Pain and Prejudice: How the Medical System Ignores Women and What We Can Do About It is a 2019 non-fiction book by Gabrielle Jackson. The book chronicles Jackson's experiences living with endometriosis and adenomyosis and tracks a history of women's health care, specifically in relation to pain. The book was originally published in the UK and Australia under the title Pain and Prejudice: A Call to Arms for Women and Their Bodies.

Pain and Prejudice: How the Medical System Ignores Women and What We Can Do About It
First edition (UK)
AuthorGabrielle Jackson
Original titlePain and Prejudice: A Call to Arms for Women and Their Bodies
Published
ISBN978-1-77164-716-8

Overview edit

Pain and Prejudice expands on Jackson's earlier journalistic writings on her experience with endometriosis and adenomyosis.[1] Jackson broadly explains female anatomy and physiology, including menstruation and menopause.[2] She then provides a history of hysteria and demonstrates how present-day tendencies to treat women in pain as mentally ill arise out of the hysteria tradition.[3] Jackson writes about several under-diagnosed pain-related conditions that appear more frequently in women including endometriosis, adenomyosis, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine, pelvic pain, and auto-immune conditions.[2] The 2021 edition of the book concludes with an epilogue about women's pain and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Development edit

In 2001, Jackson was diagnosed with endometriosis.[4][5] Her personal experience with and subsequent research about the disease led Jackson, the then-opinion editor for The Guardian, to launch an investigation into the disease with The Guardian. As part of the investigation, Jackson published an article about her personal experience with endometriosis in 2015.[6] Responses to that article inspired her to investigate how women's pain is treated, mistreated, and ignored by medicine and society.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ "PAIN & PREJUDICE: HOW THE MEDICAL SYSTEM IGNORES WOMEN―AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT - Review". Kirkus Reviews. 2021-01-07. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  2. ^ a b Baskett, Fiona (2020-05-01). "Books: Pain and Prejudice: a Call to Arms for Women and Their Bodies: The Plea to be Heard". British Journal of General Practice. 70 (694): 250–251. doi:10.3399/bjgp20X709757. ISSN 0960-1643. PMC 7194787. PMID 32354825.
  3. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Pain and Prejudice: How the Medical System Ignores Women—and What We Can Do About It by Gabrielle Jackson". Publishers' Weekly. 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  4. ^ Jackson, Gabrielle (2019-09-01). "Why don't doctors trust women? Because they don't know much about us". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  5. ^ "Why is so little known about women's bodies?". ABC Radio. 2019-09-14. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  6. ^ Schetzer, Alana (2019-11-20). "How Are Women Really Treated By Doctors? The Misdiagnoses That Have Left Women In Chronic Pain". Marie Claire. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
  7. ^ Dent, Georgie (2019-09-02). "Pain and Prejudice: Why women's health problems have been belittled & ignored". Women's Agenda. Retrieved 2022-04-29.