Vagina: A re-education

Part memoir, part practical guide to the vagina, this indispensable book sifts through myths and misinformation with the aim of empowering women with vital knowledge about their own bodies. From earliest childhood, girls are misled about their bodies, encouraged to describe their genitalia with cute names rather than anatomically correct terms. Girls grow up feeling ashamed about their periods, about the appearance of their vulvas, about their own desires. They grow up without a full and honest sex education, and this lack of knowledge has serious consequences: the number of women attending cervical screening appointments in the UK is at a 20-year low. Vagina provides girls and women with information they need about their own bodies. It confronts taboos such as abortion, miscarriage, infertility and masturbation. It tackles vital social issues like period poverty, female genital mutilation and the rights of transgender women. We need to talk about women's sexual and reproductive health, about our experiences of sex and pregnancy and pain and pleasure. Vagina: A Re-Education will help us do just that. 'Shocking, brilliant, important. A fine addition to the feminist canon'. - Emma Jane Unsworth. 'Absolutely incredible. It's educational and informative while also managing to be a fierce rallying cry for women.' Louise O'Neill.