1.17k reviews for:

All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us about Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today

Elizabeth Comen

4.33 AVERAGE

geminimoon2's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 22%

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Too busy for any reading. Will try again later

lisabee12's review against another edition

5.0

challenging informative fast-paced

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Informative, engaging, infuriating at times, and inventively formatted, with each chapter being a different system in the body. I started the book in print but ended up moving to audio, which is a preferred format for this type of non-fiction book. Highly recommend!

melissafelicia's review

4.5

dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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This does an amazing job at giving an overview of sexism within different medical fields over the past centuries, and how many (false) ideas we have today about women's health still stem from male doctors that drew false and biased conclusions years ago, often projecting their own misogyny on their research, leading to a lot of suffering. Many examples made me angry. I learned that many things I believe about women's bodies are not even necessarily true, just not studied enough, such as that there is not much that can be done about menopause-related health complaints, how little has been invested into research on contraception, how we know very little about gastrointestinal issues, incontinence and thyroid problems (which largely impact women). It is horrible how it is generally assumed that women simply have to suffer, from menstrual problems, postnatal pain and menopause, when there might be solutions if there would be more attention and money invested. 

In any case, this book was a good reminder to trust that you know your own body and advocate for your health, if you feel like you are not taken seriously. 

cassie_in_the_void's review against another edition

5.0

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

rhaes's review

DID NOT FINISH: 89%

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The language used around 90% into the book is dripping with TERF dogwhistles and terminology. The topic (medical history, sexism, how that affects people today) is super necessary. The transphobia, however, is not.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia

alejanoprichard's review against another edition

5.0

informative reflective medium-paced

eeeeeely's review against another edition

4.5

informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

3.0

informative slow-paced

jesslroy's review against another edition

5.0

informative slow-paced

simone3993's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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This book was informative but also very sad. This was reminder of how the foundation matter when it comes to our institutions especially when it comes to our health.