Notes on Womanhood

Overview

After Sarah Jane Barnett had a hysterectomy in her forties, a comment by her doctor that she wouldn’t be “less of a woman” prompted her to investigate what the concept of womanhood meant to her. Part memoir, part feminist manifesto, part coming-of-middle-age story, Notes on Womanhood is the result. Here, Barnett examines the devastation she inflicted on herself as a young woman, the invisibility she feels as her youth fades, the power of female friendship, the stories women learn about midlife and menopause, and how being the daughter of a transgender woman changed her ideas of womanhood.

Author Biography

Sarah Jane Barnett is an Aotearoa writer and editor. Her poetry, essays, interviews, and reviews have been published widely in Aotearoa journals and magazines, as well as in Australia and the US. Her debut poetry collection A Man Runs into a Woman was a finalist in the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards. Her second collection WORK was published in October 2015. You can find her at: sarahjanebarnett.net.