Unwell Women cover art

Unwell Women

A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 31 July, 2025 23:59 BST.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Unwell Women

By: Elinor Cleghorn
Narrated by: Hanako Footman
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July, 2025 23:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Medicine carries the burden of its own troubling history. Over centuries, women's bodies have been demonised and demeaned until we feared them, felt ashamed of them, were humiliated by them. But as doctors, researchers, campaigners and most of all as patients, women have continuously challenged medical orthodoxy. Medicine's history has always been, and is still being, rewritten by women's resistance, strength and incredible courage.

In this ground-breaking history Elinor Cleghorn unpacks the roots of the perpetual misunderstanding, mystification and misdiagnosis of women's bodies, illness and pain. From the 'wandering womb' of ancient Greece to today's shifting understanding of hormones, menstruation and menopause, Unwell Women is the revolutionary story of women who have suffered, challenged and rewritten medical misogyny. Drawing on Elinor's own experience as an unwell woman, this is a powerful and timely exposé of the medical world and woman's place within it.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Elinor Cleghorn (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Gender Studies History & Commentary Medicine & Health Care Industry Social Sciences Medicine Thought-Provoking

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Rebel Bodies cover art
Wordslut cover art
Doctors on the Edge cover art
Lost Connections cover art
Divided cover art
You Are Your Own cover art
Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient cover art
The Invisible Kingdom cover art
What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat cover art
Vaccines, Autoimmunity, and the Changing Nature of Childhood Illness cover art
Hormonal cover art
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth cover art
Am I Normal? cover art
Brain Energy cover art

Critic reviews

"Seamlessly melding scholarship with passion, Unwell Women is the definition of unputdownable." (Telegraph)

"A richly detailed, wide-ranging and enraging history.... Unwell Women is not just a compelling investigation, but an essential one." (Observer)

"A passionate and indignant history." (The Times)

All stars
Most relevant  
Brilliant book, gained so much more knowledge about the history of women and medicine. Very well read too, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Really fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Any woman who has ever gone to a doctor with pain will recognise a lot in this.

Necessary and painful listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Everyone must read this book! So insightful, so fascinating. At times so eye-opening and infuriating and difficult to listen to. But an absolute must, despite the shocking stories and examples.

A must must read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was jam packed full of so much interesting information regarding women’s health through the ages to the present.

Imperative reading for all women.

Outstanding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book delves into deeply unsettling subject matter of the history of women’s pain, yet its power to inform and enlighten is undeniable. A must-read for all seeking knowledge and understanding. Its informative approach shines through, leaving a lasting impact. Highly recommended!

Listened to it on 1.2 speed and worked well

Leaves a lasting impact

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Illuminating sequential look at the development of medicine and healthcare.

4.5 stars.

This made me quite angry, I must say. And upset. Hearing some of the stories of what 'patients' were put through, sometimes in the name of experimentation and progress, sometimes through lack of care or even neglect.

But it's history. It can't be changed. But it can be heard and remembered.

Some of this may already been fairly common knowledge, but for me the building up of the story and how attitudes have changed over time, alongside medical knowledge was the key to this book, and to what I would take away from it.

It's so shocking in some ways to see how women and men, especially their pain and reasons for their health problems have been seen in society and in particular the medical establishment over the centuries.

And for the author to bring her own personal tale at the end to readers, on how misdiagnosis and false assumptions, even today, led to years of pain and problems, well, it shows we still have some way to go.

But as a history, it's fascinating. And really does help tie things together in my mind on the development of medicine and changing attitudes over time.

Hard to listen to, but important to hear.

Illuminating the development of medicine

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book, it provides a highly interesting and engaging overview of the history of women and medicine and the ways that medicine is not made for women and therefore often fails them. I really appreciated how intersectional this book was and especially the discussion of trans women at the beginning was very carefully written and very well done in my opinion.

Excellent book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book should be compulsory reading for everyone. It has totally changed my whole outlook of how my body and my friend’s bodies have been treated by the medical establishment. I found myself having profound moments of deeply disturbing realisation.

Life changing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An enlightening book to listen to, for women who are experiencing the lack of support in their medical needs it explains why they are struggling. For the rest (including the men in our lives) it shows just how women have been ignored, belittled or treated as small men for centuries.

An important book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this intelligent, entertaining and highly informative book. Beautifully written and performed. The extensively researched history of the treatment of women’s health and well-being through the ages, which sadly shows that attitudes by male doctors to ‘difficult‘ women’s problems has not changed much over the centuries. A must read for anyone with a female body wishing to be more enlightened as to why we are so dismissed in our health concerns by the establishment, and should be prescribed reading for all the others!

Essential reading for women

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews