Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World by Elinor Cleghorn

14 reviews

faduma's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Abortion

marybsimp's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

arachan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

I had to read this book in chunks.  It's a very honest, very thorough look at the way medicine has persistently failed women and people with uteruses.  (Note on that: Cleghorn does not discount trans experience but given the historical record and medicine have been framed through the binary, women is the term used.)

This is a book that baffles and outrages me.  So much that could have been done differently, if the dominant culture was willing to value women and so much of what women got diagnosed was 'I can't be bothered'.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Unwell Women is a sweeping historical look at how women have suffered as patients at the hands of Western medicine, from ancient Greece to present. Peppered with historical case studies and the author's own heart-wrenching journey to a lupus diagnosis, the voices of women rise up through the narrative to be heard where they are so frequently suppressed.

Cleghorn's dry humor was much appreciated throughout this journey to balance the horrific nature of the trends and stories she shares. I found the ancient history amusing, with the Greek concept of "the wandering womb" especially hilarious. But the lived realities of these experiences are far from funny. Seeing medical knowledge peeled back to reveal the insidious tentacles of patriarchy creeping through everything was somehow both liberating and disheartening. Women have survived some horrible shit, sometimes with no help from doctors, and others in spite of the very medical attention meant to cure their ills.

Of the many topics covered, here are just a few that will stay with me:

 • hysteria, hormones, and the other excuses to dismiss women's pain altogether or root it in psychology
 • abortion, forced sterilization, birth control, eugenics, and all the ways women's reproduction is more valued than her own well-being and decided by the medical apparatus
 • the way medical knowledge has been accrued without female input or consent in so many cases -- I was especially horrified by accounts of research done on enslaved Black American women and the more recent trials of The Pill on Puerto Rican women without knowledge of the risks
 • the lack of knowledge, empathy, and support for women with chronic pain conditions

This is far from a complete history, but I don't think that's feasible for one book, anyway. It's largely focused on the US and UK, but I was relieved that the author addresses race, class, and gender identity as intersectional factors in women's health. I will carry these thoughts into my own experiences as a patient, and I want to learn even more about this topic and advocacy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment