Womb : the inside story of where we all began

Title:

Author:

Summary:

The size of a clenched fist and the shape of a light bulb—with no less power and potential. Every person on Earth began inside a uterus, but how much do we really understand about the womb? Bringing together medical history, scientific discoveries, and journalistic exploration, Leah Hazard embarks on a journey in search of answers about the body’s most miraculous and contentious organ. We meet the people who have shaped our relationship with the uterus: doctors and doulas, yoni steamers and fibroid-tea hawkers, legislators who would regulate the organ’s very existence, and boundary-breaking researchers on the frontiers of the field. With a midwife’s warmth and humor, Hazard tackles pressing questions: Is the womb connected to the brain? Can cervical crypts store sperm? Do hysterectomies affect sexual pleasure? How can smart tampons help health care? Why does endometriosis take so long to be diagnosed? Will external gestation be possible in our lifetime? How does gender-affirming hormone therapy affect the uterus? Why does medical racism impact reproductive healthcare? A clear-eyed and inclusive examination of the cultural prejudices and assumptions that have made the uterus so poorly understood for centuries, Womb takes a fresh look at an organ that brings us pain and pleasure—a small part of our bodies that has a larger impact than we ever thought possible. -- Amazon.

Edition:

First edition.

Contents:

Uterus -- Periods -- Conception -- Pregnancy -- Tightenings -- Labor -- Loss -- Cesarean -- Postpartum -- Health -- Menopause -- Hysterectomy -- Reprocide -- Future -- An unapolegetic epilogue.

Physical Description:

xvi, 316 pages ; 24 cm

Subject Term:

Uterus.

Human reproduction.

Women -- Health and hygiene.

Midwives.

Publisher:

Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9780063157620

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2023]

Call Number:

612.62 HAZARD

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003657387	New Adult Nonfiction	612.62 HAZARD	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

"Page for page, I may not have ever learned more from a book.... Womb is a history book as well as a biology book but it's also an adventure and a celebration." --Rob Delaney, actor and author of A Heart That Works

A groundbreaking, triumphant investigation of the uterus--from birth to death, in sickness and in health, throughout history and into our possible future--from midwife and acclaimed writer Leah Hazard

The size of a clenched fist and the shape of a light bulb--with no less power and potential. Every person on Earth began inside a uterus, but how much do we really understand about the womb?

Bringing together medical history, scientific discoveries, and journalistic exploration, Leah Hazard embarks on a journey in search of answers about the body's most miraculous and contentious organ. We meet the people who have shaped our relationship with the uterus: doctors and doulas, yoni steamers and fibroid-tea hawkers, legislators who would regulate the organ's very existence, and boundary-breaking researchers on the frontiers of the field.

With a midwife's warmth and humor, Hazard tackles pressing questions: Is the womb connected to the brain? Can cervical crypts store sperm? Do hysterectomies affect sexual pleasure? How can smart tampons help health care? Why does endometriosis take so long to be diagnosed? Will external gestation be possible in our lifetime? How does gender-affirming hormone therapy affect the uterus? Why does medical racism impact reproductive healthcare?

A clear-eyed and inclusive examination of the cultural prejudices and assumptions that have made the uterus so poorly understood for centuries, Womb takes a fresh look at an organ that brings us pain and pleasure--a small part of our bodies that has a larger impact than we ever thought possible.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Midwife Hazard (Hard Pushed) delivers a bravura cultural history of the uterus and the politics that surround it. Surveying how gendered ideas and expectations impact uterine health, she traces the history of obstetrics and notes a tendency in such terms as "irritable uterus" and "incompetent cervix" to "conflate a woman and her uterus into one troublesome package." Stories of women navigating medical institutions highlight the frequent disregard that patients often encounter from professionals, as when it took weeks for doctors to take a pregnant woman's complaints about debilitating pain seriously enough to perform a scan that revealed a dangerous abnormality. Hazard passionately argues for abortion access, telling of women in Ireland and Poland who died from sepsis because doctors refused to perform the potentially lifesaving procedure. Whether discussing such antique myths as the "wandering womb" or providing a firsthand account of a uterine transplant, Hazard's eye is keen, her range broad, and her tone scrupulously compassionate. Additionally, this benefits from the author's recognition that people relate to their wombs in myriad ways, as exemplified in her interview with a trans man on how his quality of life improved after a hysterectomy. This is essential reading on the "most miraculous and misunderstood organ in the human body." (Mar.)

Library Journal Review

Hazard (Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story), a practicing National Health Service (NHS) midwife, fearlessly tackles the myths, history, and science of the uterus in this new book. As she explains periods, conception, labor, menopause, and hysterectomies, Hazard addresses underserved populations, women of color, and people who are transgender, along with the areas where more research is needed--and it is needed in nearly every aspect of women's reproductive health. When issues border on the political, she defers to the World Health Organization and NHS guidelines, keeping her thesis taut throughout. She incorporates the rise of social media as an influencer of women's health, including PeriodTok (part of TikTok), the recent change in the United States' legislative position on abortion, as well as the language that surrounds wombs: an "irritable" uterus, an "incompetent" cervix, and the ever-complicated social history of a "hysteria" diagnosis. To combat the shame surrounding uterine health, Hazard empowers readers with vocabulary and scientific understanding of the uterine microbiome, Braxton-Hicks contractions, fibroids, and endometriosis. In the middle of the book, she compassionately pauses to address all the forms loss can take for a woman and her womb, at all phases of her reproductive journey. VERDICT A revelatory, straightforward, and important work.--Tina Panik

Introduction	xi
Uterus	1
Periods	13
Conception	49
Pregnancy	66
Tightenings	78
Labor	97
Loss	130
Cesarean	140
Postpartum	159
Health	170
Menopause	210
Hysterectomy	218
Reprocide	236
Future	253
An Unapologetic Epilogue	282
Acknowledgments	287
Notes	289
Glossary	309
Credits	317

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents