ogglogs's review against another edition
4.0
god this took me ages! i struggle to physically read non-fiction, much preferring to listen to them as an audiobook, but this was worth the persistence!! this book managed to tackle medical misogyny without being essentialist about what it means to be a woman. it was reasonably intersectional (although mostly dealing with the us and uk) and honestly just a great insight into why medical misogyny is still so present. it is a history book, which is not my favourite, so i took ages with the first part (it starts in ancient GREECE ffs!!) but as soon as it became more contemporary i was literally taking notes and folding down pages! the history was necessary to inform the present, but i found it.. a little dull. still a necessary and important read tho!
jadeneedy's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Everyone should have to read this book. Truly incredible and important information. I think the chapters were too long and convoluted at some points but that was one of the only issues.
menniemenace's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
This is a heavy book. It covers the mistreatment and bias against women in medicine, which are very anger-inducing topics to read about.
I like that the book was written because the author faced a similar situation to what women faced ages ago. Having a personal motive to write the book made it ring true.
It's awful that ignorant men were -and still are- able to diagnose very random diseases because they don't understand women's bodies or trust them. People actually believed that the womb wanders in the body every now and then. That was an actual unchallenged medical diagnosis.
This book tells stories where the medicine was just pure violence against women and even straight-up torture at times. It's very infuriating to read about it, and even more infuriating that it's still happening.
In Egypt, there are a lot of cases where doctors refuse to operate on unmarried girls if they're poor or uneducated because some operations lead to complications in pregnancy. They just decide for the girls and refuse them the medical treatment they're entitled to. Some doctors just don't believe women when they report their symptoms, and others refuse outright to give them contraceptive medications or tie their tubes if they request it. This is happening in 2021 so reading this book made me feel like we barely made any progress on that front.
My only problem with the book is that sometimes I lost the common thread between all the chapters and incidents. They were all significant, but in some cases there was a very convoluted link between the story and the main topic.
This is a heavy book. It covers the mistreatment and bias against women in medicine, which are very anger-inducing topics to read about.
I like that the book was written because the author faced a similar situation to what women faced ages ago. Having a personal motive to write the book made it ring true.
It's awful that ignorant men were -and still are- able to diagnose very random diseases because they don't understand women's bodies or trust them. People actually believed that the womb wanders in the body every now and then. That was an actual unchallenged medical diagnosis.
This book tells stories where the medicine was just pure violence against women and even straight-up torture at times. It's very infuriating to read about it, and even more infuriating that it's still happening.
In Egypt, there are a lot of cases where doctors refuse to operate on unmarried girls if they're poor or uneducated because some operations lead to complications in pregnancy. They just decide for the girls and refuse them the medical treatment they're entitled to. Some doctors just don't believe women when they report their symptoms, and others refuse outright to give them contraceptive medications or tie their tubes if they request it. This is happening in 2021 so reading this book made me feel like we barely made any progress on that front.
My only problem with the book is that sometimes I lost the common thread between all the chapters and incidents. They were all significant, but in some cases there was a very convoluted link between the story and the main topic.
justmehayleyb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Abortion, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Medical content, Misogyny, Death, Racism, Cancer, Gaslighting, Infertility, and Sexual assault
donnerbella's review against another edition
5.0
Es ist so gut, aber es macht auch so unglaublich wütend. Man möchte dauernd Schreien und Dinge werfen, weil man nicht fassen kann, was uns bis heute vorenthalten und angetan wird. Das sollten alle Medizinstudent*innen lesen müssen.
melio22's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0