Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation
Citadel, 2024
Agent: Jill Marr
Most women, transgender, and non-binary people who menstruate can expect to have hundreds of periods in a lifetime. So why is real information so hard to find? Despite its significance, most education about menstruation focuses either on increasing the chances of pregnancy or preventing it. And while both are important for many people, those who menstruate deserve to know more about their bodies than just what happens in service to reproduction. At a time when charlatans, politicians, and social media are succeeding in propagating damaging misinformation with real and devastating consequences, Dr. Jen provides the antidote with science, myth busting, and
no-nonsense facts.
Not knowing how your body works makes it challenging to advocate for yourself. Consequently, many suffer in silence thinking their bodies are uniquely broken, or they turn to disreputable sources. Blood is a practical, empowering guide to what’s typical, what’s concerning, and when to seek care—recounted with expertise and frank, fearless wit that have made Dr. Jen today’s most trusted voice in gynecology.
Dr. Jen answers all your period-related questions, including: What exactly happens during menstruation? How heavy is too heavy? How much should periods hurt? and provides essential information about topics such as:
* Why do we menstruate?
* The endometrium’s (the uterine lining’s) fascinating connection to the immune system
* The impact of stress, vaccines, and health on the menstrual cycle
* Menstrual migraines, PMS, and period diarrhea (yes, it’s a thing, unfortunately)
* Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
*Fibroids and other causes of heavy bleeding
* Endometriosis and the latest treatments
*Legitimate menstrual products, and the facts behind toxic shock syndrome
Blood is about much more than biology. It’s an all-in-one, revolutionary guide that will change the way we think about, talk about—and don’t talk about—our bodies and our well-being.
Accolades:
“This book is the brilliant and long needed corrective that we have waited for, since the first time we stuffed a box of pads into a three-ply paper bag and slunk out of a pharmacy. Never again.” —Samantha Bee
"Funny, erudite, compassionate, and righteous—sometimes all in a single sentence—Jen Gunter is the period expert we need right now." —Emily Nagoski, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Come Together
“Clear, candid, and crucial information about a bodily process that has often been used as an excuse to shun, degrade, dismiss, and define human beings. Gunter deftly shovels away the patriarchal BS that's piled up around menstruation and digs into the most effective ways to live with and manage it, treat conditions related to it, and move past the myths concocted about it. An essential resource for anyone who menstruates or thinks menstruation is a mystery.” —Emily Willingham, PhD, author of Phallacy
Reviews:
“Gynecologist Gunter (The Menopause Manifesto) delivers a superb overview of “the menstrual cycle and the medical conditions and therapies with” it. …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.”—Publishers Weekly STARRED Review
“Jen Gunter’s Blood takes an unapologetically scientific approach to the menstrual cycle, written for anyone who wants to understand its often mystified ways and what medicine can do to help. . . . Without fear, favour or sponsor, Gunter is a cheerleader for professional expertise, informed consent and reproductive justice. . . . The book’s ability to make science sing and stick is impressive, but an even greater achievement of Blood is to expose the playbook of medical misinformation. . . . A compelling example of how science communicated with clarity, relatability and wit can satisfy our needs of belonging and care.” --Kate Womersley, The Guardian