Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Very interesting text that brought up lots of point with stats to back them up.

I had 2 main gripes. Firstly it was very binary. I would have liked to see some LGBTQIA*+ representation if possible although I get that it may not fit into the premise of the book. Secondly, it felt, tonally, quite man hating which I found quite difficult.

Overall very informative but not sure if I would read again because of the tone.

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ashwaar's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.25

I'm continuing my trend of reading feminist non-fiction, and I recently read Invisible Women and found it incredibly engaging and interesting. I highly recommend this book to everyone, as the data it highlights impacts all of us.

Pérez begins this book by discussing the historical acceptance of the male form as default, which I found fascinating. She discusses Ancient Greek philosophers describing the female body as a perversion of the male and goes on to discuss women's exclusion in everything from medical trials to public transport to crash test dummies.

This book is also incredibly frustrating because there's no one to blame for these failures. The basis of these gender biases are so deeply entrenched in our everyday thinking we don't even stop to question them. We don't stop to think why the women's bathroom always has a line or why medical textbooks predominantly contain diagrams of the male body.

Some of these biases or gender data gaps seem like nothing more than inconveniences, something women just have to deal with in a world built for men. However, these inconveniences can build up and, in some cases, are outright killing women. For example, using car crash dummies based on the average male body exclude women from these safety tests. Or not factoring women in medical research trials because their fluctuating hormones make them too much of an anomaly.

This book is justifiably angry at the gender data gap, and as a reader, you will be as well. I learnt so much from this book, and I feel like I need everyone else to read it as well. It is very data-heavy throughout, and if you have a physical copy, I recommend highlighting some statistics. If you're debating with someone who doesn't think the gender data gap exists, point them to this book, as it's essential reading.

Read more on Wordpress at Bookmarked by Ash: https://book990337086.wordpress.com/

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evnfig's review

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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ampam's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Eye-opening, and disheartening.

While I have known the world was designed for men (the phone I'm typing on right now is too big for my small, but not unusually sized hands, to be used one-handed easily), seeing the extent of it in everything from air bags to policy was very revealing. The book illustrated in many facets the repercussions of not taking women into account, and none are positive. It is quite daunting how much needs to be changed, and the book unfortunately does not offer any solutions for the world to be made more equitable from the flaws it pointed out in its writing. Additionally, the book does not delve into detail other intersectional identities like race, or at all for more prejudiced-against groups like LGBTQIA* folks. Regardless, it is a recommended read to understand how pervasive the idea of only designing for men and refusing to consider women is.

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sarahlizzie's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

4.75

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ruthmoog's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective

4.5

Brilliant book that clearly explains the impact of excluding women's experience. It doesn't ignore the experience of non-white women either, but does acknowledge that although women and female data are missing, so too are data for non-white women plus pregnant and menstruateing women to a greater extent. Trans women however are not referenced at all.

It's very statistic heavy, and relentless, but a must read imo.

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