An incredibly important and powerful look at how our culture treats the pain and suffering of women in medical and social contexts. A polemic on the state of women's health and healthcare.

One in ten women worldwide have endometriosis, yet it is funded at 5% of the rate of diabetes; women are half as likely to be treated for a heart attack as men and twice as likely to die six months after discharge; over half of women who are eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune disease will be told they are hypochondriacs or have a mental illness. These are just a few of the shocking statistics explored in this book.

Fourteen years after being diagnosed with endometriosis, Gabrielle Jackson couldn't believe how little had changed in the treatment and knowledge of the disease. In 2015, her personal story kick-started a worldwide investigation into the disease by the Guardian; thousands of women got in touch to tell their own stories and many more read and shared the material. What began as one issue led Jackson to explore how women - historically and through to the present day - are under-served by the systems that should keep them happy, healthy and informed about their bodies.

Pain and Prejudice is a vital testament to how social taboos and medical ignorance keep women sick and in anguish. The stark reality is that women's pain is not taken as seriously as men's. Women are more likely to be disbelieved and denied treatment than men, even though women are far more likely to be suffering from chronic pain.

In a potent blend of polemic and memoir, Jackson confronts the private concerns and questions women face regarding their health and medical treatment. Pain and Prejudice, finally, explains how we got here, and where we need to go next.

About the Author
Gabrielle Jackson is the opinion editor for Guardian Australia. She was previously a senior reporter for The Hoopla and her work has appeared in the Village Voice, CNN, The Sydney Morning Herald and New Matilda.

Reviews
Gabrielle Jackson pulls no punches in this timely and anger-inducing book which explores how our culture treats women in medical and social contexts. From medical research to bedside manners, women's pain and disease is not taken as seriously as men's (one in 10 women worldwide have endometriosis 'the silent disease' and yet it receives just 5% of the funding of diabetes). Exploring how the patriarchy has systematically swept aside women's needs both historically and now, Jackson rightly calls for a huge cultural shift backing up her research with moving first-hand accounts and shocking statistics. -- Francesca Brown * Stylist *
What Jackson details in her book is how women are - historically, and to the present day - under-served by the systems that should keep us healthy, happy and informed about our bodies. -- Nicole Mowbray * Metro *
This book could not be more timely or important. -- Katharine Viner * the Guardian *
Gabrielle Jackson is a brilliant journalist and a wonderful feminist, and incapable of being dull. -- Emily Wilson * New Scientist *
A major contribution to feminist writing of the 21st century -- Caroline de Costa, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, James Cook University



Book Information
ISBN 9780349424552
Author Gabrielle Jackson
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Piatkus Books
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 460g
Dimensions(mm) 232mm * 154mm * 38mm