I'm Not Your Baby

An Australian woman's tortured life of sexual harassment and assault

Non-Fiction - Memoir
244 Pages
Reviewed on 03/18/2016
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Author Biography

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. At seventeen, Joy moved with her family to Queensland, where she spent over thirty years living on the Gold Coast.
Following in the footsteps of her father, published author and newspaper columnist, Joy realized her own talents as a writer with the debut of her memoir I'm Not Your "Baby": An Australian woman's tortured life of sexual harassment and assault.

Joy's hope is to encourage women being sexually harassed and/or assaulted to speak up and learn from her mistakes of remaining silent. Battling against not only males but fear, anxiety and depression as a result of her continued assaults, Joy offers her story to the world hoping to prompt women to fight for not only themselves, but for a shift in male attitudes and behaviours worldwide.

Joy currently resides in Ontario, Canada.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite

As someone who has spent a great deal of her life in Australia, I'm Not Your Baby took me by surprise. Fortunately for me and my daughters, none of us encountered Aussie males the likes of those the author, Joy Jennings, had the misfortune to meet. Looking at her website photos, Joy Jennings is probably about 30 years younger than I am and that might explain it i.e. perhaps the Aussie males' sense of entitlement has worsened over that time. Or it might just be the area in which she lived, for most of I'm Not Your Baby brings out men's baser instincts faster: the gorgeous Northern coast of Queensland, where beaches, babes in bikinis, and the party lifestyle is more pronounced.

What Joy Jennings tells us of her young to middle aged years in I'm Not Your Baby is a rather scathing indictment of Australian males. Their attitudes, at least those Joy encountered, are quite disgusting. Too many women worldwide have experienced sexual harassment and assault. Too many females know what it feels like to viewed as if they were a piece of meat. Joy Jennings drives those feelings home as she details being ogled, whistled at, propositioned, stalked and raged at, even nearly choked to death by males living in a constant state of hormone overload. Female readers will find themselves asking, as Joy does time and again, are there any decent men out there who truly appreciate women for more than their bodies?

The book trailer for I'm Not Your Baby states that this book should be read by males everywhere. Reviewers say the same, and I agree. But sadly, we know who will read I'm Not Your Baby. It will be women who pick up this book. It will be women who will feel, as Joy did, that even though she's not a knockout, that despite being well raised and not dressing to entice, men still can't keep their hands off women, especially if the woman is one like Joy who doesn't know how to stand up for herself. There were times I wanted to scream, "Don't just think that about the jerk; tell him!" But she didn't. And perhaps that's the reason other women who find men treating them as Joy was treated must read this book: when they do, they will recognize that inability to stand up for themselves in Joy's character and decide that has to stop, right here and now. Let's hope so.

The best part of I’m Not Your Baby, like any memoir about life’s struggles that is worth reading, is that Joy Jennings did eventually find that one good man she'd been searching for. Interestingly enough, he is a Canadian and she now lives in Canada. On a personal note, this makes me smile as I'm married to a wonderful Australian man and we live in Canada too. My point: there are lots of nice Australian men too. I was lucky to find one; ironically, so has one of my daughters! So, in summary, if I were to meet Joy Jennings today, I'd have to say I'm Not Your Baby probably applies to the experiences of many women in many countries and cultures, not just Australia. But what a sad reality that is. Thanks for spelling out the battles of far too many women, Joy Jennings. I know the courage that comes from finding out you’re not alone.