Marieke Bigg – författare

The past, present and future of the sexism inherent in medicine and medical research - and how to change it

'A hugely informative and quietly furious call to arms.' IRISH TIMES'A ground-breaking new book.' EVENING STANDARD'A must read.' DAILY EXPRESS'She is balanced in her evidence analysis, forensic in her research.' TELEGRAPH'A vital subject that needs to be discussed -KATY HESSEL, AUTHOR OF THE STORY OF ART WITHOUT MEN'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 RIPPONThe 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.

'Confronting, thought-provoking and hopeful' SARAH GRAHAM'A rallying cry for the importance of social and systemic approaches to psychiatric distress' EMMA BYRNE'Stimulating and timely on psychiatry's tendency to pathologise the 'abnormal'' DANIEL TAMMET'A shocking and powerful critique ... this is essential reading' HELEN KINGThere is no such thing as a normal brain, yet we live in a world that treats disorder as disease.Psychiatry rests on the belief that mental distress can ultimately be explained by biology: brain structures, chemical imbalances and genetics. Treatments from lobotomies to electroconvulsive therapy to prescription drugs have been touted as cures for 'disorder'. And somewhere along the way, the pharmaceutical industry has leapfrogged its patients, making millions designing drugs to treat disorders, then billions dreaming up disorders that require drugs. We are now diagnosed and treated for mental disorders more than ever, despite increasing evidence that environmental factors play a far greater role than biological ones. Laying out the steps for a mental health system that helps rather than harms, Marieke Bigg asks: how can we heal when faced with an industry that banks on keeping us sick?

From Ada Lovelace to Florence Nightingale, Rosalind Franklin to Tu Youyou – discover the women who changed science foreverImagine a scientist. White lab coat and goggles… check! A passing resemblance to Albert Einstein… yes, that too. So, most likely it’s a man. However, from radiation to climate change, pulsars to the Earth’s core – women have always stood at the forefront of scientific discovery.Learn how Ada Lovelace’s tumultuous upbringing created the first computer programmer. Join Marie Curie as she discovers two elements and earns two Nobel prizes, all before the age of forty-five. Learn how Katherine Johnson launched the first American into space – defiant in the face of institutional racism.A timely addition to the growing global conversation around the future of science – and who gets to shape it – A History of Science in 21 Women is a paradigm-shifting exploration of the scientists who history tried, and failed, to brush under the carpet, and why their stories still matter today.

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.