In this energetic new study, Wendy Mitchinson traces medical perspectives on the treatment of women in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century.

Wendy Mitchinson is a Canadian historian and a Distinguished Professor Emerita in University of Waterloo.

‘Body Failure is an extensively researched and carefully argued book… It is an excellent contribution to the rich, intersecting field of body and medicine in Canada.’

Rebecca Kluchin:

‘Meticulously researched, well organized and clearly written. Body Failure offers a complex and compelling understanding of the medicalization process through a gendered lens and as such, makes an important contribution to the literature on women’s health, healthcare, and medicine.’

Herizons, Winter 2015:

‘This solid albeit dispassionate book about how women were sometimes mutilated in the name of a male-dominated science is a must read for any woman who respects herself and her body.’

Susan L. Smith:

‘Body Failure is a very valuable resource on medical views of women’s health in Canada… This study reminds us that medicine was and still is, a profession engaged in constant debate, conjecture, and speculation about how gender shapes bodily differences.’

Maya Khankhoje :

“This book about how women were sometimes mutilated in the name of male-dominated science is a must read for any woman who respects herself or her body. “

Tracey Loughran:
‘This nuanced account of medical views of women in the first half of the twentieth century is sometimes depressing, but it is always fascinating, and tells a story which deserves to be more widely known.’

Cheryl Krasnick Warsh:

‘Body Failure’s rich detail can be profitably mined for lectures, so it is a treat for professors, including the many fine young scholars Mitchinson has trained and mentored in her long career. It is a highly recommended addition and we look forward to her next.’

Juanne Clarke, Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University:

“Observing that medical knowledge and practice are socially constructed and thus reflect their culture and times, Body Failure details the medical ‘management’ of women’s bodies over the course of their lives. By documenting these processes it constitutes an important contribution to the field.”