[NetGalley ARC - pub date 1/23/2024]

“When you know your diagnosis, you can learn all about the medical implications, advocate for the best therapies, and know what is snake oil and what is science. Knowledge is power.”

Dr. Jen Gunter, author of both The Vagina Bible (2019) and The Menopause Manifesto (2021), adds to the gap in literature a book specifically about and for menstruating people. She reviews the history of the information we have about menstruation, medical practices surrounding menstruation, and current therapies for managing issues in mensuration. She also focuses on debunking myths both past and present around this usually monthly phenomenon. In this book, she particularly targets social media influencers (e.g., period coaches), functional medicine practitioners, and right-wing politicians for spreading and perpetuating misinformation. Her feminist perspective challenges patriarchal influence on mensurating people's knowledge and care of their own bodies.

Who it's for:

Non-professionals: Anyone who thinks it would be nice to have a OBGYN bestie to rattle off facts and numbers about the research and history surrounding their menstruating body. Some recommendations are included in the book.

Professionals: Anyone working with a person who menstruates and wants a resource to be able to recommend or reference regarding many common myths and questions around menstruation.

Audiobook critique:

I like when books are read by the author. However, her 1.0X speed for reading makes this <500 page book... 17 HOURS LONG. I listened to it at 1.5x speed for most of the book, if not faster. At times it felt like someone was merely reading to me a wiki or encyclopedia. The parts that kept my attention better were the historical parts and any parts where she was able to give anecdotal information (which was usually about herself).


Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for a digital advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I was anticipating that this might be a book that would help me to understand the difference between facts and myths about menstruation in an accessible way. Unfortunately, this was really extensively long and science heavy. Especially after finishing Un-Addiction, another health related audiobook, the lack of ability for a layperson to take away helpful bits of information was really evident.

I think this may be a helpful text for medical students or obgyn residents, but for the general public, I think it would need some major editing. The biggest upside was the narration. I thought it was clear and easy to understand. Thanks #NetGalley for the audio arc!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

3/5

I learned a LOT from this book. As somebody who has menstruated over half her life, there is so much I didn’t know about what actually happens during the process. This book covers all of that, as well as all the different ways the body can mess it up! The problem is, there is SO much information in the book that a lot of it gets lost in the weeds. Some parts get way too in-depth to the point where the actual takeaway information that I would need is lost.

The book does present the information in a way that at times is very humorous. I laughed out loud on multiple occasions, which I would not have expected for a book about menstruation.

I do have some concerns with the way some of the information is presented as FACT, especially when it comes to the way the author presents medications and treatment options. She goes through treatments options as if she is presenting them to you as a patient, and I worry that readers may take that as if she is their doctor, which could be dangerous. Personally, some of the options presented could have been dangerous for me to take and I know that because I’m privileged to have a close relationship with a primary care doctor and OBGYN. In the US, it is highly difficult for many people to get and access to healthcare and they may end up hurting themselves by taking medical advice from this book. *steps off soapbox*

The author really attacks wholistic providers. I think what she says about informed decisions about your healthcare choices is true, but the way she kept going after wholistic providers just felt like she was beating a dead horse.

In fact, there was a lot of repetition in the book about everything. In some ways this was good because there was a LOT of information to digest. However, it just made a long book even longer and it made it feel like it was even more to digest.

Am I a gynecologist now? Jeeehus that was very long and very full of really great information. I feel like I learned so much. And it was an accessible read but many times I thought it was probably endless. lol. I really appreciated the inclusive language, the normalizing of different symptoms and the immense distaste the author has for misogynistic doctors and influencers that peddle misinformation.

I wish this book existed when I was a teen and young adult! It has so much incredible, useful, and scientific information. Dr. Jen Gunter has great skill at presenting factual, evidence-based information in an interesting and engaging way (and she has a delightful Canadian accent!) I think this would be a great reference book for anyone wanting to understand more about menstruation and take in different portions at different times depending on interest/need. I may need to buy a paper version of this book to refer back to and share information with my daughter to take the mystery out of menstruation!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC.

This is a very detailed and needed book. If you are a woman and know little about your health, this will fill a lot of the gaps for you.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC ebook AND audiobook of this work. It was nice to hear the author read her own words, but also great to have the ebook as a reference for sections that needed a second look.

I feel like all people should read this, whether or not he/she/they menstruate. It’s the same thought I had about Gunter’s work “The Vagina Bible.” The breadth of information in this book is comprehensive, well-organized, and easy (for me) to understand. I do think that there are some scientific sections that may be difficult for some readers to get through without having to re-read previous paragraphs and/or ‘checking out.’

Gunter does a great job explaining time and time again that she is referencing peer-reviewed, evidence-based research in science/medicine. Some reviewers have given low ratings because she doesn’t support naturopathic ideology. The subtitle includes “science.” With that being said, there are sections about homeopathy and alternative medicine, so she’s not discounting alternative medicine. My point – take the negative ratings/reviews with a grain of pink Himalayan salt.
Overall, I think I appreciated “The Vagina Bible” more than this one as some of the content (for me) was redundant. But it is still a 5-star read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! I feel like I learned more about my period from this book than from any doctor I've had, (or honestly from my own research!). I really liked how the information was explained in such a way that it used the anatomically correct terms for things while still not being super technical.

Dr. Gunter's fun metaphors and commentary kept me interested, even through some of the more science-heavy chapters. My favorite chapters though would have to be the ones explaining the history behind contraception and menstrual products.

I also greatly appreciated Dr. Gunter's inclusivity of trans and nonbinary people in her discussion of periods. It can feel rather alienating to be a nonbinary person with a period and to have all messaging around periods be so feminine. I also appreciated her informed care approach, and I truly feel like I am more equipped to advocate for my menstrual needs because I have read this book.

I will say that I think I would absorb some of the more science-heavy chapters (especially those about contraception in the second half of the book) better if I read them rather than listened to them, but that has nothing to do with the content of the book, simply the method of delivery being auditory and not visual.

On a final note, I also enjoyed that Dr. Gunter herself read this book. It felt incredibly personal and offered even more humor to her jokes because she was the one who wrote them, after all! I have never listened to an audiobook narrated by the author before, and now I wish this was a more common thing because it truly was a treat to hear the author's words spoken by the author, exactly how she wanted them said!

Publication date: January 16, 2024

The review is linked in the box below. Thank you for the opportunity to review it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6134072692

Honestly this is a must-read or even must-have for anyone who menstruates. Yes, this book is EXTREMELY technical at times, but nothing that is absolutely necessary information for understanding what is and is not normal for your body is written too complexly. Yes, she gets a bit technical when it comes to things like hormones and how they work with your period, but that is easily skimmable. The parts that matter - what is normal, what is not, and when you should go to your doctor - are absolutely straightforward and easy to read.

This has been slightly review-bombed, I've seen, by people who are into holistic medicine. While I do agree that Dr. Gunter can be slightly heavy-handed in her dislike toward holistic influencers, it is clear that it is because she wants to make sure that people are making medical decisions with as much knowledge as possible. Dr. Gunter did a great job of helping the reader learn how to question "new" treatments and "natural" remedies (cyanide is natural - doesn't mean it's healthy!).

I really loved this book, and I will be purchasing a hard copy to reference in the future.

Thank you to HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!