Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'
Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation, by Susan Kim, Elissa Stein
1 review
battybookworm's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
I ended up really enjoying this book. Initially I was a bit thrown by the conversational tone. But I got used to it after awhile. I do want to warn that this is not a queer book in any sense really. The authors are solely referring to women with uteruses and make no address to that fact. I think it’s one of the clearest signs that this book is from 2009, which I didn’t think was that old going in but it definitely feels old.
All in all it is a fun book and I learned lots of little random tidbits that I’ve been sharing with family and friends. It’s more of a “wow, that happened!” Than a deep or heavy research book. I take the facts with a grain of salt and it’s missing bits with an awareness that it’s just an overview. I do think it’d be a good book for teens. There’s lots that it addresses that should just be part of sexed in my opinion. I mean, I had no idea how long they’d been making menstrual cups! Or trying to bleach vaginas. Both are good to know.
All in all it is a fun book and I learned lots of little random tidbits that I’ve been sharing with family and friends. It’s more of a “wow, that happened!” Than a deep or heavy research book. I take the facts with a grain of salt and it’s missing bits with an awareness that it’s just an overview. I do think it’d be a good book for teens. There’s lots that it addresses that should just be part of sexed in my opinion. I mean, I had no idea how long they’d been making menstrual cups! Or trying to bleach vaginas. Both are good to know.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Abortion, Body shaming, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
As I said, this book is exclusionary around gender and sexuality. It also features heavy focus on medical content and trauma. It touches on some racialized aspects of these treatments but is not delving deep into racial tension around medical trauma or femininity. This book is also about general sexism and misogyny for the most part, as one can expect in a text about historical events and society.
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