The Stitch-Up

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Brought to you by Penguin.

Got endometriosis? You should have a baby!
Painful post-birth prolapse? Well, you had a baby.
Let down by doctors? Try our wellness candle!
Episiotomy scar? Why not trim your labia too?

It’s a stitch-up. And we demand better.

As Emma was being sewn up following the birth of her second child, the midwife paused, looked up and said the worst thing anyone has ever said to her: ‘Your vagina’s fallen out.’

After receiving a vague diagnosis of ‘prolapse’, she spent the next two years being shunted between specialists. The solutions on offer ranged from kegels to hysterectomy and even labia trimming. Some doctors simply shrugged and said there was nothing they could do.

Women around her spoke of similar experiences: mothers told that pain was the price of parenthood; trans women blamed for ‘wanting a vagina in the first place’; Black women disbelieved and dismissed; intersex men and women lied to by their doctors.

The mesh scandal that injured thousands. The ‘love doctor’ who performed nonconsensual vaginal surgeries. Over and over again, Emma heard stories of women in pain, bleeding, dying, failed by the professionals who were supposed to help them.

Medical misogyny kills, and leaves many more in agony, unable to live full lives. The Stitch-Up tells their stories, and calls for better research, healthcare options, language and treatment, arguing that being female should never be a death sentence.

© Emma Szewczak 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

A long-overdue spotlight on medical misogyny… with extraordinary courage and candour… This book could not be more timely
Observer
Reading about the comprehensive and egregious medical mistreatment of women in the modern era is unsettling, but the authors make it inspiring and invigorating. I have high hopes these stories will be tools in our ongoing fight for change
JULIA BUENO, author of The Brink of Being
The Stitch Up addresses a national crisis in a profound yet incredibly humane way. Blending powerful personal stories and science, Szewczak & Harris prove that modern medicine has never served women’s needs and it's time for that to change
EVE RODSKY, author of Fair Play
Deeply unsettling and affecting... Reading The Stitch-Up is like meeting up with that friend who will tell you how it really was with all the gory details, but they still manage to make you cry with laughter
CATHERINE AIREY, author of Confessions

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