(Acceptance) This Is the Part Where I Refuse to Die: Narrating Endometriosis Against the Silence

This chapter examines the concept of healing as an alternative to cure in the context of endometriosis memoirs written by Lara Parker, Abby Norman, and Hilary Mantel. While dominant biomedical models frame cure as the total elimination of disease, such models often ignore the lived reality of chronic pain and the psychic trauma caused by medical misogyny and racism. Drawing on disability studies and trauma theorists such as Eli Clare, Cathy Caruth, and Lauren Berlant, this chapter argues that healing, understood as a spiritual, psychological, and narrative practice, offers a path toward reclaiming agency in a body that cannot be cured. Through close readings of memoir, the chapter explores how creative expression becomes a transformative tool for processing grief, resisting institutional erasure, and building feminist solidarity. Personal narrative, including the author’s own journal entry, is incorporated to underscore the role of storytelling in surviving the medical dismissal and psychic fragmentation caused by endometriosis. In rejecting both cure rhetoric and romanticized suffering, the chapter advocates for a feminist disability framework that centers chronic pain, narrative resistance, and collective healing. Ultimately, it suggests that while endometriosis may not be curable, healing through writing can offer new modes of visibility, empowerment, and justice. Access this chapter Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout Purchases are for personal use only Similar content being viewed by others Notes - 1. I am forever grateful to Dr. Richard Doyle, one of my professors at Penn State, for helping me define this term.

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