The F-word discussion

Join us for the August nonfiction group read of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez. This book came out in March of this year and I don't know about you all, but I'm really looking forward to reading this once my library copy comes in. I have heard nothing but good things about it.

From the Goodreads description:

Imagine a world where your phone is too big for your hand, where your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body, where in a car accident you are 47% more likely to be seriously injured, where every week the countless hours of work you do are not recognised or valued. If any of this sounds familiar, chances are that you're a woman.

Invisible Women shows us how, in a world largely built for and by men, we are systematically ignoring half the population. It exposes the gender data gap – a gap in our knowledge that is at the root of perpetual, systemic discrimination against women, and that has created a pervasive but invisible bias with a profound effect on women’s lives.

Has anyone already read this book? Planning to join us? Initial thoughts? Bring it on!

Thanks to F-Word member, Lucinda, for bringing to our attention an overview/preview of the book in this thread here!

I am #1 on holds at my library, I'll start as soon as it gets in. I'm kind of going in on this one with similar apprehensions like I did with Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick, however, I think this one will be less... personally upsetting? Idk. Things are not equivalent to our actual bodies I guess? Frustrating, I'm sure, but I don't think I'll suffer as much. I've also seen this one as a highly praised non-fiction read.

That was a great preview article, btw, thank you for sharing it, Lucinda

I also found the book Doing Harm very personally upsetting and my therapist actually made the suggestion that I put the book on hold because it was causing my such metal anguish about my Mother past and potentially future ill treatments in hospitals.
That said!, i'm at the very beginning of Invisible Women and am finding it very thought provoking and enlightening. Frustrating too for sure, but no rage inducing hair pulling yet!

I'm sorry that Doing Harm wasn't all that beneficial for readers here! I admit I wasn't able to join into that discussion but am still interested in checking it out. As someone who has had medical and surgical history, however, I am a bit hesitant.

I'm glad you're enjoying Invisible Women, Honore! Is there anything from the beginning pages that really stands out to you?

I do think the book Doing Harm was important to read, it was just incredibly difficult for me because one of my female loved ones has had repeated experiences w/ cancer. I saw first hand who often doctors and nurses would disregard her own information about her medical history and try to re-write the experience to fit what they wanted to do for treatment.
Invisible Women starts off with an incredible intro about how the very language we use in America is incredibly male focused. It sets an important tone for everything that follows. Of personal interest to me was how transportation departments don't take into account how women navigate cities and towns. They focus on citizens who go to work and home (men) singularly rather than also taking into account people who chain-trip, go to drop kids at school, go to work, go to supermarket, go home (women). They then cite a nordic country taking this into account and re-doing how they clear snow in the winter and it has great results!

Honore wrote: "I do think the book Doing Harm was important to read, it was just incredibly difficult for me because one of my female loved ones has had repeated experiences w/ cancer. I saw first hand who often ..."

Yeah, I agree Doing Harm was important to read and also very difficult to get through. I do recommend you still give it a shot and work your way through it El.

I'm really looking forward to reading this one, my copy has been "in transit" for a couple days now, so hopefully I will get it very soon. I think I read that intro on the link Lucinda provided

I'm only about 40% through but it is an amazing book, very engaging but also deeply shocking. For example, I just read that

Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) has been found to be effective in preventing a first heart attack in men, but a 2005 paper found that it had a ‘nonsignificant’ effect in women aged between forty-five and sixty-five. Prior to this study, the authors noted, there had been ‘few similar data in women’. A more recent study from 2011 found that not only was aspirin ineffective for women, it was potentially harmful ‘in the majority of patients’. Similarly, a 2015 study found that taking a low dose of aspirin every other day ‘is ineffective or harmful in the majority of women in primary prevention’ of cancer or heart disease.

That's insane. How can it have become common knowledge that aspirin helps heart disease if it may not for over half of us?

Pérez's book is full of shocking moments like that.

I finally got my copy and started. I've only gotten through the preface and intro, but yes, you chose the perfect word! It is shocking how overlooked women are - especially when we're talking about healthcare studies that provide the groundwork for the actual health CARE to include diagnosis and treatment plans. I'm boggled!

Just finished Part 1, and as underwhelmed as I am by the majority of world, I've got to give a hand to Vienna (I lol'ed at the real life Leslie Knope reference) where they've implemented city project planning that actually builds communities in ways to help women with families, and actually encourage girls to be outside. Safely. There are such glimmers of hope buried under all the "usual" bs women deal with. On to The Workplace

I'm doing a lot of scoffing. This line of commentary just has me huffing:
women have small hands, very rare to succeed on instruments such as piano (earlier in history women were already excluded from playing in public which led to publishing pieces which led to more public performance..) but most iphone owners are women, but the iphone screens keep getting bigger, but women have a hard time using them one handed - women would/should be the test market based on the fact that women are more likely to buy the iphone - but women like bigger phones because women like big purses. But women carry purses because we dont have pockets. We dont have pockets because they aren't flattering to our silhouette...

And the fact that the VP of voice technology at a major car navigation company thinks that the solution to car navigation not recognizing women's voices is that women need to "submit to training" on how to speak to the car. Scoff scoff scoff scoff pachaw snort scoff.

This is specifically Part 3, chapter 8. Good day.

So i did finish the book, and contrary to how my previous rant may sound, i really did enjoy it. I think Criado-Perez did an amazing job covering a huge swath of topics and continuing to tie them back to her gender data gap theory.

Really, a lot here to read and many topics to discuss if anyone was still turning it over or working through it. Remember, our threads stay open for discussion

Thanks, Anita. I do still fully intend on reading this once I get my head back above water again. :)

I'm still on the waiting list at the library for this one.

At this rate you can expct my opinions in 2022. :(