Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn

28 reviews

antoniamshmmr's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective

4.5

The book shines light on the way women have historically been treated in medicine and how it affects women to this day. A very informative summary of the wide history of western medicine is given throughout the book, while explaining all the systemic problems such as racism, sexism, etc. that women and non-binary people had to face. 

One thing I would‘ve liked to see in the book would be a comparison or  simply some information about the medicine of non-western society as this book mainly focuses on USA/UK and partly some other western countries. To keep a red lining I understand that this might be difficult to include though.

Overall a very good read – painful sometimes – seeing that so many aspects of inequality retain to this day. I am positive this book helps a lot of (unwell) women to focus on what doctors are telling them and how historical inequalities may be hidden within those words.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Abortion, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide

justmehayleyb's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

Super interesting, a frustrating but important read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer, Death, Miscarriage, Racism, and Rape

reading_for_pluto's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism

chronically_theo's review against another edition

emotional informative sad

3.75

This book was incredibly hard to read. Reading about how people like you have been violated and dismissed never gets easier. It is interesting though if you are in the right headspace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

missb_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Classism

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

catherineleigh's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, and Rape

solliereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

What an absolutely vital and incredible read! This book has made me totally rethink my approach to medical misogyny and medical malpractice as a direct result of the disbelief of women and their experiences with pain. I've suffered with unexplained chronic pain for a long time, and I've always been turned away when I attempted to seek help, support and understanding of the pain and exhaustion that no professional has ever seemed to want to touch with a five-foot pole. Reading this book felt like a warm hug - true, the facts are harrowing, particularly those regarding the experiences of women of colour and their repeated erasures from feminist movements, as well as their especially harsh experiences with medical malpractice and being treated as experimental patients without their expressed knowledge or consent, but every single fact has been included in this book to scream out that all women, regardless of race and class, deserve and demand to be believed by the professional practitioners that hold their lives in their hands.

I really appreciated, too, having a clear timeline of events that provide much-needed context regarding various issues in women's health. It was by no means an easy read, and there were times where I was so disgusted by the things women have gone through that I wanted to put the book away, but it was certainly an immensely helpful one. Cleghorn has clearly gone to great lengths to write a text of such great importance on the subject of medical misogyny, and everything in her book is backed up by a massive amount of citations, none of which are pointlessly crammed in there either. I truly look forward to reading her upcoming book in 2024 - MOTHERS: An Intimate History - and I fully expect it to be just as crucial a read as this was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Gaslighting

Minor: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, and Rape

gentle_garbage_baby's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Very interesting history of the trouble that women (in the West) have had regarding illness, medicine, and doctors. There's a consistent theme of women not being listened to when describing their own pain, with doctors deciding it is 'hysteria' or other sexist interpretations. Unfortunately, some of these attitudes still exist today, and I'm sure there are many women who have read this book who can relate to aspects of it, including myself. Some sections can be quite distressing, so I wouldn't recommend this to people who get particularly upset by the subject matter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Infertility, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer, Miscarriage, Rape, and Forced institutionalization