If our physicians' knowledge is based on research that is, in turn, based on skewed data, our health could be in danger. For instance, Hales points out that the symptoms for a heart attack in a woman differ vastly from those a man would experience. Men generally feel crushing heart pain when they're going into cardiac arrest. Women, on the other hand, more often experience shortness of breath and feelings of weakness. Women are more vulnerable to strokes and Alzheimer's disease.
Men are more vulnerable to cancer and heart disease.
Hales also treads into the realm of mental health, daring to explore why women are more vulnerable to depression then men, including brain chemistry differences, the way a woman's body metabolizes alcohol, hormones, sensitivity to light and temperature and exposure to traumatic events. But the book's greatest moments are when its author isn't comparing women to anything. Even for a grown woman who has for years dealt with the reality of her cycle, the book has startling revelations as to why things happen the way they do. For a young woman just entering puberty, the book's information is nothing less than a godsend, making her feel both normal and uniquely valuable at the same time. Hales should be commended for mixing valid and complex scientific research with astute analysis and just enough personality to make it feel like she's across the table from the reader, sipping tea, and making her points with expression and feeling.