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dobbsthedog's reviews
1743 reviews
It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health by Karen Tang
5.0
Another book giving excellent information about women’s/AFAB folks’ sexual health.
I am continually mind boggled that this isn’t stuff that we are told about at any point, and that I have to do my own research about my own body.
This book was great because it starts with a history of women’s health and how misunderstood and unstudied it’s been for so long. It talks about diagnoses of hysteria back in the day, and then the rest of the book looks at the various medical conditions that would have been considered hysteria.
One of the historical diagnoses for women that I find both hilarious and horrifying is the “wandering womb”. Doctors legit thought that the uterus just moved around the body and caused trouble if it was unhappy (because it wasn’t growing a baby). To make it happy you just had to use it for it’s intended use, but you may have to coax it out with sweet treats and honey. Hilarious, but horrifying that male doctors actually thought this! Like, what the actual fuck?!?
Very good read, highly recommend.
I am continually mind boggled that this isn’t stuff that we are told about at any point, and that I have to do my own research about my own body.
This book was great because it starts with a history of women’s health and how misunderstood and unstudied it’s been for so long. It talks about diagnoses of hysteria back in the day, and then the rest of the book looks at the various medical conditions that would have been considered hysteria.
One of the historical diagnoses for women that I find both hilarious and horrifying is the “wandering womb”. Doctors legit thought that the uterus just moved around the body and caused trouble if it was unhappy (because it wasn’t growing a baby). To make it happy you just had to use it for it’s intended use, but you may have to coax it out with sweet treats and honey. Hilarious, but horrifying that male doctors actually thought this! Like, what the actual fuck?!?
Very good read, highly recommend.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
4.0
Received from NetGalley, thanks!
This was a weird and beautiful book. It took me a minute to get into it, but once I was there I was all the way there.
I don’t know exactly what to say about it, so I’ll leave it here. If you liked This Is How You Lose the Time War, you will like this one, too! Very same vibes.
This was a weird and beautiful book. It took me a minute to get into it, but once I was there I was all the way there.
I don’t know exactly what to say about it, so I’ll leave it here. If you liked This Is How You Lose the Time War, you will like this one, too! Very same vibes.
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
4.0
This was so weird and so good?
Will definitely be on the lookout for more by this author!
Will definitely be on the lookout for more by this author!
Mayann Francis: An Honourable Life by Mayann Francis
This book was okay. I read it for work and because I’m trying to read more African Nova Scotian authors.
Mayann Francis definitely has lived an incredible life and done some amazing work throughout it. Though I think there are also a lot of times where she doesn’t recognize the extreme privilege she’s had. That grated a bit.
I did learn more about the role of the lieutenant governor position, which I previously knew nothing about. I am certainly no fan of the crown, so don’t really care about these sorts of things. That being said, for her position, it’s amazing that she was the first black woman to be a lieutenant governor and I was shocked and appalled at the amount of racism that she encountered while in this role. And it wasn’t that long ago! Though did have to smile that it was the NDP who finally treated her properly.
Overall, an okay read, but not one I was overly interested in.
Mayann Francis definitely has lived an incredible life and done some amazing work throughout it. Though I think there are also a lot of times where she doesn’t recognize the extreme privilege she’s had. That grated a bit.
I did learn more about the role of the lieutenant governor position, which I previously knew nothing about. I am certainly no fan of the crown, so don’t really care about these sorts of things. That being said, for her position, it’s amazing that she was the first black woman to be a lieutenant governor and I was shocked and appalled at the amount of racism that she encountered while in this role. And it wasn’t that long ago! Though did have to smile that it was the NDP who finally treated her properly.
Overall, an okay read, but not one I was overly interested in.