Unwell Women
A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World
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Narrated by:
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Hanako Footman
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By:
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Elinor Cleghorn
About this listen
Medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. Over centuries, women's bodies have been demonised and demeaned until we feared them, felt ashamed of them, were humiliated by them. But as doctors, researchers, campaigners and most of all as patients, women have continuously challenged medical orthodoxy. Medicine's history has always been, and is still being, rewritten by women's resistance, strength and incredible courage.
In this ground-breaking history Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding, mystification and misdiagnosis of women's bodies, illness and pain. From the 'wandering womb' of ancient Greece to today's shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation and menopause, Unwell Women is the revolutionary story of women who have suffered, challenged and rewritten medical misogyny. Drawing on Elinor's own experience as an unwell woman, this is a powerful and timely exposé of the medical world and woman's place within it.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Elinor Cleghorn (P)2021 Orion Publishing GroupCritic Reviews
"Seamlessly melding scholarship with passion, Unwell Women is the definition of unputdownable." (Telegraph)
"A richly detailed, wide-ranging and enraging history.... Unwell Women is not just a compelling investigation, but an essential one." (Observer)
"A passionate and indignant history." (The Times)
What listeners say about Unwell Women
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jane Krauss
- 20-09-2023
Feminism 101
If you don't come away from reading this book, a feminist, I don't know what to say. This was a fantastic book. I learnt so much about how women's health has been viewed throughout history and have already recommended this to people.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-12-2021
Medical misogyny beautifully dissected
An incredible, vital, and shocking yet not surprising truth of ingrained misogyny in the medical industry and social psyche.
As someone with trauma as a result of medical sexism, this book so aptly unveils the horrific history that had brought us to where we are today. Inspite the density of research in this book, it is so beautifully and creatively written that it never feels like a slog of information. I can't even fathom the amount of work this must have taken to research and write, but I thank Elinor from the bottom of my heart for doing the work to lay out the historical implications.
It is harrowing to hear how so many women have suffered, yet empowering to know that my experiences of a woman in the medical industry is mirrored through so many other stories. It is not in my head, I am not being sensitive.
The narration and pace is also just so engaging, ai adore Hanako, just an incredible book to listen to all round.
I highly recommend this book to absolutely everyone, anyone with a uterus or without.
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1 person found this helpful
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- May
- 11-09-2021
LISTEN TO THIS BOOK
As a medical student, and as a woman, this book is absolutely brilliant in understanding how women have been (and are still) treated (or not treated) in medicine. Beautifully written, and an empowering piece of literature.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Eloise Svendsen
- 12-12-2022
Such an important work!
Elinor Cleghorn has done the work to succinctly outline the way the medical institution has failed and harmed women due to a world view that sees men as normal and women as somehow subversive.
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- Lize
- 12-05-2024
Medicine still has a long way to go towards equality
Very insightful book about women and their symptom histories. Doctors egos being more important than truely listening to patients stories. The gaps still present in modern day medicine and research around women's health and wellbeing.
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- Anonymous User
- 25-07-2021
A book I've always felt I needed to know about
A very informative and engaging account of Women's Health history, I'm a proud survivor of many health and trauma related issues. Thank you for bringing this book to light and I wish the author all the best for her future 😁
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 18-01-2023
Evidence Based Slay of the Medical Industry
Interesting insight to the origins of many women's focused medical treatments, associations, assumptions and discriminations.
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- Reader
- 15-08-2021
Cognitive dissonance spoils a good book
The book is about how women (females) have been oppressed because of their biological sex by imposing sexist stereotypes and assumptions (gender) on them. It articulates how women have erased and ignored in medical knowledge and research and asserts that females are biologically different to males and require different health care. However, the book is scattered with inconsistent and contradictory terminology that conflates sex with gender and refers to women as 'people with vaginas'. The book also does not address the current wave of experimental medicalisation of young women who do not conform to gender stereotypes. This is a failed opportunity because what is happening now is clearly underpinned by the historical misogyny described in the book.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 27-04-2023
Almost Excellent
I agreed with so much of what this book was talking about. I do not think that gender ideology belongs in a book about women’s health though. This book spoke at length of the biological reality and socialization and oppression faced by women so that felt like a slap in the face.
I did enjoy the rest of the book and feel it’s an important topic to explore though.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ava Madara
- 07-02-2022
This should have been epic...
The author lost me when she started dragging gender ideology into a book that's meant to be about natal females in the first chapter. The author clearly missed the mark when I felt disempowered by a book meant to be about medical gaslighting of biological females over the centuries. I agree with the other reviewer, the cognitive dissonance stopped this from being excellent. Such is the world of identity politics and cancel culture that WOMEN cannot even have our own book abour our own experiences of not being believed. I'm saddened and repulsed by the authors lack of bravery to stand up against cancel culture and address what this book should have.
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4 people found this helpful