In this energetic new study, Wendy Mitchinson traces medical perspectives on the treatment of women in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century. It is based on in-depth research in a variety of archival sources, including Canadian medical journals, textbooks used in many of Canada’s medical faculties, popular health literature, patient case records, and hospital annual reports, as well as interviews with women who lived during the period.

Each chapter examines events throughout a woman’s life cycle – puberty, menstruation, sexuality, marriage and motherhood – and the health problems connected to them – infertility, birth control and abortion, gynaecology, cancer, nervous disorders, and menopause. Mitchinson provides a sensitive understanding of the physician/patient relationship, the unease of many doctors about the bodies of their female patients, as well as overriding concerns about the relationship between female and male bodies. Throughout the book, Mitchinson takes care to examine the roles and agency of both patients and practitioners as diverse individuals.

Wendy Mitchinson is a Canada Research Chair in Gender and Medical History and a professor in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo.

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‘Meticulously researched, well organized and clearly written. Body Failure offers a complex and compelling understanding of the medicalization process through a gendered lens and as such, makes an important contribution to the literature on women’s health, healthcare, and medicine.’

Journal of Social History Fall 2015

“This book about how women were sometimes mutilated in the name of male-dominated science is a must read for any woman who respects herself or her body. “

Herizons Magazine (Winter, 2015)

‘Body Failure is an extensively researched and carefully argued book… It is an excellent contribution to the rich, intersecting field of body and medicine in Canada.’

Acadiensis vol 44:02:2015

‘This nuanced account of medical views of women in the first half of the twentieth century is sometimes depressing, but it is always fascinating, and tells a story which deserves to be more widely known.’

Social History of Medicine vol 27:04:2014

‘This solid albeit dispassionate book about how women were sometimes mutilated in the name of a male-dominated science is a must read for any woman who respects herself and her body.’

Herizons, Winter 2015

‘Body Failure’s rich detail can be profitably mined for lectures, so it is a treat for professors, including the many fine young scholars Mitchinson has trained and mentored in her long career. It is a highly recommended addition and we look forward to her next.’

Canadian Historical Review vol 95:03:2014

‘Body Failure is a very valuable resource on medical views of women’s health in Canada… This study reminds us that medicine was and still is, a profession engaged in constant debate, conjecture, and speculation about how gender shapes bodily differences.’

Bulletin of Medical History vol 88:04:2014