Abby Norman (writer)

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Abby M. Norman
Abby Norman in 2018
Abby Norman in 2018
Alma materSarah Lawrence College
Notable worksAsk Me About My Uterus A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain
Website
www.abbynormanwriter.com

Abby Norman is an American science writer. She is the author of the 2018 nonfiction book Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain.

Biography[edit]

Norman had a troubled home life and became an emancipated minor at age 16.[1] She attended Sarah Lawrence College but dropped out after experiencing severe pain that was eventually diagnosed as endometriosis.[2] Norman wrote about her experience of endometriosis, including her efforts to get doctors to take her pain seriously, for Seventeen magazine, and started curating online essays on reproductive system health into a website called Ask Me About My Uterus.[3][4]

In 2018 Norman's book Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain was published by Nation Books.[5] The book connects Norman's personal experience to a longer history of medical practitioners dismissing women's pain, for example by treating their experience of pain as "hysteria".[6] Ask Me About My Uterus also critically examines the popular understanding of endometriosis as a "white woman's disease".[7]

Writing for The New York Times, Randi Epstein called Norman "a terrific storyteller with a gift for weaving memorable anecdotes" and noted that the book "tells a story that will resonate with anyone (man or woman) who has ever experienced pain".[8] Kirkus Reviews described the book as "compelling and impressively researched" and "an unsparing look at the historically and culturally fraught relationship between women and their doctors".[1] Erin Blakemore of The Washington Post summarized the book as "a torrent of disconcerting information about the continued struggle to understand and value women’s bodies".[5]

Bustle named Norman as one of its 2018 Rule Breakers.[9]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest To Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain (New York: Nation Books, 2018) ISBN 9781568585819

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain". Kirkus Reviews. 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
  2. ^ Norman, Abby (2018-09-28). "Abby Norman Wants You to Ask Her About Her Uterus". Rewire.News (Interview). Interviewed by Danielle Corcione. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  3. ^ Norman, Abby (2016-07-15). "My Period Ruined My Life". Seventeen. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
  4. ^ Norman, Abby. "Abby Norman, Writer: The World Isn't Ready For A Lot Of What Women Want To Say". Forbes (Interview). Interviewed by Kavi Guppta. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  5. ^ a b Blakemore, Erin. "'Ask Me About My Uterus' insists that doctors take women's pain seriously". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  6. ^ Pai, Deanna (2018-03-07). "Doctors Don't Know How to Deal With Women's Pain". The Cut. New York Magazine. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  7. ^ Dionne, Evette. "Endometriosis, Healthcare, and the Legacy of Female "Hysteria"". Bitch Media. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  8. ^ Epstein, Randi (2018-03-19). "When Doctors Don't Listen to Women". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  9. ^ Norman, Abby (2018-08-24). "Abby Norman Knows Women Shouldn't Have To Pretend They're Not In Pain — So She Stopped Pretending". Bustle (Interview). Interviewed by Danielle Campoamor. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
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