The past couple of weeks I’ve been considering women’s health primarily through the idea of the word ‘normal’, and then through the lens of a book a lovely friend has shared with me: Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn. Upon seeing the title when handing to me she said, “it’s a very good book”, to which I replied, “I fear I’m going to get rather upset”. She nodded by way of response with a grimace on her face.
Normally (!) I’m a ferocious reader, however I’m only able to read a couple of pages before feeling the need to put the book down. It’s challenging me on many levels. I had known of the incredible ignorance and discrimination women faced at the hands of ego-driven men in the name of medicine and science. It’s another to read account after account and to imagine the suffering women endured.
Take for example Edward Tilt1 discussing ovaries and their possible problems which he labelled as ‘ovaritis’. Apart from this condition arising from either too little / much sex (!) irritation could also be caused by:
childhood illnesses, horse-back riding and taking train journeys whilst menstruating. Women prone to nervousness were most vulnerable, as were girls with long eyelashes.
I can recall incidents in my personal history that come to mind now as I write though thankfully not attributable to the length of my eyelashes.
I have had a somewhat chequered history with gynae issues for many years. One occasion, after being admitted to hospital as an emergency (I was developing sepsis from an infection, which at the time was blamed on the Mirena coil)2
Lying in bed the morning after the frantic rush and contemplating with shock at how quickly fortunes can change, the attending consultant was undertaking his rounds. Approaching my bedside his opening gambit was, “it’s unusual (sub-text: not normal) for a patient not to sit up when their doctor is present”. Dear Reader, I shall leave the rest to your imagination as to the response given. Needless to say it prompted a sharp intake of breath from the nurse present.
Imagine my surprise when again, lying in bed, though this time listening to a podcast from Between the Covers, with Caren Beilin. Talking of her four books, one in particular stood out as I listened. Beilin wrote Blackfishing the IUD3 a memoir in which she shares the auto-immune issues she developed through the use of the copper IUD. Here, she gives examples of women’s medical gaslighting and gendered illness which don’t appear to have moved any further from Tilt’s misogyny of 1851.
This swings me back to the use of the word ‘normal’ in my opening paragraph.
We hear the term bandied about: normal heart-rate, normal blood pressure, normal range (such as iron levels), the list goes on.
However, it doesn’t always serve to have these terms and it does women a grave disservice as more often than not, these ‘normals’ are based on men’s bodies which as we know, are different due to bone density and muscle mass etc.
Incidentally last year I shared a post on social media which highlighted the risks women face in car accidents, due mainly to the androcentric design of vehicles.
Normal, or I should say, Return to Normal, was the topic of a writing workshop I facilitated with Brighton & Hove Switchboard last week for LGBTQ survivors of domestic abuse.
I felt very moved to hear from those who attended, in particular the ways in which their lives are continuously affected by the heteronormative society we live in.
Netflix aired Heartstopper last weekend - there had been much anticipation for the series borne out of Alice Oseman’s graphic novels. It was tender, heart-warming, tear-jerking. I believe this would be helpful viewing in all schools to increase understanding and reduce the bullying that takes place for those who are ‘othered’, yet have so many additional challenges that accompany puberty.
Over the years when working with women in pre / post natal stages of life, there was a constant cry of ‘I can’t wait to get back to normal’. Indeed, we have heard this many times the past couple of years too.
Is there ever a going back though?
No, not in my opinion. It’s like standing in a river - the water we stand in is forever moving; therefore the river we are in is new at any given moment. The same can also be said for our lives.
As women, our lives are in constant flow and in my last museletter I wrote of ‘Meet the Mirror’. Since writing, it has met with more flow and the journal writing workshop has evolved into becoming a bi-monthly group for women to come and explore the pivotal time of transition in their lives.
After the first session in May, Meet the Mirror will become a closed group, whereby we will look to create a safe, mutually supportive space for women who are looking to bring other aspects of themselves to the fore, but perhaps have been unable to either through imposter syndrome (yep, know this one) or for myriad other reasons.
Women joining so far have backgrounds in shamanism, Jungian counselling, astrology and mediumship. If you’re interested, do head over to the website to find out more.
Here in the UK it’s Bank Holiday4 weekend. Despite it’s many meanings, I for one am grateful of an extra day to be creative and to follow my joy whilst enjoying the nesting birds in my garden.
Cleghorn, E. (2021) Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, pp.129-130.
The efficacy and comfort of the Mirena coil is unique to each woman. I’d been using it for ten glorious months, appreciating its support due to the slow-release progesterone it provided. My admission to hospital was later found to be due to the use of a pessary for the treatment of thrush. Readers should satisfy their understanding of this IUD through personal research and discussion with their GP.
May Day was originally the Celtic festival of Bealtaine celebrating fertility, rebirth and Spring, but was appropriated by socialists and communists in 1889. In 1978 it become an official marker of International Labour Day.