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A review by atelierofbooks
The Wonder Down Under: The Insider's Guide to the Anatomy, Biology, and Reality of the Vagina by Nina Brochmann, Ellen Støkken Dahl
4.0
This book is a gem. No matter how much you think you know about your body, there's always more research being done. It's so valuable to keep up to date and re-evaluate our long held medical beliefs. Our bodies should not be taboo or a mystery to us!
This book is educational and exceptionally well-researched. But its also non-judgmental and humorous. The authors present some dry medical concepts in an accessible and conversational tone. And the illustrations (there are a few!) are cute, helpful, and surprisingly hilarious at times.
It touches on anything you could imagine related to the vulva; anatomy, contraception, sex, psychology, consent, gender, disease, and even the dangers of poor sex education (FGM being the most extreme case). There were so many interesting facts I learned not just about biology, but also about history and society. (Women in ancient Greece used leaves and honey as a form of contraception!)
The notable exceptions in this book are menopause and post-pregnancy. There are a ridiculous number of pregnancy books so I dont think the omission is significant. But I do think a section on menopause would have been helpful! There's so much stigma and ignorance surrounding menopause, we need a book like this to cut through all of the fog.
I would honestly love for this to be required reading in school. Schools don't do enough with health education so women are often forced to take education into their own hands. And that often involves hearsay or women's magazines or Google, which can all be unreliable.
But even if you had great health ed and are not shy about talking to your doctor, what about those things you don't even know you need to know? That's what I liked most about this! I feel more informed. I can separate what's medically proven with what's misinformation (synchronized periods are not a thing! My life has been a lie). I now have a deeper grasp of the science behind different phenomena. And all of this makes me so pleased that I picked this book up. Its definitely something I will continue to reference as needed in the future.
This book is educational and exceptionally well-researched. But its also non-judgmental and humorous. The authors present some dry medical concepts in an accessible and conversational tone. And the illustrations (there are a few!) are cute, helpful, and surprisingly hilarious at times.
It touches on anything you could imagine related to the vulva; anatomy, contraception, sex, psychology, consent, gender, disease, and even the dangers of poor sex education (FGM being the most extreme case). There were so many interesting facts I learned not just about biology, but also about history and society. (Women in ancient Greece used leaves and honey as a form of contraception!)
The notable exceptions in this book are menopause and post-pregnancy. There are a ridiculous number of pregnancy books so I dont think the omission is significant. But I do think a section on menopause would have been helpful! There's so much stigma and ignorance surrounding menopause, we need a book like this to cut through all of the fog.
I would honestly love for this to be required reading in school. Schools don't do enough with health education so women are often forced to take education into their own hands. And that often involves hearsay or women's magazines or Google, which can all be unreliable.
But even if you had great health ed and are not shy about talking to your doctor, what about those things you don't even know you need to know? That's what I liked most about this! I feel more informed. I can separate what's medically proven with what's misinformation (synchronized periods are not a thing! My life has been a lie). I now have a deeper grasp of the science behind different phenomena. And all of this makes me so pleased that I picked this book up. Its definitely something I will continue to reference as needed in the future.