Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World

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Burda, Joan M. (2021). "Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World". New York Journal of Books . Retrieved 3 April 2022. An epic yet accessible social, cultural and scientific history of women’s health traces the roots of sexism and racism in modern Western medicine from ancient texts through to the present day…. A powerful and necessary work of social and cultural history.” Into the breach has rushed today’s booming wellness industry, which Cleghorn notes profits most off women and whose popularity is linked to the prevalence of such baffling diseases. “The industry knows that women with these health conditions are being let down by traditional mainstream medicine, so it tailors itself to being caring, listening, seeing you as an individual. A lot of language in the wellness industry seems frighteningly 19th century to me, with its conditions and syndromes.”

in a book condemning men for not caring about women in medicine, this author has the gall to describe the excitement of male doctors when they finally have a female cadaver to study - an example demonstrating both the clear desire to study female anatomy to better understand us *and* the actual sexism against men who were clearly disproportionally affected by law. But we still make it about "men bad, women good". Feminist historian and academic Cleghorn, herself a victim of medical misdiagnosis, brings first-hand knowledge of the gender bias endemic in the medical profession to this scholarly yet personal, specific yet comprehensive study of dangerously outdated medical practices and attitudes." - Booklist Elinor Cleghorn: ‘There is a sustained note of anger running through the book.’ Photograph: Lara Downie I went into this book hoping to learn more about the legitimate disparity in medical professionals' treatment towards women and men and statements such as this gave me hope: "Women are more likely to be offered minor tranquillisers and antidepressants than analgesic pain medication. Women are less likely to be referred for further diagnostic investigations than men. And women’s pain is much more likely to be seen as having an emotional or psychological cause, rather than a bodily or biological one." I wanted to explore that with real research. Not with a quote of a quote. Not with flimsy inflammatory conclusions. And certainly not with a feminazi bias. Such a disappointment. Merritt, Stephanie (7 June 2021). "Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn review – battle for the female body". the Guardian . Retrieved 3 April 2022.An] eye-opening new book. . . . Cleghorn meticulously constructs an often enraging framework to evince how and why the patriarchal medical world has been so detrimental to women, especially underserved women and women of color.” Okay, raise your hand if you’ve ever had your symptoms totally dismissed by a doctor! . . . Well, Elinor Cleghorn’s eye-opening book takes a deep dive into the history of how the medical system has failed women (all the way from Ancient Greece to modern day problems like getting Endometriosis diagnosed) and how women are often seen as unreliable sources for what they’re feeling in their own bodies.” What it is not, however, is a book about women's chronic illnesses or misdiagnosis in a modern context. Seamlessly melding scholarship with passion, Unwell Women is the definition of unputdownable' Telegraph This incredibly scholarly and historical treatment of how women have been treated in western medicine is an absolute must read. Cleghorn does an amazing job catagoing mind-blowing injustices wreaked upon women's bodies since the inception of modern medicine.

But speaking to other women who have experienced similar problems, I’ve realised that it is not as easy for everyone. Friends and other women often struggle to talk about what is wrong with their bodies. They know that their unwellness is non-normative and that there may not yet be the medical words to express their experience in a way that seems socially acceptable. Common debilitating women's illnesses such as endometriosis takes several years to diagnose, even though one in ten women suffer and are incapacitated for a couple of days a month. I am one of them. I am still undiagnosed because the gynecologist thinks the bumps he feels on my uterus are scar tissue. I have scar tissue, but it's not actually on the outside of my uterus since that was never cut. Two days a month, for decades, I take several grams of common pain medication to be able to function. I thought this was normal, because no one tells you that periods aren't actually supposed to be that painful. Women's pain though, according to the medical profession, is something to grin and bear. There are much worse examples, with worse consequences. A trailblazing, conversation-starting history of women’s health—from the earliest medical ideas about women’s illnesses to hormones and autoimmune diseases—brought together in a fascinating sweeping narrative. A searing, brilliant investigation, an intricate and urgent book on how women’s health has constantly been misunderstood and miscast throughout history’ Kate Williams

Unwell Women

In Unwell Women, Cleghorn provides an extensive history of how feminine anatomy, physiology, and psychology have been studied and manipulated—mainly by men—and how they have often been used to oppress the female sex. . . . Meticulously researched. . . . Cleghorn’s final message should be heard loud and clear: Believe women.” Cleghorn hopes her book helps anyone who’s had a difficult or painful health experience “feel validated and valued, because this can be so isolating, so demoralizing and dehumanizing. But having an illness is also meaningful in the sense that you’re part of this production of very important knowledge. I hope readers can situate themselves in this history that hopefully now we can start to change.” Gawrylewski, Andrea (May 2021). "Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World". Scientific American. 324 (5): 76. Running parallel to this history of frustrations and injustices is an empowering alternative history of the resistances and beneficial contributions of women. She cites the pioneering American physician Mary Putnam Jacobi, who in the 1870s disputed the idea that women required rest during menstruation. “Male physicians at the time were using just anecdotes and conjecture, but Putnam Jacobi employed subjective knowledge from women to soundly disprove them. There’s a quiet radicalism in using women’s knowledge about themselves to change the culture of medical inequality.” We are taught that medicine is the art of solving our body’s mysteries. And as a science, we expect medicine to uphold the principles of evidence and impartiality. We want our doctors to listen to us and care for us as people, but we also need their assessments of our pain and fevers, aches and exhaustion to be free of any prejudice about who we are, our gender, or the colour of our skin. But medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. The history of medicine, of illness, is a history of people, of their bodies and their lives, not just physicians, surgeons, clinicians and researchers. And medical progress has always reflected the realities of a changing world, and the meanings of being human.’

Im zweiten Kapitel „Ende des 19. Jhdt. bis in die 1940-er Jahre“ zeigt Cleghorn, wie die Frauenbewegung „nicht nur für Wahlrecht und politische Beteiligung“ kämpfte, „sondern auch gegen die Bedingungen und Umstände, unter denen Leben und Freiheit von Frauen beschnitten worden.“ Zu dieser Zeit war die Medizin aus der Sicht der cis Männern viel weiter, aber für Frauen hieß es noch unter Schmerzen zu leiden. „Selbst wenn sich eine Frau die Betreuung durch ihren Hausarzt oder einen Geburtshilfearzt leisten konnte, erhält sie eine Anästhesie nur, wenn er fähig und bereit war, sie einzusetzen.“ Auch hier glaubten viele Ärzte, dass die Anästhesie gefährlich für die Frau ist, weil „die meisten Mediziner vertraten zu dem die Ansicht, sie selbst könnten die Schmerzen der Geburt am besten beurteilen.“ Medicine has historically pathologised what it means to be a woman, and what is to live in a female body, to such a degree that being unwell has been normalised in society and culture, while a women’s rights over her own body remain contested even today.” If you live in a female body, and if you’ve ever thought to yourself, ‘Why-oh-why are doctors not taking my legitimate health concerns seriously,’ this book answers that question definitively. This history of the female patient is the one I was searching for the entire time I was writing my own book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. One thousand more books like this, please.” She consistently uses the term "ovariotomy" to refer to oophorectomy. Ovariotomy literally means an incision into the ovary, such as in ovarian cystectomies; it does NOT, in current and common medical usage, refer to REMOVAL of the ovary. British readers, help me here: is this term commonly used in UK to refer to oophorectomy?

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A richly detailed, wide-ranging and enraging history... Unwell Women is not just a compelling investigation, but an essential one' Observer A richly detailed, wide-ranging and enraging history… Unwell Women is not just a compelling investigation, but an essential one’ Observer

There are other examples, of course, but unlike Elinor Cleghorn, I don't intend to drone on forever making the same point over and over. I don’t speak often enough on this account about life as a chronically ill person. partly due to how much I chew the ear off people about it irl and on my other account, but mainly because it can be difficult to introduce that side of my life to people who aren’t aware of it. this reluctance rears its head for a lot of reasons; shame, difficulty coming to terms with how much my life has changed, exhaustion at having to explain myself over and over and this fear of being disbelieved or patronised. I have chronic sciatica, a condition that affects the nerves in my hips, upper legs and spine. many people will experience some form of this in their lifetime, however I experience it in the extremities. I suffered a fall as a teenager that left me temporarily and partially paralysed and incapacitated. Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World is a 2021 non-fiction book by Elinor Cleghorn. Cleghorn provides a cultural history of the impacts of misogyny on western medicine and western medical practice. [1] Summary [ edit ] Every argument she made up to the point where I DNF'd was inflammatory, poorly researched or the takeaway was often not only far-fetched, but seriously missing the point. Cleghorn] combines her own story with a feminist history of illness and a plea for better listening. It shows how centuries of ignorance and condescension led to failings that endure today.”A searing, brilliant investigation, an intricate and urgent book on how women's health has constantly been misunderstood and miscast throughout history' Kate Williams Anne Green joined a grand house in an Oxfordshire village as a scullery maid during the 1640s. She was raped by the owner’s nephew in 1650 and became pregnant. Four months later, Anne went into labour. Her son was stillborn and she buried his body near a cesspit. Soon, he was discovered. Anne was put on trial for attempting to conceal the death of an illegitimate infant, which she was found guilty of, and was sentenced to hang. After Anne was pronounced dead she was taken to the anatomists who had been permitted to dissect her body. When her coffin was opened, Anne appeared to be breathing. To put her out of her misery, a male servant stamped on her. The next morning, the anatomists heard a whisper from Anne’s throat. ‘She had been hanged, stamped on, and lay in the cold for hours. But she wasn’t dead’ (70). Ann was revived by the anatomists and later retrialled. Ultimately, Anne was pardoned. It is likely she wouldn’t have been without the testimonies provided by the male anatomists who concurred with the local midwife and fellow servants that Anne’s pregnancy was in its early stages; that the baby would have not been able to survive under any circumstances. As a round-up history of women's health, especially in regards to reproduction, childbearing, mensuration, and menopause, it's really good. During the recent anxieties about the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and its possible link to blood clots, many women felt obliged to point out, on social media and in the press, that the risk of fatal thrombosis was significantly higher from using hormonal contraception, and yet this continues to be prescribed to millions of women without anything like the level of concern or scrutiny that the vaccine has received. The potential danger of a medication that only affects women is less of a headline-grabber, it seems. In fact, when the pill was first licensed in the US in 1960 it contained more than three times the levels of synthetic hormones than the modern version, and the side-effects – including fatal pulmonary embolisms and thrombosis – were deliberately downplayed. It took a sustained grassroots campaign by women’s groups to bring the issue to the attention of a congressional hearing in 1970. “From the beginning, the pill was couched as a way for women to take control of their bodies and fertility,” writes cultural historian Elinor Cleghorn in her debut book, Unwell Women. “But this also means that the costs – physical and mental – remain women’s burdens.” Elinor Cleghorn became an unwell woman ten years ago. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after a long period of being told her symptoms were anything from psychosomatic to a possible pregnancy. As Elinor learned to live with her unpredictable disease she turned to history for answers, and found an enraging legacy of suffering, mystification, and misdiagnosis.