Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Doing Harm: The Truth about How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbery

7 reviews

beetree's review

challenging informative sad slow-paced

3.5

This is a really important book but I found it dry and repetitive, despite being passionate about this topic. It’s structure and formatting (very long chapters sometimes) didn’t work for me and because of the repetition, I sometimes lost the point of the chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Gaslighting

Moderate: Classism, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Medical content, Ableism, Colonisation, and Medical trauma

alexisgarcia's review

informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

this is definitely a hard book, especially for someone like me who has autoimmune conditions. but in that way, it was informative and validating. i would definitely recommend this but it’s good to take into account that this is a depressing read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Transphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Medical content, Ableism, Death, Infertility, Gaslighting, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Grief

kellylynnthomas's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This is an excellent and deeply reported examination of how sexism, racism, and the intersection of the two in the medical field leave women sick and in extreme cases, dead. The writing is engaging and interesting, never dry or dull. The author doesn't delve too deeply into trans issues, but explains early on that it's hard to do because of the lack of available studies and information. So, she does focus mainly on cis women, but I think all AFAB folks will find validation and the knowledge to better advocate for themselves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, and Fatphobia

arayo's review

informative sad

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexism, Misogyny, and Medical content

Moderate: Racism, Cancer, Infertility, Ableism, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, and Classism

sbryn's review against another edition

challenging informative

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

vaniavela's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Women suffer because of the biases of professionals in the medical field. 

Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick, is an excellent and eye-opening book that gives us insight into women's health throughout history and the struggles we have gone through to be taken seriously.

This book shows us how men are the standard, excluding women because of their wombs and reproductive potential; being considered unreliable informants of their own health and bodies.

It tends to be a bit repetitive, but I find it fascinating how we continue to fight against this situation.  Women have been the subject of mistrust, and medical mistreatment throughout history. It is time to change this. 

This is a must read book.

Tw: health issues, medical gaslighting, and mistreatment by doctors and the healthcare system.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism

rayne_1906's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

2.25

4 hours 12 minutes - This book focuses on a very relevant and important issue, but unfortunately is very boring to read. The author has certainly done her research on the topic, but it is presented in a way which is repetitive and dull most of the time. Dusenbery does cover a lot of ground on sexism in medicine, and how this might intersect with other things such as race, class, transphobia, etc., but many parts of this book could have been cut without any impact on the message the book is trying to convey. Definitely makes me want to read more into the subject though.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Transphobia