VivirLatino

Book Review : Body Drama

10:31 H | Topics: Books - Children - Family - Health - Sex - Women

Mujeres: if your new year's resolution is to love your body more then come closer. When I was going through puberty, I learned everything I needed to learn about my body from two sources: porn I found in my dad's drawers and a copy of Our Body, Ourselves stolen from my mom. Let's be real, most of our mamis didn't talk to us properly about our bodies and the changes we were going through. Well we're not our mamis. We tend to be more open with our children but that doesn't mean that we don't need a little help. Enter the book Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers by Nancy Redd.

This book is not for the faint, especially those not used to seeing real women and their bodies. And I say bodies I mean every part of our bodies: cellulite, piercings, tats, bellies, rollos, tetas, culos, and vaginas. Yes, vaginas.

The paperback self- help included many full color, up close pics of all parts of a woman's boy, including a two page vulva spread. I admit that I was surprised but it wasn't a porno representation, it was a positive representation meant to show the diversity of our bodies. My 10 year old daughter wasn't as shocked as I was , but then again we're not a prudish cover yourself household. But it would be too easy to get caught up in the nakkid pics and lose the real message of the book: that the changes your body are going through are normal and your body is fine regardless of the size, shape or color. It was really refreshing to see women of color so well represented in the book, young women that my daughters will on day become. The pictures are of women with real bodies, not what we see in the magazines and the book makes a point of teaching young women that what they see in those airbrushed photos aren't real.

The book is designed in a very user friendly way, with the table of contents laid out by body drama. Think your tetas are too small? Turn to page 72. Do you hate the way your chocha looks? Turn to page 114. If you feel fat turn to page 200. The book is written in an accessible language so that young women don't feel like they are being lectured or spoken down to. Nancy Redd, a Harvard grad and former Miss Virginia is talking to readers through this book like she was your best friend and you are giggling in the bathroom.

The book is filled with fast facts, fun facts and plain ole good practical advice like never pop a zit and please don't douche.

My only complaint about the book is that even with all its straight talk, maybe it's a little too straight. Abstinence is touted as being best. Masturbation is alluded to but never outrightly mentioned. Sex in mentioned in passing and usually linked to things like STD's. I understand that this is not a sexuality book, rather a book on body image and issues but you can't encourage young women to grab a mirror and explore "down there" and then say ok, now let's move on.

That said, Body Drama is a welcome addition to a young woman's library , but don't throw out that copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves yet.

You can get Body Drama here.

Related

• The Daring Book for Girls : Daring Enough for Lil Latinas? (Saturday, Dec 01 2007)
• Niurka's Ex, Bobby Larios to Jump on the Naked Bandwagon (Monday, Jan 08 2007)