Review
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“Ever since the centuries of burning women healers as witches, because they taught women how to govern our
own bodies, thus to control reproduction—the medical world hasn’t included all of humanity. Doing Harm shows what is
left to be done, and directs both women and men toward healing.” (Gloria Steinem)
“Maya Dusenbery’s exhaustively researched book is equal parts infuriating and energizing. No woman will see the medical
establishment, and perhaps even more profound, her own body, the same way after reading it. In a just world, it would be
required reading in medical schools from this day forward.” (Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving
Daughters)
“Maya Dusenbery brings new life to one of the most urgent yet under-discussed feminist issues of our time. Anyone who
cares about women’s needs to read this book.” (Jessica Valenti, author of Sex Object)
“Dusenbery challenges a new generation of women and practitioners to fight for medical equity—shinning a harsh light on
the sex bias that pervades every level of medicine. It’s outrageous that such malignant neglect exists more than two
decades after the government acknowledged the gaps in knowledge about women’s .” (Leslie Laurence, co-author
of Outrageous Practices)
“In this groundbreaking book, Maya shows how the same forces that hold women back in society more broadly lead to
sub-par medical care and inadequate attention to issues that impact women. Every doctor, scientist, care
provider and researcher should read this book. And so should every woman.” (Jill Filipovic, author of The H-Spot)
“Doing Harm is a deeply researched and very readable exploration of the systematic mis of women in our medical
system—and how even those with the best intentions perpetuate it. This book is an eye-opener; may it also be a call for
real, sustained change.” (Kate Harding, author of Asking For It and co-editor of Nasty Women)
“An intensive, timely spotlight…Within an organized, well-balanced combination of scientific and social research and
moving personal stories, Dusenbery makes a convincing case for the need for drastic industry reform and clinical
refinement.” (Kirkus )
“Dusenbery’s excellent book makes the sexism plaguing women’s care hard to ignore…skillfully interweaving
history, medical studies, current literature, and hard data to produce damning evidence that women wait longer for
diagnoses, receive inadequate pain management, and are often told they are imagining symptoms that are taken seriously
in men.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“Editor’s Choice by the New York Times” (No Source)
“As seen on FRESH AIR” (No Source)
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From the Back Cover
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Editor of the award-winning site Feministing.com, Maya Dusenbery brings together scientific and sociological research,
interviews with doctors and researchers, and personal stories from women across the country to provide the first
comprehensive, accessible look at how sexism in medicine harms women today.
In Doing Harm, Dusenbery explores the deep, systemic problems that underlie women’s experiences of feeling dismissed by
the medical system. Women have been discharged from the emergency room mid-heart attack with a prescription for
anti-anxiety meds, while others with autoimmune diseases have been labeled “chronic complainers” for years before being
properly diagnosed. Women with endometriosis have been told they are just overreacting to “normal” menstrual s,
while still others have “contested” illnesses like chronic igue syndrome and fibromyalgia that, dogged by
psychosomatic suspicions, have yet to be fully accepted as “real” diseases by the whole of the profession.
An eye-opening read for patients and care providers alike, Doing Harm shows how women suffer because the medical
community knows relatively less about their diseases and bodies and too often doesn’t trust their reports of their
symptoms. The research community has neglected conditions that disproportionately affect women and paid little attention
to biological differences between the sexes in everything from drug sm to the disease factors—even the symptoms
of a heart attack. Meanwhile, a long history of viewing women as especially prone to “hysteria” reverberates to the
present day, leaving women battling against a stereotype that they’re hypochondriacs whose ailments are likely to be
“all in their heads.”
Offering a clear-eyed explanation of the root causes of this insidious and entrenched bias and laying out its sometimes
catastrophic consequences, Doing Harm is a rallying wake-up call that will change the way we look at care for
women.
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