All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today

I did not want the book to end! Dr. Comen is such a great writer! I really enjoyed how she mixed in details around the historical treatment of women’s health issues with her own present day practice caring for her patients. This book makes me reflect on my own health journey and the behaviors we, as women, have adopted and what we can do to change these behaviors to advance the quality of care, treatment, research, and attitudes around women’s health. Thank you, Dr. Comen, for pushing us all forward.

This is simply a must read. Dr. Comen is a master storyteller and with her expertise as an oncologist, women’s health physician and historian, she shares history of women’s health and how it affects every single system in the body. The stories are striking and really allow us to understand the present and move into the future. A beautiful work of narrative non fiction and I highly recommend for every one.

This book is an in-depth exploration of the sexual biases of the medical system. I think every woman out there has experienced gaslighting and misdiagnoses by her health care providers. While all of the chapters left me gobsmacked by the way women have historically been treated by their doctors (wandering uterus?!?), the mental health section of the book especially just made me so angry with how women have and still are treated today.I’m normally a read a book in one sitting sort of person, but this book I preferred to just read a couple of chapters each day as much of the material is heavy subject matter. Additionally, I really wish that this book had been available in KU as I felt that $14.99 for the ebook version was pretty steep.Overall though, this book was vastly informative and really should be read by both women and men alike. In the end, we must all be our best advocates while dealing with the medical profession.

I'm a retired Registered Nurse and in my experience as a patient I can tell you that I have quite a list of unsatisfactory experiences with medical professionals.I'm at the point where I direct my own care or I don't play. I'm tired of unnecessary tests and paying for office visits that did not address my problem and I figured the solution out myself. I now have a physician who respects that I know a little something.

You will be angry yet informed

Dr. Comen has achieved something rare and great: writing a medical history book that is both captivating and highly relevant to today. Her prose is fluid and engaging, and she draws an impressive throughline through history to modern day issues in the treatment of women. This is a must read!

Dr Comen has done an excellent job illuminating the history of women’s health as well as the perceptions and assumptions that can limit female patients from receiving care and not just treatment. Her passion for the subject and for her patients shines through. Her book will leave you with a deep appreciation for physicians who see their patients in the context and fullness of their lives and not just as a problem needing a solution, which is such a vital part of cancer care especially.

Women have to be leading to charge to the best outcomes for women’s health. They can listen better & better understand a women & what she might be going through.

Both validating and infuriating. The history opens up why doctors still treat women as they do. Now more of Dr. Comes to fix a broken system. Illuminating for sure.

C’est un livre important, voire essentiel pour la santé des femmes qui mérite une très large audience.C'est sans doute le réquisitoire sérieux le plus sévère et le plus féroce contre le sexisme et la misogynie patriarcale dans la médecine passée et actuelle depuis la parution en 1970-1973 de l'ouvrage du collectif de femmes de Boston « Our Bodies, Our Selves », maintes fois réédité et traduit dans plus de 30 langues.Elizabeth Comen a tous les titres du savoir. Médecin depuis une vingtaine d’années. Elle est oncologue, récipiendaire de distinctions et de prix, spécialiste renommée du cancer du sein au prestigieux Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center à NY et Professeure au Weill Cornell Medical College. Elle a un BA en Histoire des sciences et un Doctorat en médecine de Harvard.Sous le signe d’une approche réflexive, elle a écrit dans son identité de femme, de scientifique, d’historienne de la médecine et de femme-médecin pleine de compassion. A l’instar de « Our bodies, Our Selves » il y a un demi-siècle, ce livre s’adresse aux femmes. Avec succès. Dès sa parution en février 2024.« A brief History of sexism in Medicine : The Truth and the Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why it Matters Today» intéressera également les médecins et futurs médecins ! Et bien d’autres encore.Son réquisitoire serré se déploie sur onze chapitres : 1. La peau : c’est ce qui est à l’intérieur qui compte ; 2. Les os, squelette : crânes, corsets ; 3. Le muscle, musclé (e) : qui est la plus faible ; 4. Le sang : circulation, affaires de cœur ; 5. Le souffle, le système respiratoire : les femmes respirent un air différent ; 6. Les intestin, la digestion : le prix à payer en suivant ou non vos intestins 7. La vessie et l’appareil urinaire : Un millier d’années à se retenir ; 8. La défense immunitaire : l’auto-sabotage ; 9. Les nerfs, nervosité : ces femmes sont folles ; 10. Les hormones et le système endocrinien : la gueule de bois hormonale ; 11. Le sexe et la reproduction : la mère de toutes les paniques morales ; Conclusion. Index.Certains feront des prises de conscience salutaires pour les progrès de la médecine et pour une meilleure prise en charge des malades du sexe féminin. Car son vaste panorama montre que de trop nombreux travers sexistes se sont maintenus à travers les âges et continuent encore aujourd’hui d’être enseignés et publiés au grave détriment de la santé des femmes… Certaines spécialités de la médecine sont plus sexistes que d’autres, mais aucune spécialité n’y échappe.Pierre-Emeric Mandl