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A review by annabellepenhaligon
Hormonal by Martie Haselton
2.0
Something I’m rather self-conscious of is my lack of knowledge of my own body. I’m sure it’s an insecurity held by many women, who scroll the NHS website on Incognito mode and get their information and reassurance from Cosmo. As someone who was lucky to make it out of GCSE Biology with my sanity, nevermind a pass, I haven’t been eager to pick up anything too “sciencey” to alleviate this concern. I actually spotted this book on Hannah Witton’s shelf on her latest bookshelf tour and, having watched and trusted her for years, decided to pick it up.
Dare I say it, this wasn’t “sciencey” enough for me. Maybe I spend too much time on aforementioned NHS websites and reading Cosmo articles, but lots of the findings in this book fell flat for me. I couldn’t help but want more of the findings rather than the writer’s own thoughts and agenda. I was genuinely looking for a book which was a deep dive into the science of hormones, rather than a discussion of (mostly) heterosexual attraction and reproduction.
If I’m not mistaken, trans people and non-cis identities were not mentioned until the final four pages of the book. For a book all about hormones and their impact on lives, I was surprised that this simply didn’t come up earlier.
The final chapter was the most interesting to me. Perhaps this is simply because reproduction (and “baby-making” as the author insists on calling it, causing me inexplicable cringe) isn’t particularly relevant to me as a 22 year old just starting her career and at least several years off affording a property. Dispelling myths and misconceptions around contraception is massively important and interesting and I’m not entirely sure why the author didn’t lead with that.
Overall I gave this book 2 stars. I think it’s a good start for those just beginning to research bodies and hormones. But the problem is that the type of person to pick this book up already HAS this knowledge. Therefore, I’m not entirely sure of the audience, or the point.
Dare I say it, this wasn’t “sciencey” enough for me. Maybe I spend too much time on aforementioned NHS websites and reading Cosmo articles, but lots of the findings in this book fell flat for me. I couldn’t help but want more of the findings rather than the writer’s own thoughts and agenda. I was genuinely looking for a book which was a deep dive into the science of hormones, rather than a discussion of (mostly) heterosexual attraction and reproduction.
If I’m not mistaken, trans people and non-cis identities were not mentioned until the final four pages of the book. For a book all about hormones and their impact on lives, I was surprised that this simply didn’t come up earlier.
The final chapter was the most interesting to me. Perhaps this is simply because reproduction (and “baby-making” as the author insists on calling it, causing me inexplicable cringe) isn’t particularly relevant to me as a 22 year old just starting her career and at least several years off affording a property. Dispelling myths and misconceptions around contraception is massively important and interesting and I’m not entirely sure why the author didn’t lead with that.
Overall I gave this book 2 stars. I think it’s a good start for those just beginning to research bodies and hormones. But the problem is that the type of person to pick this book up already HAS this knowledge. Therefore, I’m not entirely sure of the audience, or the point.