Elle's 30 BEST BOOKS OF THE SUMMER"A jaw-dropping investigation into the women's health industry." -Shelf-Awareness "A fascinating examination of the past and present of women's healthcare" -Delfina V Barbiero, USA TODAY"A must-read for women, especially any woman who might ever need to see a doctor. " -The Washington Post American women visit more doctors, have more surgery, and fill more prescriptions than men. In Everything Below the Waist, Jennifer Block asks: Why is the life expectancy of women today declining relative to women in other high-income countries, and even relative to the generation before them? Block examines several staples of modern women's health care, from fertility technology to contraception to pelvic surgery to miscarriage treatment, and finds that while overdiagnosis and overtreatment persist in medicine writ large, they are particularly acute for women. One third of mothers give birth by major surgery; roughly half of women lose their uterus to hysterectomy. Feminism turned the world upside down, yet to a large extent the doctors' office has remained stuck in time. Block returns to the 1970s women's health movement to understand how in today's supposed age of empowerment, women's bodies are still so vulnerable to medical control-particularly their sex organs, and as result, their sex lives. In this urgent book, Block tells the stories of patients, clinicians, and reformers, uncovering history and science that could revolutionize the standard of care, and change the way women think about their health. Everything Below the Waist challenges all people to take back control of their bodies.

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Problem with Medicine as EmpowermentChapter 1: The Church of the Magic BulletMidcentury science on ovulation progressed parallel to the Pill, but fertility-based methods of contraception have been dismissed as unscientific.Chapter 2: Fertility InsuranceMost infertility is "unexplained," while most assisted reproductive technology is applied to women's bodies: the injustices of snoozing the biological clock.Chapter 3: Pelvic TensionThe many causes of chronic pelvic pain, including ignorance of female anatomy and physiology and damage to vital sex organs.Chapter 4: GYN ExceptionalismGynecology was a foundational branch of surgery, but it has drifted toward general practice-and that means less surgical training than other surgical specialties.Chapter 5: Birth TraumaIn response to the crisis in maternal mortality, leaders are trying to disrupt hospital culture, but there's a bigger problem: entitlement over women's bodies.Chapter 6: Women's Health, Inc.Women's health advocacy organizations fought for more representation and research; today they also push Pharma-funded campaigns.Chapter 7: The Case for Home AbortionAbortion clinics have become so inaccessible and undesirable that a new abortion underground is rising, calling up an expanded role for midwives.Conclusion: The Case for Physiological Justice