Review: Body Drama (Redd)

Title: Body Drama

Author: Nancy Redd

Genre: Non-fiction, health

Pages: 300

Rating: 5 out of 5

Challenges: Women Unbound(#10); TBR (#8), Rainbow Connection, YA (#17)

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my school library

Summary (from the back of the book): You'd think a Miss America swimsuit winner would feel completely confident about her body, right? Not always! So I decided to write a book I wish I'd had as a teen and in college--an honest, funny, practical, medically accurate, totally reassuring guide to how women's bodies actually look, smell, feel, behave, and change. Body Drama talks about all the issues that keep you up at night--lopsided boobs, stinky pits, eating disorders, facial hair, an "ugly" vulva, bad dye jobs, and more. Alongside read-deal photographs of women just like you and me (no airbrushing, no supermodels, no kidding), you'll find medical pictures of thingsyou need to be able to recognize, true confessions by your struly, and the encouragement you need to appreciate the uniqueness, strength, and beauty of your body.

Review: What a book! I really wish I had had this book when I was a teenager or in college! Who are we kidding, I found it interesting and useful now as an adult. And, I totally thought about Eva over at A Striped Armchair when I was reading it since she had that great post about the book Flow and menstruation. I can't quite figure out how to review this book in lovely paragraphs so you're going to get bulleted thoughts...

• This book covers topics that all girls and women should know about, but don't really discuss with each other: Skin (acne, tanning, stinks, stretch marks, cottage cheese skin, piercings, tattoos, etc.); Boobs (size, shape, self-exams, nipples, itching/soreness, bumps, etc.); "Down There" (how it looks, how it smells, secretions, periods, and other body functions, etc.); Hair/Mouth/Nails (shaving, dying, chewing, pulling, teeth, fungus, etc.); Shape (over/under weight, getting fit, depression, hurting oneself, plastic surgery, airbrushing, etc.)
• The photographs are great! The women are all shapes, sizes, and colors and they are all celebrated. There is even a section about air brushing in advertising
• The writing style is really casual, but not flip. What I mean is that the information contained is accurate (she worked with a doctor), but the tone is conversational which makes the reading fun and enjoyable.

The best part is that this book is so real and honest. Here's what we look like, smell like, and here's how to deal with it. It admits were all embarrassed, not sure, and different and that's ok.