Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

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

28 reviews

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

informative sad fast-paced

4.25

Highly informative book. Quite emotional and upsetting at times but really important to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Racism

chronically_theo's review against another edition

emotional informative sad

3.75

This book was incredibly hard to read. Reading about how people like you have been violated and dismissed never gets easier. It is interesting though if you are in the right headspace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Xenophobia, Rape, Racism, Misogyny, Ableism, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Classism, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Death, Confinement, Child death, and Cancer

ienbdri's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Chronic illness, Sexism, Ableism, Pregnancy, Medical content, Racism, Medical trauma, Classism, and Colonisation

pipn_t's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

Really good book, a little bit of a tough read.  Focused mainly on the field of gynaecology.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

Moderate: Cancer, Ableism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Chronic illness

missb_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Blood, Misogyny, Rape, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, and Classism

gellyreads's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Sexism, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Ableism, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Infidelity, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Abortion, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Sexual content, Drug use, and Miscarriage

catherineleigh's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abortion, Ableism, Chronic illness, and Classism

Minor: Infertility, Rape, and Cancer

beatriks's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

I listened to the german Audiobook version that is available on Spotify and I loved it. 
The history is of misogyny and discrimination and mistreatment goes beyond what I knew and is far more shocking than I thought. I'm planning to give the book as a present to some women around me. 

Highly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Misogyny, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia

Minor: Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

solliereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

What an absolutely vital and incredible read! This book has made me totally rethink my approach to medical misogyny and medical malpractice as a direct result of the disbelief of women and their experiences with pain. I've suffered with unexplained chronic pain for a long time, and I've always been turned away when I attempted to seek help, support and understanding of the pain and exhaustion that no professional has ever seemed to want to touch with a five-foot pole. Reading this book felt like a warm hug - true, the facts are harrowing, particularly those regarding the experiences of women of colour and their repeated erasures from feminist movements, as well as their especially harsh experiences with medical malpractice and being treated as experimental patients without their expressed knowledge or consent, but every single fact has been included in this book to scream out that all women, regardless of race and class, deserve and demand to be believed by the professional practitioners that hold their lives in their hands.

I really appreciated, too, having a clear timeline of events that provide much-needed context regarding various issues in women's health. It was by no means an easy read, and there were times where I was so disgusted by the things women have gone through that I wanted to put the book away, but it was certainly an immensely helpful one. Cleghorn has clearly gone to great lengths to write a text of such great importance on the subject of medical misogyny, and everything in her book is backed up by a massive amount of citations, none of which are pointlessly crammed in there either. I truly look forward to reading her upcoming book in 2024 - MOTHERS: An Intimate History - and I fully expect it to be just as crucial a read as this was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Infertility, and Chronic illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, and Eating disorder