| Women -- Health and hygiene |
| Women's health services |
| Sex discrimination in medicine |
| Health of women |
| Women -- Hygiene |
| Health services for women |
| Women -- Medical care |
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Library | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... New Bedford Free Public Library | 613.0424 MCG 2020 | NONFICTION | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Get the right care for your body -- and avoid treatments that can endanger women -- with this important manual from a physician who is a leading expert on sex and gender medicine.
Sex Matters tackles one of the most urgent, yet unspoken issues facing women's health care today: all models of medical research and practice are based on male-centric models that ignore the unique biological and emotional differences between men and women -- an omission that can endanger women's lives.
The facts surrounding how male-centric medicine impacts women's health every day are chilling: in the ER, women are more likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis with regard to opioid use, while men are more likely to be referred for detoxification; the more vocal women become about their pain, the more likely their providers are to prescribe either inadequate or inappropriate pain relief medication; women often present with nontraditional symptoms of stroke, which causes delays in recognition by both them and their health professionals; and a government accountability study found that 80% of drugs that are withdrawn from the market are due to side effects that happen to women (a result of testing drugs mostly on men).
Leading expert on sex and gender medicine Dr. Alyson McGregor focuses on the key areas where these differences are most potentially harmful, addressing: Cardiac and stroke diagnosis and treatment in women Prescription and dosing of pharmaceuticals; Subjective evaluation of women's symptoms; Pain and pain management; Hormones and female biochemistry (including prescribed hormones); How economic status, race, and gender identity are additional critical factors.
Not only does Dr. McGregor explore these disparities in depth, she shares clear, practical suggestions for what women can do to protect themselves. A work of riveting exposé with revelatory insights and actionable guidance for navigating the medical establishment, Sex Matters is an empowering roadmap for reinventing modern medicine -- and for self-care.
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
A physician urges women to speak out against the abuses of "male-centric" models in medical research and practice. As McGregor, who co-founded the Sex and Gender Women's Health Collaborative, cogently shows, women's and men's bodies are different not only in their sex organs, but in all their cells, brains, and the ways in which they metabolize drugs and experience disease and treatments. From her job as an emergency department physician in an urban trauma center and her teaching and research experience, she has amassed ample data and cases to prove her point. A woman with vague chest pain, fatigue, and nausea may be seen as emotionally overwrought and prescribed an anti-anxiety drug rather than perceived as a potential heart attack patient because women don't experience the crushing chest pain and left arm pain that men do. Unfortunately, writes the author, the anxiety diagnosis is all too often the "go-to" choice, on par with a dismissive, "it's all in your head." In the early chapters, McGregor cites older studies such as a hormone replacement therapy trial that showed that the post-menopausal use of female hormones raised serious blood-clotting risks rather than preventing heart disease. The author is to be commended for showing how medicine has long skewed male and harmed women. Especially spot-in are the later chapters on implicit bias, treatment of women of color, and issues affecting trans individuals. The author concludes with to-do lists, questions women can ask their providers, and suggestions for advocacy roles to raise awareness of the issues. Good ammunition for mandating sex- and gender-based differences in health professional education, research, and practice. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
"The male-centric model of medicine is so pervasive in our health care systems, procedures, and philosophy that many don't even realize it exists," argues McGregor (emergency medicine, Brown Univ. Med. School), cofounder of the Sex and Gender Women's Health Collaborative, in this widely researched, convincing look at how male-centric medicine came to be, how it works in practice, and how it jeopardizes the health of women in America and around the world. She considers specific disease patterns and areas, including heart attacks, strokes, pain disorders, pain management, and pharmaceuticals, as well as the role of women's hormones and biochemistry, and how biases related to gender, race, ethnicity, and religion affect medical treatment and outcomes. Finally, she poses specific questions for women to ask providers to aid in their conversations. VERDICT An important book for women and those who care about and for them.--Marcia G. Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. xi |
| Part 1 How We Got Here | p. 1 |
| Chapter 1 Modern Medicine Is Male-centric Medicine | p. 3 |
| Chapter 2 Sex Is More Than Skin Deep | p. 19 |
| Part 2 The Six Biggest Issues Facing Women's Health Today | p. 37 |
| Chapter 3 Women's Hearts (and Brains) Break Differently | p. 39 |
| Chapter 4 Drugs for Different Bodies: The Female Side of Pharmaceuticals | p. 68 |
| Chapter 5 "Honey, It's All in Your Head": Women's Intuition Versus Women's Imagination | p. 96 |
| Chapter 6 A Deeper Sensitivity: The Female Relationship to Pain | p. 116 |
| Chapter 7 Beyond Hormonal: Female Biochemistry and Hormone Therapy | p. 139 |
| Chapter 8 A New Perception: Gender, Culture, and Identity Medicine | p. 155 |
| Part 3 Where We're Headed-And What You Can Do | p. 171 |
| Chapter 9 A Changing Conversation: The Future of Sex and Gender Research in Medicine | p. 173 |
| Chapter 10 Your Voice, Your Medicine: How to Have Helpful Conversations with Your Providers | p. 184 |
| Afterword | p. 204 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 207 |
| Appendix A Your Personal Medical Reconciliation (Med Rec) | p. 211 |
| Appendix B Quick Reference Questions | p. 217 |
| Resources | p. 221 |
| Notes | p. 225 |
| Index | p. 237 |
| About the Author | p. 253 |