Barbara Polla is a doctor, a writer and a gallery owner. She is well-known as the author of Tout à fait femme (Completely Woman), 2012, et Tout à fait homme (Completely Man), 2014.

In Women Who Break The Mould, Barbara Polla defines her concept of self-regulation as an essential value in personal fulfillment — essential for us all, but particularly so for women, who are all too often constrained by restrictive and prohibitive standards.

In this unique essay, Barbara Polla criticises the stereotypes widely accepted by women: from the notion of success to that of super-woman, from the obligations of maternity to the dereliction of old age, and makes the case for feminine pleasure, and for solitude, and for dissent.

Self-regulation presupposes the refusal of standards set by others — by society, by rules of polite conduct, by customs and moral standards — and their replacement by our own rules of existence. Breaking free of the traditional framework if it does not suit us, defining ourselves, for our own well-being and happiness in everyday life: this is the way in which each of us becomes not exceptional but unique and irreplaceable!

A book about women for women: mother of four daughters, working with numerous female artists, Barbara Polla brings everyone together to make her case passionately for the rightness and validity of individual choices made by each and every one of us.