In early medical history, medical professionals — who were almost always men —expected women’s bodies to produce children. But women’s very ability to have children also helped convince these male physicians that women’s bodies were unwell.
Author and researcher Dr. Elinor Cleghorn became an unwell woman herself in 2010, when she was diagnosed with a chronic disease. That diagnosis sent her researching how myths and misunderstandings around women’s bodies continue to persist in today’s modern medical care — leading to misdiagnosis, suffering and blame. Elinor Cleghorn joins us Friday at noon and Saturday at 11 a.m. to talk about the importance of understanding illnesses in women and why it is so crucial to listen to our bodies.
Elinor Cleghorn’s book is Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World
