Rebel Bodies: A guide to the gender health gap revolution

by Sarah Graham

'Crucial reading for us all' - Stylist

An inclusive and empowering manifesto for change in women's healthcare – exploring the systemic and deep rooted sexism within medicine, and offering actionable ways for women to advocate for ourselves and others and get the diagnosis and treatment we need.

Have you ever been to a doctor and felt like you were being fobbed off or ignored? Did they belittle or overlook your concerns about your health? Ever been told you're just 'hormonal'? You're not alone.

Women make up 51 per cent of the population and are the biggest users of healthcare services – for themselves and as mothers and carers. But all the research shows there are massive gender differences in men and women's healthcare. Our pain and suffering has been disbelieved; we are misdiagnosed, given tranquilisers when we need painkillers, antidepressants when we need HRT, and not trusted to make informed choices about our own bodies.

As women speak out about their experiences of gaslighting and misdiagnosis, health journalist Sarah Graham investigates what it will take to bridge the gender health gap. Meet the patients, doctors and campaigners who are standing up and fighting back, and find practical tips on advocating for your own health. Be inspired by stories that will incite and offer hope.

You're not alone, you're not going mad, and we believe you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Health, Science, Medicine, Education, Womens

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2023

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

an informative read on inequalities in health care. I liked that it mixed personal stories, statistics and actual advice. I learnt a lot about specific conditions I haven’t heard enough about

though very uk-based, so most of the organisations and recommendations that are mentioned aren’t applicable elsewhere. as well, I expected more info on research and science, yet only touched on it in relation to some conditions

[Anya Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Honey · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better written books in gender health gap and women's healthcare I've read, with impactful patient case studies and anecdotes, as well as informed and accurate statistics. I appreciate the way the chapters are clearly laid out, with "toolkits" at the end of each section that provide helpful tips without being too preachy.

This is also very inclusive and intersectional, which makes it an engaging and informative read for those who want to understand the perils of health inequalities.

Highly recommended.

[Sofya Lebedeva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful. Provides a list of recourses and links. Organized in categories such as birth control, cancer, menopause.

Informative. A little dry to read. Links will become out of date so book utility decreases with time IMO.

[becca barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

In ‘Rebel Bodies’, Graham highlights different aspects of the gender health gap in the UK, including factors like discrepancies/lack in biomedical knowledge, research, funding, and overall sufficiency of care for certain demographics. They focus on the lived experiences of women, the disabled, black and ethnic minority communities, and the LGBT community in the healthcare sector. They draw upon personally collated evidence, stories, ethnographic research, and existing studies to convincingly demonstrate how biomedical care for these groups is failing.

I think this book is great at highlighting the main areas where care is inadequate, and a lot of the discussion around female health overlaps with my own research - I found myself often saying “that’s what I said too!”. I agree with the majority of her points, and I also feel similarly hopeful for the future of inclusive and improved care, given a recent change in government and the increase in existing public lobbying and campaigning. I particularly liked how she drew attention to many small scale campaign groups, podcasts, blogs, etc, which really helps to amplify their message.

The only query I have is that the final message demonstrated how women and minority groups felt extremely dissatisfied with NHS care. I concur. I would like to ask, however, if this were to be expanded to every person in the UK, would there not be high rates of dissatisfaction more generally? I say this as the NHS is vastly underfunded, under resourced, and stretched in most areas, and so whilst I wholeheartedly agree that women and minorities suffer disproportionately, I don’t know if there is a large group in society that are actually satisfied with care consistently.

Regardless, I would reccomend and I really like the author - I attended a webinar they spoke at and found them to be a delight!

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and accessible read. If you are already familiar with the topic, there won't be too many surprises but the facts and anecdotes make for a useful and important read. Only criticism is that surprisingly abortion barely gets covered in the book, but on other topics it delivers a broad and intersectional approach.

[Kaitlyn Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informative and so important. I think it would have benefitted from more structure but overall I am really glad I read it. It tackles more than just the gender health gap, including gaps for other marginalized groups and I really appreciated that. Highly recommend.

[Hannah Kentridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book - surprised how much of it was relevant to me lol why are all my health problems gendered!!!

[Nadia Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting and inclusive book about the gender health gap, shocking and awful at times but also very relevant. i like hearing the individual stories alongside the more hard facts.

[Bethan🌞 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Victoria Kinkaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book and must read for healthcare professionals and patients alike!

[Astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a well-researched book with lots of insights on important topics. For me though jt read quite dry at times.

[Ana Disar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for raising awareness about women’s health and gender inequality.

Одна з книг, де мені «підгорало» дуже часто і сильно. Книга, яка має бути в списку феміністичної літератури України. Не зважаючи на те, що дослідження були зроблені в Англії, але «жіночі» проблеми існують в кожній країні. І я впевнена, якщо таке вивчення зробити в українській медицині, то ми дізнаємося ба-а-а-агато цікавого.

Дітей в школах, а потім і підлітків в університетах, не вчать таким речам як особливості жіночого і чоловічого здоровʼя. Не вчать, як правильно формувати свою думку та позицію на прийомі у лікаря. Не вчать задавати питання, а безпосередньо виконувати те, що «лікар прописав». Не показують який прогрес стався за останні роки в світі. Державі не вигідно мати дуже розумних людей. Це ж скільки грошей можна списати на «медичні дослідження»!
Чому в новинах ніколи не вказують кількість грошей, виділену на дослідження різних захворювань? Чому не освітлюють в новинах нові проєкти у сфері медицини?

Жінку, за всі роки існування людства, зазвичай вважають придатною лише для материнства. Жінка завагітніла - добре (і не важливо радіє вона цій новині чи ні); жінка «зелетіла» - сама винна (дійсно 🙄); жінка не народила або стався викидень - погано - значить то щось в неї зі здоровʼям, бо чоловіки апріорі не можуть мати ніяких вад. Жінка народила - добре 👍 А тепер залишай роботу (або ні), але сиди з дитиною, виховуй, ходи по лікарях, ще й за домом доглядай. Про які власні інтереси та час на себе ти говориш, шановна? А якщо в дитини якесь захворювання - відстоюй свою думку перед лікарями і борися з ярликом «мама» - істерична та з гіперопікою.

В книзі багато всього висвітлено в сфері медицина та жіноче здоров’я, але основний меседж - гендерна нерівність присутня в усіх рівнях життя, хоч як би мені не доказували, що зараз жінки мають більше прав, ніж чоловіки (🙄).

До поки існує відмінність сприйняття чоловіка та жінки, і поки всі люди (так-так, і жінки теж - привіт, мізогінія) не перестануть насміхатися з гормонів, менопаузи і материнства а-ля «боже, ну вона ж мама і цим все сказано», або «та то в неї гормони скачуть, не зважай» чи «ой, в неї менопауза, вона вже все», і нарешті почнуть ставитися до цього серйозно, ні про яку гендерну рівність не може йти мова.

[Fleurtje Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

We need books like this!

After being ill with ME for almost 18 years, there are still family members being difficult, inconsiderate, and giving me a hard time with what they want from me. Having no idea about my poor quality of life, making me think I don't matter.

But Rebel Bodies gave me back my confidence that it is not me that is the problem. Even if society, doctors, friends, family members suggest exactly that. There will always be those who don't understand.

A powerful chapter of what a life-changing and debilitating illness we're dealing with. How drastic things have changed since we lost so much...

But Rebel Bodies is not only about ME, there are so many other issues, illnesses and chronic conditions that are hard to cope with, and having distress over distrust, gaslighting, and more misery from healthcare practitioners on top of it - not only the gender pain gap, but also the gender trust gap.
This book is very well written, both informative with statistics to back it up, and anecdotal information on how hard it is to lose the safety of your own body. To be dealing with a troublesome health, indeed. And lots of these stories are heartbreaking.

It definitely deserves a place on my books-that-matter bookshelf on Goodreads.

And as if dealing with an underfunded illness is not enough – and especially because of that lack of research, lots of chronics are working on finding a way for a bit of relief. Hoping it might make just a tiny difference. For me that means damage-control by trying to reduce my toxic overload: to avoid and substitute plastic and toxic stuff in my home.
So let me admit that I'm now hoping Sarah Graham will research the issue of toxic overload, or trying to live non-toxic and plastic-free for her next book. We've made a mess of this planet already, and it is hard to try and find our ways back - for this we need all the help we can get.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual depressing read about how women are disadvantaged in an important aspect of daily life - this time in healthcare. Better than the usual for this style of book, mixing stats and stories, and I did appreciate the UK origin (rather than the US). I would have liked more about the causes of the problem, as there is actually a relatively high % of women working in healthcare (particularly in maternal and child health), than in many other industries which suffer from similar biases. I know it's all about structural and systemic power.

This should definitely be on the reading list of the education courses for all healthcare staff. A thoughtful insight into issues for non-cis people, but I do feel uncomfortable about the erasing of the label women in an attempt to be gender-neutral or inclusive.

Why don't more books have useful resource lists like this one has at the end of every chapter to support readers?

[Sarah Mankin ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...If there's a woman in front of you suffering and you don't know why, you bloody well go and find out" Amen! This is definitely one for the feminists, it was eye opening and although I can't relate to all the experiences shared in this book, it makes me feel like I've just been oblivious of the issues women and minority groups face in healthcare and that we could all do with a bit more education. Not going to lie, it was a tough read and I couldn't read many chapters at once because there is A LOT to unpack. Having said that, I think there needs to be more books like this available and shout out to the work book club because I would never have picked this up myself. Some of the topics discussed:
- Mental health
- Chronic Pain
- Pregnancy and Gynaecological Health

[LaurieHaute · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the whole, it's quite interesting, with a fantastic job of collection of personal accounts and data and a mountain of interesting information on the subject.

On the other hand, this is a journalist's work, and it shows, because the reading itself is rather dry and tedious. The whole book follows the same structure, with a chapter on a subject, then testimonials on problems related to the subject, and statistics, then the same thing again but on a different subject, and so on until the end of the book. For this reason, it's a bit like reading an in-depth report on women in the medical profession in the 2020s. It is therefore not the most entertaining read, even if it undeniably has its merits

[Morag Forbes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nonfiction book seeks to give an overview of women’s experience of both health and medicine. Why is it that women’s specific health issues are consistently ignored? Why are some conditions, like Lupus and EDS, far more common in women? And why are women consistently discredited and gaslit when we seek help? Each chapter finished with a toolkit of sorts to give advice to the reader. I appreciated the numerous references to and discussions of racial inequalities in healthcare and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individual’s. However this is a fairly simple introduction to a lot of issues. For me, as I’ve both read a several health books and have a lot of lived experience with the medical system, I didn’t really learn much I didn’t already know.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, inclusive and intersectional examination of health inequalities and how healthcare lets women down. It looks at the systemic, deep-rooted factors that make it difficult for women to be taken seriously by doctors and to get the help and treatment they need, as well as the lack of research into conditions that predominantly affect women. It combines case studies and accounts of people's personal experience with statistics and evidence based research, as well as practical advice and links to websites and support groups. A hugely important book.

[Tiffany Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A huge achievement. It covers a massive spectrum of healthcare inequalities affecting people who are not cis white men. I thought the author balanced data and research with stories and interviews very well, so that it was both informative and inspiring. I would recommend it to anyone interested in healthcare and social justice.

[Ailie Mcluckie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was FASCINATING, also a little heartbreaking and sad. So important to educate yourself on women’s health and know how to advocate for yourself as a woman. The focus on all minorities in healthcare was also essential and topics were handled with respect and careful writing. Inspires me to work in the women’s health sector.

[Nicola Pennicott-Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly powerful, enlightening book. This should be required reading for all health care professionals. Nothing in this book is dumbed down or sanitised, Sarah Graham treats the reader as an equal and gives them the practical tools to become their best advocate.

[Jamelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work takes a look at medical misogyny in the UK and how it intersects with age, sexuality and race through testimonies and quantitative research. It also provides lists of resources for specific health conditions and social groups.

[Fiona Eason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really incisive examination of inequalities experienced by women and other minority genders in the UK health system. Both enlightening and distressing in equal measure.

[Ginger Rigby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book on the gender gap in medicine. So much unnecessary suffering could be avoided if books like this were included in medical teaching.

[Naomi Wilcox-Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic - a must read

Such an important and well-written book. It's also so intersectional and so inclusive. Add this to your must read pile.

[Mary Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important read. For everyone.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important book. Absolutely everyone should read this.

[Darcey Merison · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) very accessible just wished there were more! Also: depressing

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important and informative read that was inclusive and intersectional! Anecdotes were supported by data that was very accessible and easy to understand. I was particularly impressed with the addition of a 'Toolkit' at the end of each chapter which contained further advice and useful links, should any reader need extra support on their own journey. I'd encourage everyone to read this book!