Blood

Starred review from November 1, 2023

Gynecologist Gunter, author of a myth-busting book about menopause (The Menopause Manifesto) and host of a podcast focused on disrupting false and fearmongering health information (Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter), presents this work that's sure to change the way people talk about menstruation. She combines her clinical expertise with copious research to provide readers with an overview of concerns and an analysis of everything from inane historical fears (e.g., that menstruating women may wilt plants) to contemporary restrictions that promote prejudices about sexuality. "The menstrual cycle is the wheel that drives humanity," she argues. Gunter disrupts historical myths along with more recent ones, such as cycle-syncing or the idea that sex during menstruation is medically unsound. VERDICT Requisite reading. A no-nonsense, educational, science-backed, in-depth title about menstruation and the impact it can have on one's body. This title will empower readers to better understand their bodies and to advocate for themselves in medical situations.--Emily Bowles

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 13, 2023
Gynecologist Gunter (The Menopause Manifesto) delivers a superb overview of “the menstrual cycle and the medical conditions and therapies associated with” it. Delving into the science of periods, Gunter explains that “seven to 10 days after ovulation,” endometrium in the uterus fills “with storage sugars and lipids” to provide nourishment for potential embryos; if conception doesn’t occur, the endometrium is expelled and the process restarts. Patriarchal perspectives, Gunter contends, have dominated women’s healthcare for centuries (ancient Greek men viewed menstruation as “proof that women have troublesome physiology”), and women continue to be underserved by the medical research community, as evidenced by the fact that government-funded medical studies weren’t required to include women until 1993 and that the U.S. only spends about $2 per patient on endometriosis research per year, compared to $31.30 on diabetes, “which affects the same number of people.” Gunter is a sharp critic of the ways in which menstrual complications have been dismissed by the medical establishment (she notes that despite painful periods affecting a majority of women, they are often dismissed as “exaggerated and a sign of weakness” while “billions of dollars of funding” are showered on erectile dysfunction), and her talent for explicating the biology of periods will engage even the scientifically uninclined. Filled with piercing social analysis and enlightening science, this one’s a winner. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.