Opinion: Women Don't Need Any More Big Lies
By Tanya Selvaratnam,
CNN
| 02. 08. 2014
Editor's note: Tanya Selvaratnam is a writer, an actor, a producer, and an activist. As an activist, she has worked with the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Third Wave Foundation, the NGO Forum on Women, and the World Health Organization. She is the author of "The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock."(CNN) -- In "The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock," I explore many Big Lies, one of which is that women can delay motherhood until we're ready and if we're not able to get pregnant naturally, then science will make it happen for us.
Another Big Lie I write about is that we don't need feminism anymore. In a way, these are two sides of the same lie.
In the book, I make a strong argument for why we need feminism more than ever. The language of the biological clock has been around for decades, but conflicting or misleading messages persist. I believe it is the very role of feminists to arm women with knowledge so that they...
Related Articles
By Michael Le Page , New Scientist | 06.25.2026
We now know the master gene that controls embryonic development in people. Called NANOG, its role has been identified by making precise changes to the DNA of fertilised eggs using a technique called CRISPR base editing.
The discovery might lead...
By Sarah Norcross, Sandy Starr, Amanda Cooney, and Anneliese Burton, BioNews | 07.06.2026
By Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times | 07.01.2026
Birthrates in much of the developed world are at record lows, but there’s one demographic group that’s exploring new frontiers of fertility: ultrawealthy men. Deploying nearly limitless resources, a small number of them are reproducing at such an extraordinary scale...
By Mustapha Bature Sallama, Modern Ghana | 06.11.2026
In much of West Africa, a woman who cannot bear children does not merely face a medical condition. She faces a verdict. Her marriage may unravel. Her community may turn cold. Her identity, in a social order that ties womanhood...