Women's Bodies: A Social History of Women's Encounter with Health, Ill-Health and Medicine

by Shorter and Edward Shorter

What has been the source of women's oppression by men? Shorter argues that women were victimized by their own bodies. Exploring five centuries of medical records and folklore from Europe and the US,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887388485
• ISBN13: 9780887388484
• Release Date: December 1990
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 414 Pages
• Weight: 3.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Essential - even for the squeamish

If you don't wince over and over again reading this book, then you're not human. This is a horrifying but very worthy book about changing (and unchanging) attitudes to women's bodies throughout the ages, mostly focusing on pregnancy, childbirth, and menstruation. Hardcore feminists might not like the way Shorter glosses over the problems of the present day, but the historical work is so excellent and insightful - and so fastidiously researched and footnoted - that I'm prepared to overlook this. This book will make you uncomfortable in more ways than one, but it's a book no-one should miss.