Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

24 reviews

chronically_theo's review

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

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

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

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

solliereads's review

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

gentle_garbage_baby's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Very interesting history of the trouble that women (in the West) have had regarding illness, medicine, and doctors. There's a consistent theme of women not being listened to when describing their own pain, with doctors deciding it is 'hysteria' or other sexist interpretations. Unfortunately, some of these attitudes still exist today, and I'm sure there are many women who have read this book who can relate to aspects of it, including myself. Some sections can be quite distressing, so I wouldn't recommend this to people who get particularly upset by the subject matter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Abortion, Death, and Infertility

Minor: Cancer, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Miscarriage

dragnfary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.5

I think every person  with a uterus should read/listen to this. It's very interesting how historically women have been viewed in the medical field and how that has prohibited medical knowledge.  I also belive that this book would help you know that you aren't alone when the docs don't listen to you, and the importance of advocating for yourself and your health.  

It was very interesting learning how we have gotten to where we are todaymedi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Classism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Abortion, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Violence, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Miscarriage, and Torture

midnarose's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed this read,

Elinor Cleghorn definitely did her research and wrote the information in such a way that it was intriguing, entertaining (even if some topics are difficult- they make you mad at the world), and educational. A lot of the topics I already knew about (being a women), but little tidbits of information here and there were new and enlightening (also frustrating that men and people were idiots in the past in regard to a women's health and with what's going on in the world and the USA I don't think they have learned anything).

I think this book is a great read for any Women, especially if they feel like they are not heard by their doctors. It was a great history on medicine in regard to women's health and summarized how we got to current medical practices for women today and what still needs to be worked on. I would love to see more people in the health science fields (doctors , nurses, medical research scientists, health policy makers etc) read this book and talk about these topics to try and fill up the short comings in the medical systems around the world which have been caused by having a highly male based system. 

This book shows that medicine has come a long way from considering women sinful for having periods which allows them to kill animals with a stare, or diagnosing women with "hysteria" for everything. However, Medicine still has a long way to go as women are still highly misdiagnosed or there symptoms and pain are over looked as being over exaggerations. And sadly in many places in the world women's rights to their own bodies are still being fought for. 

This was a great read and I would recommend to anyone to read, just be warned you may get angry at the stupid priests in the 1600 century and most male doctors throughout the centuries following (like no sorry I do not have poison powers when I have my period, I can not touch you and give you leprosy, but hey I wish I did have super powers during my period it would make the pain so much more barrable) . 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

rosalind's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Cancer

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Chronic illness, Grief, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Rape

burdasnest's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

 This book made me feel seen and connected to all of the women in our time and the past who suffered medically because of their sex. Cleghorn acknowledges intersectionality and inequity well, but keep in mind that this is focused on western medical history and knowledge and cisgender women. She also emphasizes the absolute importance of the myriad issues we have before us as unwell women. I feel called to advocate and act by this book, and think that it should be required in health curriculum in higher education from physiology to public health. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Abortion, Miscarriage, Blood, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Rape, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Slavery