Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage by Rachel E. Gross

7 reviews

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Transphobia

brogan7's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative lighthearted slow-paced

4.0

An excellent book, couldn't resist purchasing it on sight, what could be more interesting than the biology of the non-male body?
Though by parts dry and academic, overall this is a fascinating and important book. I want to know the answers to many questions she posed that are as yet still unanswered (tell me about the biome of the human vagina!) and all the follow up questions that go on from there...
Is it really possible that no human knew the shape of the clitoris until 2005?
(How did I know that shape before reading this book? How does knowledge spread?)
Recommended read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Misogyny

TW: descriptions of dissection of the human body, clitoridectomy, etc.

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

 This was such a fascinating read. It's written in a very accessible way, while still being detailed and well researched. It was infuriating to read about the patriarchal history of medical research but there's also a hopeful feeling about the future. If it hadn't been a library book I would have highlighted so many interesting facts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Medical content, Body shaming, Sexism, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

Minor: Dysphoria and Transphobia

Animal cruelty = mentions of lab testing on animals

booktoad's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Cancer, Chronic illness, Medical content, Rape, Abortion, Body shaming, Ableism, Misogyny, and Racism

knit_the_resistance's review

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Vagina Obscura is Not Fun. It starts with a graphic surgery and ends with a graphic surgery with lots of graphic surgery and misogyny in between. There's not a lot of room for celebrating the really bad-ass work the vagina does, it really emphasizes what the medical community has perpetrated on people with vaginas.
I did very much appreciate the chapter about gender affirming surgery. 
The narrator was never anything less than jarring. She's apparently from Australia but lived in NYC and can't decide which accent to commit to. It felt like she didn't make an effort to figure out how to pronounce words, maybe she was using Australian pronunciation or maybe she just didn't look things up? Either way, no fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Outing, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicide, and Body shaming

morethanmylupus's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

A book club friend chose this one and it was a great first nonfiction of the year. It made me so angry and frustrated with the number of males throughout history who have either defined female bodies only in context of their differences from men or ignored female bodies altogether. The chapter on gender affirming surgery was particularly compelling. I hope we can do a better job researching female anatomy and teaching future generations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Transphobia

sydneybedell's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Transphobia, Misogyny, and Homophobia

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Cancer