Invisible. How young women with serious health issues navigate work, relationships and the pressure to seem fine already

Although young women with serious illnesses are usually seen as outliers, young female patients are in fact the primary demographic group for many illnesses. They are also one of the most ignored groups in our medical system - a system in which young women, especially women of colour and transgender women, are invisible. Because of gender and age expectations, young women with health problems often have to deal with prejudice in their careers and personal lives. Not only do they feel pressure to look perfect and young, but they also find themselves in the midst of labyrinthine obstacles in a culture that has one narrow concept of femininity. Lent Hirsch interweaves her own harrowing experiences with the stories of other women, the views of sociologists on structural inequalities and the insights of neuroscientists on misogyny in health research. She shows how health problems and disabilities reinforce what women in general already face: skewed beauty standards, sexism in the workplace, concerns about romantic partners and distrust of their own bodies.