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A review by sandrinepal
All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us about Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today by Elizabeth Comen
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
After two books about menopause, you'd think I would take a little breather, but no. Not I. I soldiered on and am now extra super mad.
There were many things of which I was already aware (partly due to the aforementioned menopause books), but some still blew my ever-loving mind. Chlorosis (the so-called virgins' disease), the sexification of tuberculosis, and institutionalizing inconvenient wives being just a few of those facts. Perhaps the most concerning was the fact that cardiovascular disease in women was swept under the rug until VERY recently.
In all seriousness, I can't speak to the experience of being male and seeking medical care, so I honestly don't know if the callousness doesn't cut both ways. What this book did, however, was remind me of (at least) two encounters I've had with medical professionals that I can't help but feel might have played out differently if I had been male.
One was as a 25-year-old living in a new city and meeting a primary care physician for the first time. The purpose of my visit was to get my 10-year tetanus booster shot. I ended up being told that I should practice abstinence with my live-in boyfriend of nearly five years. Jeez, buy a patient a drink first, can't ya? (Though I did eventually get my tetanus shot.)
Another time was when I found myself in the ER shortly after my dad had passed away. Unbeknownst to me, I had just had my first panic attack. The attending essentially sent me home after telling me to 'not party so hard'.
In both cases, I remember walking away confused, embarrassed-slash-chastized, and definitely not better equipped to advocate for my own health and needs. Comen's entreaty at the end of the book to see our medical practitioners for the humans that they are, and to strive to form a partnership with them really struck a chord with me. It reinforced the need to instill in my children, especially my daughter, not just the respect for the medical profession that I was taught as a kid, but also the self-respect to speak up (or sometimes even walk out) when the relationship is predicated on outdated models (gender or otherwise).
There were many things of which I was already aware (partly due to the aforementioned menopause books), but some still blew my ever-loving mind. Chlorosis (the so-called virgins' disease), the sexification of tuberculosis, and institutionalizing inconvenient wives being just a few of those facts. Perhaps the most concerning was the fact that cardiovascular disease in women was swept under the rug until VERY recently.
In all seriousness, I can't speak to the experience of being male and seeking medical care, so I honestly don't know if the callousness doesn't cut both ways. What this book did, however, was remind me of (at least) two encounters I've had with medical professionals that I can't help but feel might have played out differently if I had been male.
One was as a 25-year-old living in a new city and meeting a primary care physician for the first time. The purpose of my visit was to get my 10-year tetanus booster shot. I ended up being told that I should practice abstinence with my live-in boyfriend of nearly five years. Jeez, buy a patient a drink first, can't ya? (Though I did eventually get my tetanus shot.)
Another time was when I found myself in the ER shortly after my dad had passed away. Unbeknownst to me, I had just had my first panic attack. The attending essentially sent me home after telling me to 'not party so hard'.
In both cases, I remember walking away confused, embarrassed-slash-chastized, and definitely not better equipped to advocate for my own health and needs. Comen's entreaty at the end of the book to see our medical practitioners for the humans that they are, and to strive to form a partnership with them really struck a chord with me. It reinforced the need to instill in my children, especially my daughter, not just the respect for the medical profession that I was taught as a kid, but also the self-respect to speak up (or sometimes even walk out) when the relationship is predicated on outdated models (gender or otherwise).