Get It Out
On the Politics of Hysterectomy
In Get It Out, Andréa Becker investigates the consequences of cultural ignorance about one of the least-studied organs of the human body and the multilayered experiences of those who seek to remove it.
Because of the uterus’s associations with fertility, reproduction, and womanhood, conversations about hysterectomies are fraught with challenges, the book says. Doctors and healthcare professionals are often cagey about performing hysterectomies, even when the procedure would alleviate their patients’ debilitating pain. Further, centuries of unethical medical practices, culminating in forced sterilizations during the heyday of the eugenics era, led to dramatic differences in medical advice across racial boundaries, with institutions seeming to prioritize reproductivity among young white women while encouraging hysterectomies among patients of color.
After providing a historical overview of the subject, the book dedicates most of its pages to the voices and unique challenges of patients seeking the procedure—women and transgender men of varying ages, demographics, and motivations. With agility, it places hysterectomies within a larger conversation about women’s healthcare. While it advocates for freer choice and greater transparency about the operation’s risks and benefits, the book also offers a provocative counterproposal: Would hysterectomies be as necessary if the field of gynecology received appropriate amounts of funding and research? This systemic analysis comes late in the text and is left open ended. While the word-for-word transcripts of some interviewees’ statements can sometimes make for challenging reading, the ample use of interviews to illustrate the breadth of experiences with the procedure provides an exceptional amount of nuance.
Through rich reportage, Get It Out is a welcome addition to public discourse on women’s healthcare on the understudied subject of hysterectomies.
Reviewed by
Isaac Randel
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
