Book Review: Emotional Female by Yumiko Kadota
Emotional Female is a memoir of Yumiko Kadota’s time as a medical student and junior doctor in the Australian public health system.
Old white men. Archaic attitudes and traditions. Unbending. Judgemental. Selfish. Entitled. Arrogant. Rude. Prejudiced. Sexist. Ageist. Racist.
Yumiko Kadota experienced it all during the years she spent working hard to fulfil her dream of becoming a plastic surgeon.
Reading Emotional Female disappointed me. I wasn’t disappointed with the author, but for the author’s experience. The knowledge that still in our modern age, after more than 40 years of the women’s movement fighting against sexism and the oppression of women, the struggles remain, blatantly rife among us. It was the knowledge that despite ‘learning’ from so many wars around the world, which started due to racism and the fight for power and control, people are still actively vilified because of their heritage. It appalled me that a dedicated, selfless, hardworking training surgeon was labelled, abused, and denied her calling due simply to a patriarchal medical fraternity.
However, I wasn’t shocked. I have seen the attitudes and actions of some male doctors and surgeons (a minority) act as she described during my time working in a hospital. Yet I felt a deep unease over how deeply these attitudinal biases continue to run.
Before her experience, Yumiko had the world at her feet. She had a strong family, was a model student, and was naturally gifted, with the necessary passion and commitment to become a surgeon. She practised day and night to perfect her craft and learn under tough conditions.
Her work ethic was exemplary. How she was pushed was not.
She was relentlessly mistreated and experienced such intense bias and bigotry that it killed her dream of healing and helping people as a surgeon.
The result for Yumiko? Depression, anxiety, trauma.
The power of this book is in Yumiko’s transformation. Her belief and knowledge that what happened to her was wrong, but that it did not define her. Eventually, this self-belief allowed her to claw her way out of a deeply disturbed state.
Finally, she reconciled herself to following another life path.
But her transformation would not have happened without the love and support of her family, clean eating, learning rituals, reconnecting with her soul, and focussing on possibilities. She found a way to embrace and celebrate the joy of being an ‘Emotional Female.’
This book highlights how important it is to be centred, focussed and kind to yourself. While still keeping passion and drive, but in a healthy way. It is also an important reminder that society still has a long way before we can consider ourselves inclusive, evolved, and accepting of all people – regardless of your upbringing, circumstances, the gender you identify as, or your heritage.
I felt an array of emotions in reading Emotional Female. It stirred up joy, frustration, rage, anger, confusion, hurt, love, and hope.
If you are looking to read a ‘literary piece’, you may need to look past the writing style and instead focus on Yumiko’s message. But that is the purpose of this memoir.
It is not written as a demonstration of excellence in writing but rather a raw sharing of a lived experience, hoping to make the future better for those who follow her.
For me, this book was a reminder to tread gently through life, stand up for what’s right, reach out a hand to whoever needs it and celebrate the strength and resilience that hides in the most unsuspecting places.
