In Unwell Women, Elinor Cleghorn traces the almost unbelievable history of how medicine has failed women by treating their bodies as alien and other, often to perilous effect. 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. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after a long period of being told her symptoms were anything from psychosomatic to a possible pregnancy. Packed with character studies of women who have suffered, challenged and rewritten medical orthodoxy – and drawing on her own experience of un-diagnosed Lupus disease – this is a ground-breaking and timely exposé of the medical world and woman’s place within it.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.Įlinor Cleghorn became an unwell woman ten years ago. In Unwell Women Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding, mystification and misdiagnosis of women’s bodies, and traces the journey from the ‘wandering womb’ of ancient Greece, the rise of witch trials in Medieval Europe, through the dawn of Hysteria, to modern day understandings of autoimmune diseases, the menopause and conditions like endometriosis. And medical progress has always reflected the realities of a changing world, and the meanings of being human.’ The history of medicine, of illness, is a history of people, of their bodies and their lives, not just physicians, surgeons, clinicians and researchers. But medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. 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. And as a science, we expect medicine to uphold the principles of evidence and impartiality.

‘We are taught that medicine is the art of solving our body’s mysteries. ‘UNWELL WOMEN is a powerful and fascinating book t hat takes an unsparing look at how women’s bodies have been misunderstood and misdiagnosed for centuries. ‘One of the most important books of our generation’ Fern Riddell ‘A searing, brilliant investigation, an intricate and urgent book on how women’s health has constantly been misunderstood and miscast throughout history’ Kate Williams ‘A passionate and indignant history’ The Times ‘A richly detailed, wide-ranging and enraging history… Unwell Women is not just a compelling investigation, but an essential one’ Observer ‘Seamlessly melding scholarship with passion, Unwell Women is the definition of unputdownable’ Telegraph

Unwell women by elinor cleghorn