Jen Gunter > Quotes

“Women themselves may ignore their pain as "not that bad," because for them the pain may really not be that bad. For example, for many women the pain of menstrual cramps is worse than the pain of a heart attack—after all, the force generated by the uterus during menstrual cramps is the same as the force generated during the second stage of labor. Yet, women with menstrual cramps are somehow viewed as weak and complainers. It's systemic gaslighting and it makes me want to scream.”
― Jen Gunter

“But this is the patriarchy: facts are irrelevant; it's the world order that matters.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“They are not “feminine hygiene” products because: • Needing them is not a sign of being feminine; it’s a sign that you need something to catch blood. • They’re not hygiene products because menstruating is not unhygienic”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“When it comes to painful periods, there is an epidemic of undertreatment. Women's pain is undertreated in general, as compared to men's, but painful periods have historically been seen as a "woman thing" and hence unimportant. Our patriarchal system has dismissed menstrual pain as both exaggerated and a sign of weakness, and at times, perversely, as something women deserve (punishment for "original sin," I suppose).”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“First, changing laws can affect you even if you have no desire to have an abortion. For example, medications to help manage miscarriage are the same as those for medication abortion, and there are stories of pharmacists refusing to dispense these medications for fear they’re for abortion and not miscarriage.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“When something feels off balance I replace the word “women” with “men” to see how it sounds. If it sounds reasonable I’m more likely to consider the hypothesis worthy of further evaluation, but if we would never speak about men that way, then there’s going to be a lot of side eye on my part.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“Every misogynistic trope about hormones was successfully rebranded by Somers as feminism, and the absence of medical evidence and taking an unstudied hormone regimen were apparently advocating for oneself.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“In 2015 the New York State attorney general investigated herbal products sold at GNC, Target, Walmart, and Walgreens, and 80 percent of the products didn’t contain any of the herbs on the labels. Yes, 80 percent. Another study in 2013 from the University of Guelph found up to one-third of supplements didn’t contain the botanicals claimed on the labels.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“Dr. Fothergill did not believe that menstrual blood was toxic, and while it may contain some “morbid humours,” men, too, according to Fothergill had those same humours and released those via their hemorrhoids.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“Fiber lowers the pH of stool, is anti-inflammatory, and inhibits the growth of potentially harmful bacteria while increasing absorption of some minerals.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“It feels as if there’s a cultural acceptance of osteoporosis, which is tragic and fills me with rage. Perhaps society just expects women to get frail, so why be concerned about something that’s “normal”? Maybe the needs of women as they age are irrelevant when society decides they’re no longer hot enough so they should just be quiet and accept their dotage?”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“What about women who say they just don’t feel as sharp after their menopause transition? To answer this question researchers looked at memory and cognition over time—before the menopause transition, during, and afterward. What they found was the cognitive function does change, but it’s simply a function of aging. Remember, a woman who starts her menopause transition at the age of forty-seven and ends at fifty-three has also experienced six years of aging.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“The desire to control your bleeding, either how often or how much, to improve your quality of life isn’t a frivolous pursuit or an abomination. And you get to decide what “quality of life” means, because it is, after all, your life. Wanting to feel better just makes you human and that, my friend, is reason enough.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“A manufacturer can legally advertise a supplement helps “maintain hormone health” or provides “ovary support” or “memory support” without defining those terms or providing evidence of, well, anything. These quasi-scientific terms are very effective marketing. Who doesn’t want to support their ovaries or their memory?”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“In the United States especially, a woman is far safer being on the pill than being pregnant. The risk of death and serious complications, such as blood clots, stroke, needing a blood transfusion, incontinence, and postpartum depression, JUST TO NAME A FEW (yes, I’m yelling), is significant.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“Unfortunately, instead of a world where those who bear the physical burdens of reproduction—whether they reproduce or not—have equal footing, we have the opposite. The Ancient Greeks, the originators of Western medicine, labeled the female body as inferior, and the act of menstruation has been viewed as proof that women have troublesome physiology and are by nature dirty and toxic. Many religions and cultures have long carried that same torch based on the erroneous belief of impurity and the idea that menstrual blood is filthy and contains actual toxins that poison the body (and especially men, if they were to touch it). Women have been banned from places of worship, from preparing food, from having sex, and even from their own homes based on the supposed polluting powers of menstrual blood.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“Omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides, reduce atherosclerosis, and may lower blood pressure. Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids is often indicated for postmenopausal women”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“The best/worst example of this is OB/GYNs—largely women—getting paid less to do a vulvar biopsy than urologists—largely men—receive for doing a scrotal biopsy. Same procedure, same equipment, same pain level, same sexual consequences. Different reimbursement.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“There are claims online that “estrogen stimulates and progesterone calms,” meaning all women need both hormones, but that’s not true. The reason for a progestogen is the uterus, although there are some exceptions (always the exceptions with menopause).”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“bookmark the National Library of Medicine.”
― Jen Gunter, The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina: Separating the Myth from the Medicine

“For women to navigate menopause, they need facts because empowerment requires accurate information—but they also need feminism because our bodies, our medical care, and even our thoughts have been colonized by the patriarchy.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“It's always amazing to me how the people who fearmonger about modern medicine negatively affecting the menstrual cycle are usually promoting some type of unstudied supplement or botanical. Then again, fears about fertility are a big business. Also, these people seem to believe suffering is acceptable, and maybe even necessary, in the quest for mythical menstrual purity.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“Reproducing a human is a massive biological effort. Energy-wise, it's on par with the limits of the most extreme sports, for example, running 5,000 km (3,000 miles) over 120 days or cycling the Tour de France.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“They are not “feminine hygiene” products because: • Needing them is not a sign of being feminine; it’s a sign that you need something to catch blood. • They’re not hygiene products because menstruating is not unhygienic. They are menstrual products. And they’re essential.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“There are five major classes of phytoestrogens: isoflavones (the most well-known are genistein and daidzein), coumestans, prenylflavonoids, lignans, and stilbenes”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“I just can’t get my head around the concept of believing that menstruating women could wilt plants. If this were true, it wouldn’t be a curse; it would be a weapon. After all, if they could, wouldn’t they have used that power to lay waste to entire crops, bringing kings, emperors, and governments to their knees?”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine and Mythology of Menstruation

“These are important questions as a recent study that followed over 52,000 women for eight years linked three glasses of milk a day with an 80 percent increased risk of breast cancer.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“On average, the risk of death during pregnancy is 58 times greater than the risk of dying from a legal abortion. Given these statistics, there can be no "pro-life" stance about abortion that is not hypocritical unless the life of the pregnant person is inconsequential. It is always safer to have an abortion than to be pregnant even in countries with lower maternal mortality.”
― Jen Gunter, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation

“A diet high in refined carbohydrates has been linked with lower levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and thus increased levels of active or unbound estrogen and testosterone.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism

“Phytoestrogens are compounds found in plants that can mimic estrogen or interfere with estrogen.”
― Jen Gunter, The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism