''Pain and Prejudice: How the Medical System Ignores Women and What We Can Do About It'' is a 2019 non-fiction book by Gabrielle Jackson. The book chronicles Jackson's experiences living with

endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, f ...

and

adenomyosis Adenomyosis is a medical condition characterized by the growth of cells that proliferate on the inside of the uterus (endometrium) atypically located among the cells of the uterine wall (myometrium), as a result, thickening of the uterus occurs. A ...

and tracks a history of

women's health Women's health differs from that of men in many unique ways. Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not mer ...

care, specifically in relation to pain. The book was originally published in the UK and Australia under the title ''Pain and Prejudice: A Call to Arms for Women and Their Bodies''.

Overview

''Pain and Prejudice'' expands on Jackson's earlier journalistic writings on her experience with endometriosis and adenomyosis. Jackson broadly explains female anatomy and physiology, including

menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized by the rise and fall of hor ...

and

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time in women's lives when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children. Menopause usually occurs between the age of 47 and 54. Medical professionals often d ...

. She then provides a history of

hysteria Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...

and demonstrates how present-day tendencies to treat women in pain as mentally ill arise out of the hysteria tradition. Jackson writes about several under-diagnosed pain-related conditions that appear more frequently in women including endometriosis, adenomyosis,

irritable bowel syndrome Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a "disorder of gut-brain interaction" characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain and or abdominal bloating and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may ...

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

pelvic pain Pelvic pain is pain in the area of the pelvis. Acute pain is more common than chronic pain. If the pain lasts for more than six months, it is deemed to be chronic pelvic pain. It can affect both the male and female pelvis. Common causes in include ...

, and auto-immune conditions. The 2021 edition of the book concludes with an epilogue about women's pain and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Development

In 2001, Jackson was diagnosed with endometriosis. Her personal experience with and subsequent research about the disease led Jackson, the then-opinion editor for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', to launch an investigation into the disease with ''The Guardian''. As part of the investigation, Jackson published an article about her personal experience with endometriosis in 2015. Responses to that article inspired her to investigate how women's pain is treated, mistreated, and ignored by medicine and society.

References

{{reflist 2019 non-fiction books English-language books Feminism and health Australian non-fiction books Health and wellness books Feminist books Allen & Unwin books