Women in America and worldwide have had to work very hard for lots of things in life: the right to vote, the right to work outside of the home, the list goes on. And we are still, after all of these years, fighting for rights. Women have also been accused of being hysterical or crazy when they seek help for their medical or general health concerns, which is also still prevalent today to some degree.
Whether or not you’ve felt like the systems in place work for you, I think this is an important book to read as it really helped open my eyes to how women are treated when they ask for help, especially when it comes to health issues that they are trying to find relief from. It is unfortunate, but we are still learning important things about medicine and health every day, and doctors don’t have all of the answers. Every body is different and may present symptoms differently which means for some women, finding answers can take a lifetime, depending on the care they receive.
All in Her Head lays out chapters broken down into different subjects pertaining to the body and how women experience life in one. The first chapter is “Skin” and talks a lot about plastic surgery and body enhancement and the history behind it. The book concludes with a section on sex, after covering other topics such as “breath”, “muscle”, and “guts”. Historical facts and stories of medical practices are presented as well as the authors experiences in her own practice as a doctor and some of the patient stories she has come across. The parallels between practices and beliefs about healthcare now compared to a few hundred years ago are pretty fascinating if you take the time to learn about them, and this book makes it easy to just pick it up and read a chapter and dwell on the information for a bit before moving on to more information about another subject.
I found some chapters more interesting than others, but one takeaway for me is that for centuries, women have had little to no say in how they are medically treated. And if they do get a say, they are often accused of lying or exaggerating. Some of this is due to simply not understanding how the body works and thinking that men’s bodies are the baseline for how all bodies should be treated. That certainly doesn’t mean this is how it has to continue to be though, and doctors like Dr. Comen play a huge part in helping to open up conversations and bring truth to light.
No matter how you identify, if you’re looking for a book that is insightful about the history of medicine involving women’s bodies, then this is a book you won’t want to miss. I think it is also an encouraging read for anyone who has had a less than pleasant experience when trying to advocate for proper care. Dr. Comen is a great example of what a healthcare provider should look like and sharing her knowledge and frustration with how things have been and are currently will hopefully perpetuate the truth about what women might have to face when looking for care, and eventually change the course of how we are treated, as humans and as women.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 1 mild obscenity; 9 derogatory names; 3 scatological words; 3 anatomical terms; 1 F-word derivative.
Violence/Gore: Witch hunts and killing witches is mentioned several ties; abortion is referred to; a reference is made to a story a relative told of war violence and fatal injuries; plastic surgery is mentioned as originally used for war injuries; a woman is reported to be imprisoned for murdering her husband; suicide is referred to; a woman is mentioned to die in childbirth, as well as the infant; a dissection is mentioned and briefly described with some light explicit detail; a woman is mentioned to be abused by her significant other and to have visible marks on her neck where she was strangled; a man is mentioned to have assaulted his partner with a broken bottle; a woman is mentioned to die and her sister takes over as wife and mother to the family; a brief description is given of children being whipped at school; a brief description of women at a sanitarium is given with one woman depicted cradling her hand which is coming free of bandages and is bloody; rape is mentioned in several brief instances, some of them involving men putting their hands inside women’s bodies without consent; a woman is described to get into an accident and hit her head, causing a concussion; a boyfriend is described to have stabbed a woman and thrown her down some stairs, causing her to miscarry; a woman observes a girl who has been in a terrible car crash coming into intensive care covered in blood; a man is reported to threaten to kill his wife who is driving him crazy.
Sex/Nudity: Medication is mentioned to sometimes cause sexual side effects; a man is said to like big breasted women and advocate for surgery to enlarge small breasts; most of a chapter is dedicated to information about plastic surgery and breast enhancement surgery; a woman is described to be recording herself dancing in a bra and thong; doctors with “sex appeal” who are male are mentioned to be more enticing to women getting body enhancement surgery; porn is mentioned with no descriptive detail; multiple references are made throughout the book to the look of women’s genitals and surgeries available or being tested to either make them bigger or smaller; a doctor describes certain vaginas as beautiful and more appealing than others; women are mentioned to have been persuaded by money to allow male doctors to look at and touch all areas of their bodies; a brief scene occurs where a woman is being photographed partially nude for medical journals, the photos are described as being semi-pornographic; masturbation is referred to multiple times throughout the book, many times in regards to the belief that it is the cause of certain mental states in women or the cause of other medical issues; several brief scenes occur briefly describing women being examined and touched by doctors, sometimes in areas where consent was not given; a certain disease is referred to as a disease of virgins and marriage and sex is prescribed as the cure; women are mentioned to take up smoking and it is described as somewhat sexual in nature; women are referred to as whores and blamed for the spread of sexual diseases.
Mature Subject Matter:
Death; racism; misogyny; sexism; abuse; trauma; rape; consent (lack-of).
Alcohol/Drug Use:
Alcohol and opium are mentioned to be used as painkillers; women and men smoke.
