Unwell Women
Non-fiction book by Elinor Cleghorn
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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]
- Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK – 2021)
- Dutton (US – 2021)
First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Elinor Cleghorn |
|---|---|
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Published | 2021 |
| Publisher |
|
| ISBN | 978-0-593-18295-6 |
Summary
In Unwell Women, British cultural historian Cleghorn provides a history of the ways in which western medicine has abused and dismissed women and women's health issues.[2][3][4] The book's feminist critiques focus largely on medical practice in the United States and United Kingdom.[5] Cleghorn's research covers over 2000 years, beginning with Hippocrates and continuing to 21st-century medicine.[6] The book has eighteen chapters over three parts: Ancient Greece–Nineteenth Century, Late-Nineteenth Century–1940s, and 1945–present.[7]
Development
Cleghorn was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus in 2010, following her second pregnancy, after dealing with symptoms for more than ten years.[8][5][9] This experience led her to research lupus in the 19th-century which gave her insight into the medical treatment and mistreatment of women's pain.[10] Cleghorn's experiences with lupus are chronicled in Unwell Women.[11][12]