This Won’t Hurt: How Medicine Fails Women

The idea that medicine is gender-neutral is a myth. This isn't inflammatory rhetoric; it's simply true. From the way pain is felt, to how heart attacks are diagnosed, to the very role society plays in the health of the body, the medical landscape in place today is one that was designed for, and by, men.

This book is about all the ways medicine is not gender-neutral, from research to treatment to diagnosis. Throughout history, flawed mindsets have paved the way for sub-par treatment, and the prevailing attitudes that still exist today have had terrible repercussions for women and their bodies.

Blending fascinating examples with historical and cultural context, and reflecting on her own personal experience with healthcare, Dr Marieke Bigg explores how women's bodies have been ignored, misunderstood and misdiagnosed, whilst keeping an eye to a better future. This is a sharp and honest must-read, and an empowering tool for anyone committed to making this world safer to navigate for all. 

For queries relating to This Won’t Hurt, please contact my agent, Eli Keren at London United Agents.

  • “A brilliant book...There is so much to unlearn, there is so much that also follows in terms of how medicine could support - rather than fail - half the world's population.”

    Helen Pankhurst

  • “A vital subject that needs to be discussed.”

    Katy Hessel

  • “A valuable sociological perspective on women's bodies and health and an even more valuable (and optimistic) view of a better future for all.”

    Gina Rippon

  • “Asking all the right questions about the treatment of women's bodies and more importantly, answering them. Punchy, fascinating and vital.”

    Rachel Parris

  • “A hugely informative and quietly furious call to arms.”

    The Irish Times

  • “A ground-breaking new book.”

    Evening Standard

  • “She is balanced in her evidence analysis, forensic in her research.”

    The Telegraph

  • “A must read.”

    Daily Express

Waiting for Ted

Waiting for Ted charts the destruction of Rosalind and Ted’s relationship at the hands of an expensive chaise longue. Rosie comes from a wealthy, upper-class background. She dreams of being a traditional housewife to her big strong working man, cooking, tending the house and instagramming her perfect life. But she also needs to fill her house with things that she can Instagram, so when Ted bans her from spending any more of her father’s money on her ‘work’ as an interior design influencer until she’s actually earning, she begins to scheme – only to watch her schemes unravel, and the rest of her life with them.

Told in a series of reflections over the course of an evening spent waiting for Ted, Rosie charts her relationship’s downfall, how she drifted from her only friend (who she never really liked anyway), how she contributed to the breakdown in her parents’ marriage, how she never really let Ted into her perfect world, how she drove them to their spectacular breakdown, and as she does it becomes increasingly clear to the reader that Ted may not be coming home at all.

  • “A small banger of a novel.”

    Foyles

  • “A really impressive piece of literature…It is wonderfully feminist.”

    Books and Bao

  • “A darkly funny story about the worlds we construct around ourselves.”

    Biblio.bablio

  • “If you love any books by Ottessa Moshfegh, or if you have liked novels like The Harpy and Nightbitch, there is a good chance that you’ll find this exciting and up your street.”

    _weneedtotalkaboutbooks_

  • “A hugely informative and quietly furious call to arms.”

    The Irish Times

  • “A ground-breaking new book.”

    Evening Standard

  • “She is balanced in her evidence analysis, forensic in her research.”

    The Telegraph

  • “A must read.”

    Daily Express