Kirkus Review
A feminist journalist's well-documented broadside against a medical system that is still shaped by its patriarchal origins.With extensive historical research and personal interviews, Block (Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, 2007), a former editor at Ms. and editor of the revised Our Bodies, Our Selves, demonstrates that women are more vulnerable to overtesting, overdiagnosing, overtreatment, and mistreatment than men. The three horror stories that open her introduction give a taste of what is to come. "You may already be familiar," she writes, "with a version of this story: Woman needs medical care. Woman is ignored. Woman has to fight." The personal stories are stirring, even anger-arousing, but the author also offers a solid, well-researched history of mistreatment in the medical field as well as countless statistics and a wealth of expert testimony that lend credibility to her story. Calling the present cesarean rate a national health crisis, Block also looks at hysterectomies, annual pelvic exams, Pap tests, and mammograms. She delves into fertility interventions, the close ties between the pharmaceutical industry and the women's health advocacy community, and the growth of underground abortions. This book is a call for "reproductive justice," which Block explains means not just a right to contraception and abortion, but to fertility and sexualityan area where she faults mainstream organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women for falling short. After pointing out the many ways in which the health care system is failing women, the author proposes that the solution lies in a new feminist health movement, less focused, as it once was, on self-exam. According to Block, we must take a broader, collaborative view, acknowledging that the issues are ideological and cultural rather than just political or economic.Despite the catchy title, this is a dense and serious work packed with important information, highly recommended for health professionals, classes in women's studies, and any woman who seeks guidance in these issues. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Block, award-winning journalist and author of the groundbreaking maternity-care exposé, Pushed (2007), here dissects the crisis surrounding women's health care in the U.S. This investigative account will shatter worldviews and everything you think you know about contraceptives, hysterectomies, and childbirth, to name a few essential topics. Block traces the history of women's health issues, discussing feminism in the 1960s and '70s, and looking to the combining of obstetrics and gynecology into one medical discipline and the resulting consequences. As Block's narrative develops, it becomes clear that the data is increasingly grim, and women's health outcomes are dire. Why is this such a problem in one of the world's most powerful nations? One reason is that physicians are undertrained and unprepared to treat common issues in women's health. But women also routinely face violence and infringement of their constitutional right to autonomy in the health care setting, suggesting that the problem runs much deeper. Readers will gain a new and thorough understanding of the major issues facing women in the U.S., and why a revolution in women's health care is urgently needed.--Patricia Smith Copyright 2019 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Even though American women visit physicians more frequently and fill more prescriptions than men, their life expectancy rates are declining compared to women in other developed countries. Health journalist Block (Pushed) finds that modern medical interventions play a vital role in this development. Contraception, treatment for infertility, unnecessary Cesarean sections and hysterectomies, and ineffective treatment of pelvic disorders are major factors. Until recently, female subjects were not used in medical research, so it's not surprising that physicians do not completely understand hormonal cycles and the delicate interplay involved in them. That mainstream feminist movements and related organizations such as Planned Parenthood embrace the use of contraceptives with known harmful side effects because they offer women choices is also a problem. They ignore effective older birth control methods and therapies for pelvic pain such as massage and physical therapy because they require more time and effort. Block advocates for access to information about all forms of treatment so that women can make fully informed decisions and take control of their health care. -VERDICT Thought-provoking, empowering information that all women should have; essential for public and consumer health -libraries.-Barbara Bibel, formerly Oakland P.L. © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
