Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers (Paperback)

by Nancy Amanda Redd (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Body Drama should be center stage in every young woman's life. It will make you love every little thing about your body: your sags, you tags, your lumps, your bumps. It's a book of liberation and it's fun.”

—Eve Ensler

"I love this book! It puts loving (and knowing) your body into words and pictures -- you'll find out yours isn't so different after all. Body Drama has the answers you want to the questions you don't know how to ask. Fun and frank, like talking to a good friend who knows absolutely everything and is willing to dish."
—Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization of Women

“In Body Drama, Nancy Redd combines the stylishness of Naomi Campbell, the vibe of your best friend, and photos you always wanted to see but were afraid to ask. An empowering, original, funny, and frank book, Body Drama is poised to become the modern girl's Our Bodies, Ourselves.
—Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, authors of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future and Grassroots: A Field Guide to Feminist Activism.

``Perfecto. This is just what girlitas need today—a get-real guide with un- airbrushed photos that allows them to dialogue with their bodies on the most honest levels.”
—Deborah Gregory, author, The Cheetah Girls series and Catwalk

“Body Drama…should be on the shelf of every family, school, and doctor in America.”
—Nancy Brown, PhD, professor of Adolescent Sexuality at Stanford University, Senior Research Associate at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) Research Institute

"Demystifies female bodies and shows them as they really look: curvy, sometimes pimply and never perfect."
—Glamour magazine

Product Description
“You’d think a Miss America swimsuit winner would feel completely confident about her body, right? Not always! So I decided to write the 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. Alongside real-deal photographs of women just like you and me (no airbrushing, no supermodels, no kidding) you’ll find medical pictures of things you need to be able to recognize, true confessions by yours truly, and the encouragement you need to appreciate the uniqueness, strength, and beauty of your body. What are you waiting for?”
–Nancy Redd

From fashion magazines to taboo Web sites, curious young women have access to tons of old wives’ tales about and thousands of airbrushed and inaccurate images of the female body—misinformation and harmful portrayals that can lead to low self-esteem, self-destructive acts, or even disturbing plastic surgery procedures. Teaming up with a leading physician specializing in adolescent health issues, Harvard graduate and former Miss Virginia Nancy Redd now offers a down-to-earth, healing, and reassuring response to those damaging myths. In Body Drama, Redd gives girls insight into the issues they’re often too ashamed to raise with a doctor or parent. She also reveals her own experiences with the culture of “American beauty,” and shows readers all the many versions of “normal.” From body hair and bras, to acne and weight issues, along with crucial issues such as the importance of a healthy self image, Body Drama is a groundbreaking book packed with informative fast facts, FYIs, how-tos, and moving personal anecdotes as well as hundreds of un-retouched photographs. A highly visual book, it’s the first of its kind for women: filled with real information and real photographs of real bodies, to celebrate all our different shapes and sizes.

Named by Glamour magazine as one of America’s top-ten college women “most likely to succeed—at anything,” Redd has spent the most recent years of her life on a mission to tackle the issues least discussed but most significant in young women’s lives. Celebrating the many versions of “normal,” and replacing seriously erroneous information with the honest, medically proven truth in a language all girls can understand, Body Drama dares to empower a new generation—with facts instead of fantasies, and the priceless gift of self-knowledge.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Gotham; 1 edition (December 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592403263
• ISBN-13: 978-1592403264
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,136 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love the body you're in!, December 26, 2007

By	Amy Tiemann "creator of www.MojoMom.com" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Nancy Amanda Redd is the big sister I wish I'd had. Reading her open, honest answers to "Body Drama" questions shows the power of peer education. Redd consulted a doctor, so the information is medically accurate, but the book is most definitely written from a twentysomething woman's perspective. Every body topic is fair game, "shape, skin, down there, boobs, hair & nails." Sex intersects some of these discussions and when it does, Redd shares practical, non-judgmental advice as needed: addressing sexual health, ending violence, and not being shy about seeking medical care.

But "Body Drama" is first and foremost about loving the body you are in. It's a fascinating topic. I sat down intending to leaf through the book and ended up reading it cover to cover. "Body Drama" is full of photographs of real young women of all ethnicities, shapes, and sizes, illustrating all parts of their bodies. I thought this was done very well, including the page with 24 close-up shots of a variety of vulvas. If this sounds controversial, remember that young women are seeing plenty of unrealistic images of women's bodies. In the age of Photoshop and (unfortunately) ubiquitous porn, it is refreshing to see real women's bodies in all forms. This is a brave book--which is sad to write, in a way, to realize that talking openly and honestly about real body issues still takes courage.

Nancy Amanda Redd has competed in the Miss America pageant and graduated from Harvard. You have to love a former beauty queen who is totally unafraid to present her own insecurities, embarrassing stories, and less-than-flattering junior high photos. Nancy smashes taboos, addressing the most personal and questions with humor, compassion, and solid information.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, December 27, 2007

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Since I started this job of reviewing about a year and a half ago, I've had the privilege of reading a number of self-help type books geared towards girls and women and their bodies. I have to admit that none have been as comprehensive, helpful, and realistic as BODY DRAMA. This is a book that leaves nothing to the imagination, states complete truths instead of half-truths and myths, and answers the types of questions that many females, regardless of age, are sometimes too embarrassed to ask -- even in the company of their doctors. As an adult, and a married woman with two children, I still found this book to be extremely helpful, and even discovered information that I hadn't previously known.

From your face to your skin, from your hair and nails to your reproductive organs, from skin problems to disease, from the natural shape of your body to the sometimes strange things that happen to said body, Ms. Redd covers them all -- and in detail. There's no hesitation here, and there's definitely no embarrassment. There are only real answers to real questions that everyone, at one time or another, has wondered about. And if you haven't wondered about it yet, believe me, you will!

BODY DRAMA is filled with "fast facts," drama scenarios, "how do I deal?" answers, and full-color photographs. This is a book that younger kids might giggle over, but that older teens will appreciate for its frankness. This is also a book that, once you get your copy, you won't want to part with it. Share it with your daughter, your sister, your cousin, your friend. Don't be ashamed of the body you were born with. Get the answers you need to be healthy and happy.

Kudos to Ms. Redd for such an informative read. This one is a winner!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and important, January 4, 2008

By	Dr. Paul Rapoport "arts writer" (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a book this is! I won't repeat what others have said; but everything about it is stunningly clever, from the title to the back cover, of course including the contents. It's unique as advice for teenage girls about their bodies: sharp, brainy, witty beyond merely funny, yet compassionate and never derogatory. You know what this book exudes? Sass with class.

On the back cover we read, among other things, "Know your body. Own your body. Love your body." That sums it, don't you think? But how many girls today do all three? Or two or even one?

Ms. Redd takes 272 knowing and loving pages to tell us not just why they don't embrace those three (or themselves) but how they can, indeed must. If teen girls took to heart even a fraction of the advice in this book, America would be a leader in body acceptance and not the western world's most shameful example of body ignorance, negativity, and phobia.

The author speaks from experience, kicking in things about herself as a minor Body Drama Queen. But the book isn't about her; it's about how to fix the root of a major American psycho-social problem: the perception of female bodies. The solution: start with girls themselves. Duh! If girls can treat themselves to fact instead of fiction, their body confidence will surely rise, along with everyone's well-being.

Famously, there are daring photos and discussions in this book. Yep, including breasts and vulvas. It's about bloody time! (Pardon the non-joke.) Why shouldn't they be included? Do girls have them or not? Do they worry about them or not?

Best of all, the feisty attitude revealed by the vulva spread (I didn't say that, did I) carries on throughout. The book has such a piercingly clear voice that if you felt any closer to the author, you'd be pushed away.

For sure, I don't agree with everything in the book. But my questions are mostly quibbles, coming from a different approach in some areas. The main thing is: this is one boffo book, providing something really important: 'powerment with 'tude. And that's "admirable attitude," not "asinine."

Ms. Redd continually describes a body issue and asks "How do I deal?" Girls will deal by reading and transforming, I hope. The rest of us should deal by getting this book for them --- or anyone who cares about them.