Unwell Women with Elinor Cleghorn, Ph. D. (Episode 34)

In this Episode

Ever wonder how we got here? How is it that in 2021 billions of women are still largely in the dark about menopause? That many of us still feel kind of ashamed to talk about it? This week’s guest, historian Elinor Cleghorn, Ph.D., author of Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World tells us exactly how we’ve gotten here–our androcentric Western medical system that dates back to Ancient Greece is how. It’s why women have suffered misdiagnosis and mistreatment throughout history. It’s also undoubtedly why that even in modern times, a 2019 survey found that 20 percent of residents in family medicine, internal medicine, and even ob/gyn received zero lectures on menopause during their training and fewer than 7 percent reported feeling prepared to help manage the care of women through their menopausal years. We talk about all of that…and importantly what we can all do right now to advocate for ourselves in the present and make the future better on this week’s show.

Elinor has a background in feminist culture and history. She has given talks and lectures at the British Film Institute, where she has been a regular contributor to the education program, Tate Modern, and ICA London, and she has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 discussion show The Forum. In 2017, she was shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize, and she has since written creatively about her experience of chronic illness for publications including Ache (UK) and Westerly (AUS). She now works as a freelance writer and researcher. Unwell Women is out June 8th, but you can preorder it now at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646468/unwell-women-by-elinor-cleghorn/

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