writing about.
But this is not to say it is a bad book. it is more me than the book :)
March 15, 2026
It was hard to rate this book. I wanted to give it 2 stars originally. I gave it an extra star because it was educational and some parts were interesting. Overall though, it’s not what I expected and the storytelling was convoluted. The voice and tone of this book, in my opinion, is bland and inconsistent. There are small thoughts and opinions from the author here and there, but it was mostly a short telling of historically classic works. It lacked a clear explanation, in most chapters, of the cause and effect these texts had on the whole of society. I was left to draw my own conclusions on what the author was trying to say. There was no clear message in the end.
March 22, 2026
Sorrow, anger, informed
All emotions I felt while reading this book. The amount of suffering women have endured! This book was written because history is slowly repeating itself. Women are losing their rights! You should feel nothing but the need to speak up & protect our rights! This should be a must read for EVERY woman, honestly every human. Because, news flash, we are ALL human & ALL deserve rights. There is no “greater” gender/race/religion/sexual orientation/etc !
Facts that stuck out to me:
• JFK is a pos. Jackie Kennedy was an amazing person & deserved better.
• Oscar Wilde was apart of the LGBTQIA+ community!
• Trump got the Amish to back his political agenda in PA! 😤
All emotions I felt while reading this book. The amount of suffering women have endured! This book was written because history is slowly repeating itself. Women are losing their rights! You should feel nothing but the need to speak up & protect our rights! This should be a must read for EVERY woman, honestly every human. Because, news flash, we are ALL human & ALL deserve rights. There is no “greater” gender/race/religion/sexual orientation/etc !
Facts that stuck out to me:
• JFK is a pos. Jackie Kennedy was an amazing person & deserved better.
• Oscar Wilde was apart of the LGBTQIA+ community!
• Trump got the Amish to back his political agenda in PA! 😤
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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