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A review by cleot
Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology by Deirdre Cooper Owens
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
My only criticism is that several of the quotes and anecdotes are repeated several times in their entirety, rather than just referencing the prior passage. Otherwise a very informative and important work. Brace yourself for some rough reading.
Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Rape, Torture, Slavery, Physical abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Racism, Violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Misogyny, Medical content, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Abortion, Xenophobia, and Classism
Minor: Infertility
Content warnings are in line with the experience of black and immigrant women in slavery and indenture who were used without their consent to serve as subjects in research in gynecology via non-anaesthetized surgeries, to include accounts of the abuse and sexual violence they experienced in advance of seeking medical care. Very graphic.