I am honored that my 1st book, The Female Assumption, will be awarded Best Book of 2014 in the Global Media Awards hosted by The Population Institute in Washington DC next month. The Population Institute was founded in 1969 by a Methodist minister whose mission was to educate legislatures about reproductive health and to work to prevent teen pregnancies. My book amplifies the discussion of motherhood as a choice rather than a foregone conclusion, and the need to contemplate the long journey that consumes lots of the "Big 3" (time, energy, financial resources).

The Earth's resources are finite, and it's prudent for each generation to look into the future to examine what today's decisions mean for the future.

Women opt in or out of motherhood for various reasons; they make decisions about how many children to have (if any)--none of these decisions are fodder for dinner party conversation. These are excursions into bedroom territory. Treading into the personal lives of women is what society tends to do (just ask Jennifer Aniston). I, for one, don't condone this. I have friends, coworkers, nieces, and a daughter, and I support their right to choose the path that feels authentic. Love, meaning, family, fulfillment--these are subjective terms. To believe otherwise is ethnocentric--not everyone wants the same thing.

Our words matter; use them to protect and support, rather than judge.

Peace.

Link to The Population Institute's announcement of 35th Annual Global Media Awards http://www.populationinstitute.org/newsroom/news/view/65/

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Melanie Holmes