Bleed

“A brilliant, blistering read.” — Heather O’Neill, author of When We Lost Our Heads

A scorching examination of how we treat endometriosis today

Have you ever been told that your pain is imaginary? That feeling better just takes yoga, CBD oil, and the blood of a unicorn on a full moon? That’s the reality for more than 190 million people suffering from the excruciating condition known as endometriosis. This disease, affecting one in ten cis women and uncounted numbers of others, is chronically overlooked, underfunded, and misunderstood — and improperly treated across the medical system. Discrimination and medical gaslighting are rife in endo care, often leaving patients worse off than when they arrived.

Journalist Tracey Lindeman knows it all too well. Decades of suffering from endometriosis propelled the creation of Bleed — part memoir, part investigative journalism, and a scathing indictment of how the medical system fails patients. Through extensive interviews and research, Bleed tracks the modern endo experience to the origins of medicine and how the system gained its power by marginalising women. Using an intersectional lens, Bleed dives into how the system perpetuates misogyny, racism, classism, ageism, transphobia, fatphobia, and other prejudices to this day.

Bleed isn’t a self-help book. It’s an evidence file and an eye-opening, enraging read. It will validate those who have been gaslit, mistreated, or ignored by medicine and spur readers to fight for nothing short of revolution.