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rosekk's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book when I was looking for a more general history of medicine, having realised that my knowledge of medical development goes from ancient Greeks and the theories around humours > leeching people > modern medicine, with no knowledge of how we got between those stages or how knowledge from outside the western world has contributed. This book fills in some of those gaps (though is still very Western-focussed), with a particular focus on women's health. I realised I knew more than I thought I had, because a lot of the information on how women's health was studied and treated wasn't new to me, though some of the particular case studies were. Some of the experiences and poor treatment that persist today I am very familiar with (e.g. gynaecological complaints being deemed 'natural' regardless of how they impact your life, until they get too serious to ignore), but the information around auto-immune diseases was new to me.
So, all in all, an informative book that filled some of the gaps in my knowledge, backed up what I already knew, and was a fairly easy read given the subject matter.
The book does a fairly decent job of highlighting the racial disparities in how Western medicine has treated women, but because it is mainly focused on the Western world, probably misses some nuances. It also acknowledges the differences between sex and gender and occasionally touches on the difficulties arising from conflating the two, but mostly focuses on people of the female sex, rather than the female gender.
So, all in all, an informative book that filled some of the gaps in my knowledge, backed up what I already knew, and was a fairly easy read given the subject matter.
The book does a fairly decent job of highlighting the racial disparities in how Western medicine has treated women, but because it is mainly focused on the Western world, probably misses some nuances. It also acknowledges the differences between sex and gender and occasionally touches on the difficulties arising from conflating the two, but mostly focuses on people of the female sex, rather than the female gender.
emilykfitzgerald's review against another edition
This book gives an interesting glimpse into the history of female healthcare but is severely lacking in intersectionality diversity, mostly of the talking points are from a posh white perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Classism
dennasus's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
This is such an important book and very informative for anyone interested in women's rights issues and also health and history. Sometimes it felt a bit too detailed and thus it took me a while to get through it, but maybe that's just me. (4 August 2024)
[I've stopped rating books in May 2024]
[I've stopped rating books in May 2024]
aw_katie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
abisnail564's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.75
Excellent book - gives so much information about the history of women’s health. Focuses mainly on the UK and US and considers intersectional issues that Black and Brown women face.