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luhendry's review against another edition
3.0
This is great, but so so so many statistics that it took me ages to read. Very informative though, a good base!
laurorourke's review
3.5
I welcome broad, accessible, and inclusive texts to demystify the menstrual cycle, and this book achieves this. The snippets on menstrual activism and health justice were my favourite parts.
However, I disliked the often condescending tone and judgment on hormonal birth control when reproductive rights are not always a given and HBC is often the most realistic option for many women. And please, I beg editors to put an end to hashtags as mini punchlines.
However, I disliked the often condescending tone and judgment on hormonal birth control when reproductive rights are not always a given and HBC is often the most realistic option for many women. And please, I beg editors to put an end to hashtags as mini punchlines.
robinhood2000's review
3.0
I loved the first half or maybe even 3/4 of the book, but the last two chapters about food and general health grew boring. I don't agree at all that the book isn't scientific enough, if anything it was to much science, It felt like a textbook. I don't agree that the author is fatphobic, yes weight gain was discussed often but only when it could ease symptoms of conditions, I don't think weight was valued, only studied as a health thing. The author also said early in the book that not all who menstruate are women and went on to call us "menstruators" which I appreciated! "Woman" was still used, but then depending on that the studies quoted had used that word. The cycle tracking was very helpful and I will be going off the pill because of the discussion about contraceptive methods. I also loved that the author talked about different types of menstrual products and period poverty. Overall worth the read!
michaelat21's review
informative
slow-paced
4.0
As someone who reads almost exclusively fiction and fantasy my real rating overall would probably be a 2.5 but that is solely because of my reading preferences. This book was extremely informative and incredibly helpful in understanding how your cycle works and what goes on with your body and how to understand what it’s trying to tell you. I’d recommend this book to anyone who has a period. It was also extremely inclusive and helpful for all people. This has helped me a ton in my post birth control journey and helped me realize that birth control isn’t really needed in a lot of cases. Would recommend!
emiliehope1995's review
I got pregnant so seems less relevant. Will come back to it later.
esmeloa's review
1.5
What I didn't like about this book
- The tone the author uses. It makes the book lose its credibility and makes the reading experience unpleasant and at times rather awkward. I didn't buy a book about womens' cycle to be talked to like I'm the author's 15yo bff. I'm capable of comprehending complex sentences and maintaining my interest for the topic without any need for hip words and pop culture references every 3 sentences. Seriously, there is a chapter titled "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes." Who even allowed that.
- This book really didn't need to be that long. Many repetitions and unnecessary parts (dubious advice about diet and how to work with your cycle if you don't have one, for instance).
- The term ''menstruators.'' What an awful noun.
- The dubious nature of the author's knowledge, especially when it comes to scientific facts. (This by all means reads like a self-help book much more than anything else.) It is a bit unsettling to read that "not everyone who has a menstrual cycle and a womb is a woman" (3), for instance. The discourse on gender rather alarms me, because the author assumes that there are female and male genders that correspond to the female and male biological bodies. A woman has a female's body, a man has a male's body, and all the sexist social constructions associated to any "gender" truly have nothing to do with these basic biological facts. Please let's just stop enforcing gender norms that are as destructive for women as they are for men. Someone's anatomy has nothing to do with their hobbies, passions, what type of clothes they want to wear, how sensitive they are, etc. Gender is bullshit, anatomy is real.
How are we supposed to talk about sexism if anyone can be refered to as a man or as a woman, regardless of their anatomy - that same anatomy which has been the determinant factor for centuries of oppression and violence against women?
Why it still got 1.5 (generous) star
- I obtained some information on female anatomy and menstrual cycles.
- I do really appreciate the main and most important message of the book, encouraging women to track their cycle. I don't know if everyone would resonate with the seasonal aspect that she bases her descriptions of the cycle on, but I am quite convinced that every girl and woman would benefit from getting to know their own cycle and therefore body - and I'm glad this book provided me with this idea and with some guidance as to how to actually do it.
Had I known more about that book, however, I would have never spent any money on it.
- The tone the author uses. It makes the book lose its credibility and makes the reading experience unpleasant and at times rather awkward. I didn't buy a book about womens' cycle to be talked to like I'm the author's 15yo bff. I'm capable of comprehending complex sentences and maintaining my interest for the topic without any need for hip words and pop culture references every 3 sentences. Seriously, there is a chapter titled "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes." Who even allowed that.
- This book really didn't need to be that long. Many repetitions and unnecessary parts (dubious advice about diet and how to work with your cycle if you don't have one, for instance).
- The term ''menstruators.'' What an awful noun.
- The dubious nature of the author's knowledge, especially when it comes to scientific facts. (This by all means reads like a self-help book much more than anything else.) It is a bit unsettling to read that "not everyone who has a menstrual cycle and a womb is a woman" (3), for instance. The discourse on gender rather alarms me, because the author assumes that there are female and male genders that correspond to the female and male biological bodies. A woman has a female's body, a man has a male's body, and all the sexist social constructions associated to any "gender" truly have nothing to do with these basic biological facts. Please let's just stop enforcing gender norms that are as destructive for women as they are for men. Someone's anatomy has nothing to do with their hobbies, passions, what type of clothes they want to wear, how sensitive they are, etc. Gender is bullshit, anatomy is real.
How are we supposed to talk about sexism if anyone can be refered to as a man or as a woman, regardless of their anatomy - that same anatomy which has been the determinant factor for centuries of oppression and violence against women?
Why it still got 1.5 (generous) star
- I obtained some information on female anatomy and menstrual cycles.
- I do really appreciate the main and most important message of the book, encouraging women to track their cycle. I don't know if everyone would resonate with the seasonal aspect that she bases her descriptions of the cycle on, but I am quite convinced that every girl and woman would benefit from getting to know their own cycle and therefore body - and I'm glad this book provided me with this idea and with some guidance as to how to actually do it.
Had I known more about that book, however, I would have never spent any money on it.