Unwell Women
{{Short description|Non-fiction book by Elinor Cleghorn}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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| italic title = Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World
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| caption = First edition (UK)
| author = Elinor Cleghorn
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| genre = Non-fiction
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| image = File:Unwell Women.jpg
| name = Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World
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| publisher = {{plainlist|
- Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK – 2021)
- Dutton (US – 2021)
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| published = 2021
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| isbn = 978-0-593-18295-6
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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.{{Cite journal |last=Gawrylewski |first=Andrea |date=May 2021 |title=Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World |journal=Scientific American |volume=324 |issue=5 |pages=76}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Merritt |first=Stephanie |date=2021-06-07 |title=Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn review – battle for the female body |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/07/unwell-women-by-elinor-cleghorn-review-battle-for-the-female-body |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Harrington |first=Mary |title=Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn review — medicine, it's a man's world |language=en |work=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/unwell-women-by-elinor-cleghorn-review-v00csvq05 |access-date=2022-04-03 |issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite journal |last1=Hoda |first1=Raza S. |last2=Hoda |first2=Syed |date=2021-12-10 |title=Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World |journal=American Journal of Clinical Pathology |volume=157 |issue=5 |page=799 |doi=10.1093/ajcp/aqab152}} The book's feminist critiques focus largely on medical practice in the United States and United Kingdom.{{Cite web |last=Praseed |first=Malavika |date=2021-06-09 |title=Anguish and Acknowledgment in "Unwell Women" |url=https://chireviewofbooks.com/2021/06/09/unwell-women/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Chicago Review of Books |language=en-US}} Cleghorn's research covers over 2000 years, beginning with Hippocrates and continuing to 21st-century medicine.{{Cite web |last=Burda |first=Joan M. |date=2021 |title=Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World |url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/unwell-women-misdiagnosis |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=New York Journal of Books}} The book has eighteen chapters over three parts: Ancient Greece–Nineteenth Century, Late-Nineteenth Century–1940s, and 1945–present.{{Cite journal |last=Ellialtı-Köse |first=Tuğçe |date=2021-12-07 |title=Book review: Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-made World by Elinor Clegnor |journal=European Journal of Women's Studies |volume=29 |pages=195–198 |doi=10.1177/13505068211065664|s2cid=245110400 }}
Development
Cleghorn was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus in 2010, following her second pregnancy, after dealing with symptoms for more than ten years.{{Cite web |last=Buckley |first=Julia |date=2021-07-01 |title=Unwell Women is a 2000-year history of society weaponising medicine against women |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/books/unwell-women-by-elinor-cleghorn-review-feminist-history-1081736 |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=inews.co.uk |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Penny Grace |date=2021 |title=Medicine, Myths, and Mystification: On Elinor Cleghorn's Unwell Women |url=https://www.ladyscience.com/reviews/medicine-myth-mystification-elinor-cleghorn-unwell-women-2021 |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Lady Science |language=en-US}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Poplett |first=Georgia |date=2022-02-04 |title=An interview with Elinor Cleghorn: "History is not a linear road to good" |url=https://lucywritersplatform.com/2022/02/04/an-interview-with-elinor-cleghorn-history-is-not-a-linear-road-to-good/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Lucy Writers Platform |language=en-GB}} Cleghorn's experiences with lupus are chronicled in Unwell Women.{{Cite web |last=Bunt |first=Lydia |date=2021-06-14 |title=Elinor Cleghorn: Unwell Women review – misunderstanding and misdiagnosis |url=https://theartsdesk.com/books/elinor-cleghorn-unwell-women-review-%E2%80%93-misunderstanding-and-misdiagnosis |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=theartsdesk.com |language=en}}{{Cite journal |date=2021-03-15 |title=Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World. |journal=Publishers Weekly |volume=268 |issue=11 |pages=55–56 |issn=0000-0019}}