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.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 80 reviews)

Be aware of the pictures by LibraryLady33 (USA)

3 Stars
November 04, 2009
If you are purchasing this book for a library or for someone else, be aware that it has very graphic nude pictures of all parts of the female anatomy including breasts, vulvas, nipples, and full-body pictures of nude teenagers. The message is good, but the pictures may make this book unsuitable for some audiences if you live in a conservative area. This book is on the 2009 ALA Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.

If only this book had been around when I was growing up! by Lisa C. Higdon (Memphis, TN)

5 Stars
July 16, 2009
There is so much a young girl is too embarrassed to ask, and even when you do ask you may not get the right answer! If you have a daughter or granddaughter buy her this book and save her needless angst. No sexual topics are discussed other than what defines assault and how a young person can deal with assault.

Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers by Camille A. Murray (Reno, NV)

5 Stars
May 11, 2009
very informative. It helps answer those little questions that no one thinks to ask or is afraid to ask. It is a must read not only for older teens but for all young women.

Highly recommended by Leigh Ellen Watts (Athens, GA)

5 Stars
March 22, 2009
I am a social worker and bought this book to keep in my office to use with clients. However, it ended up at one of my twenty-something girlfriends weekends and everyone was reading it saying "I didn't know that!" and "I wish I'd had this book when I was in high school." The casual, non-textbook language makes it friendly for teens and normalizes typical female body issues. The one caution: there are pictures of naked women and naked vaginas, highlighting the fact that not everyone looks just alike. Parents of younger teens might want to talk about these pages with their teens.

Real Beauty by Lilac Lily (Florida, USA)

5 Stars
March 13, 2009
If you are a woman, you probably have, at one time or another, wondered (or stressed) about the shape and look of your body. Especially in our Hollywood-Obsessed society where looks still seem to be everything, it's hard for young girls to develop a healthy self-esteem. Never mind getting a good idea of what a healthy, normal, female body is supposed to look like. That's exactly where "Body Drama" comes in. This book is like the real-life issue of "Glamour Magazine" and "Playboy" combined. It deals with questions about bodily functions and malfunctions that many girls and women would be uncomfortable talking about. The topics range from bad breath, to back acne, to genital herpes, to normal body shapes and much more. If that in itself doesn't sound too original, wait until you see the pictures. There are tons of pictures of real women with normal- not airbrushed bodies. This is exactly what makes the book so great. It helps to bring us back to reality and redefine what normal really looks like. A must read for any girl and woman between 14 and 40. Even if you are long past your own puberty you can still take away something positive. Just as long as you aren't particularly squeamish, some of the pictures are very REAL.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	My Answer is No . . . If That's Okay with You: How Women Can Say No with Confidence by Nanette Gartrell (Author) Are you afraid you'll hurt the people you care about if you say NO to them? Can you set limits when employees neglect their responsibilities? How about with your boss? When friends ask you to do something you don't want to do, do you invent an elaborate excuse? Do you have a hard time saying NO to an invitation even when you're completely exhausted? Do you have trouble even practicing the sentence "No, Mom, I just can't make it home this holiday"? If any of these scenarios sound familiar,...
	This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes by Rosanne Olson (Author) Fifty-four portraits of women that are striking, beautiful, and real. The bodies in this book have been shaped by the full sweep of the feminine experience. They belong to 54 women from all over the country, ages 19 to 95, of all sizes and shapes, ethnicities, and life experiences, who were willing to expose their naked physical forms in This Is Who I Am. They are ordinary women only in the sense that none is a professional model. They are in all other ways extraordinary—courageous,...
	Retaliation: A Novel by Yasmin Shiraz (Author) Violence runs rampant on the streets of Washington, DC, and on one seemingly quiet day, the Odom family finds its world destroyed when seventeen-year-old Tashera is brutally attacked by a group of high school girls. Retaliation exposes the corrupting existence of violence in our communities and the retaliatory measures families go through to protect themselves and their children.
	No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row by Susan Kuklin (Author) No Choirboy takes readers inside America’s prisons, and allows inmates sentenced to death as teenagers to speak for themselves. In their own voices—raw and uncensored—they talk about their lives in prison, and share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up there. Susan Kuklin also gets inside the system, exploring capital punishment itself and the intricacies and inequities of criminal justice in the United States. This is a searing, unforgettable read, and one that...
	The Full Body Project: Photographs by Leonard Nimoy by Leonard Nimoy (Photographer), natalie angier (Photographer) In his provocative new book, photographer and actor Leonard Nimoy captures images of full-bodied women, some of whom are involved in what is known as the "fat acceptance" movement. "The average American woman," Nimoy writes, "weighs 25 percent more than the models selling the clothes. There is a huge industry built up around selling women ways to get their bodies closer to the fantasy ideal. Pills, diets, surgery, workout programs. . . . The message is 'You don't look right. If you buy our...