Womanhood: The Bare Reality

One of feminism’s paradoxes — one that challenges many of its optimistic histories— is how women's embarrassment of their own bodies has remained persistent over time.This book is a major milestone; a long overdue treatment on the subject of the most secretive and intimate parts of a woman's body, the vulva and vagina, and is to be applauded.For the first time, the women interviewed and photographed by the author spoke openly and freely about the hidden parts of their bodies and demonstrated that, "we're all different, yet fundamentally all the same."Women's bodies are perfect in form and function. There is no reason for shame or embarrassment. This wonderful book she be stocked in all school libraries and read by all adolescents.

I quite enjoyed looking at the different vaginas.

Must read for both women and men. Can’t wait to read the other 2 books as well, Manhood and Bare Reality

With women around me I think this is a an excellent vehicle to reassure women that they are not abnormal and negative body image thoughts are common and to be cast away with the rest of life’s baggage.

Beautiful, educational, thought-provoking and totally relevant. For mothers, daughters, partners, friends. We need more of this type of inspiring work on our shelves. Recommend highly.

My wife and I both enjoyed reading and learning from this amazing book

It's a decent enough book, an interesting read, however as a photo book the photos are rather small and almost an afterthought.

I have found this book excellent; it is beautiful, inspiring, important. In the introduction Dodsworth makes a really valid point that most straight women have never seen a vulva up close, in many ways we are more of a mystery to ourselves than anyone, at least physically.This book is explicit in its physical examination of the vulvas of the women involved, but in a much more important way, it is just as explicit in its emotional examination of the women and their relationships with their vulvas in the interviews.I loved hearing these women talk about their experiences, so personal, so honest, so much what it is to be a woman, it brought out a lot of love from me, every woman is amazing. There was huge variation in the women’s stories with one common theme, how much we carry with us that we keep hidden.Some stories were heart-breaking, some were exhilarating, each was refreshingly honest. Life is so rich with emotion – highs and lows – and so much of it is tied up in the themes of these women’s stories; sex, birth, abuse, pleasure, fulfilment, loss. The texts were very well edited, from such a short excerpt, the reader could really feel a connection to each woman.This book quickly became much less about the pictures and more about the women involved, and more about what it is to be a woman, and more about how our society treats women. Having said that, the pictures were still a very important aspect of the book.Dodsworth is a true artist, she has presented a thing of beauty which draws out emotion and makes the reader think deeply. This book is excellent in content, and beautifully done.I am really glad I’ve read this book.