"The Vagina Bible" by Jen Gunter, M.D.

If you haven't been following Dr. Jen Gunter on social media, you should be. :)

I will admit to a small bit of bias when it comes to Dr. Jen: she is from Winnipeg, Manitoba (my home province) and attended medical school at both of my alma maters --  the University of Manitoba and the University of Western Ontario (albeit a few years after I graduated from both institutions).

Moreover, from an ALI perspective, Dr. Jen is "one of us."  She lost one of triplets during her pregnancy, and her other two sons -- now teenagers -- were born extremely premature.

"I found separating the facts from the fiction difficult and I am a doctor, so I started thinking if this is hard for me how does everyone else manage?" she writes in her online bio. "It put the bad information that my own patients were bringing into the office in perspective. I know people sit up late at night Googling things and fall down rabbit holes of misinformation because I’ve been there!"

After writing "The Preemie Primer," based on her experiences with her sons, she decided to turn her attention to reproductive health, "because it seems the Internet is infested with snake oil and malignant misinformation." She first came to public attention when she began challenging the "wellness" industry -- in particular Gwyneth Paltrow's business Goop, and its promotion of jade eggs, coffee enemas, vaginal steaming and the like. More recently, she's been an outspoken advocate of reproductive choice in response to draconian new laws being enacted in the United States (including refuting outrageous claims about ectopic pregnancies being made by certain politicians).

If you're in Canada, you can watch "Jensplaining" on CBC's Gem streaming service: 10 episodes of 10-15 minutes each, tackling topics such as menstruation, menopause, childbirth, vaginas, sex, weight loss, vaccines and beauty products.  Dr. Jen provides facts, debunks myths, smashes taboos and questions the patriarchy -- all with humour and plain old common sense. I've watched all 10 episodes on my laptop, and loved every one of them.

Last month came Dr. Jen's latest book:  "The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina: Separating the Myth from the Medicine." This is her area of expertise, and it shows.  It's a thorough, detailed, entirely readable and easy to understand book (written in non-jargony language) about every aspect of this often-misunderstood part of the female anatomy, which debunks myths, educates and empowers readers.  Some of the topics covered include definitions/an anatomy lesson, cleaning & maintenance, menstruation, menopause, sexually transmitted infections, conditions (everything from yeast infections to pelvic organ prolapse) and symptoms.

I particularly loved the last section, "Putting It All Together," in which Dr. Jen gives us a peek inside her medicine cabinet, tells us how she'd edit ours, advises us on getting reputable health information from the Internet, and challenges some persistent myths/old wives' tales. (Sample: On coffee enemas for anything (!):  "Dear God, no... I. Just. Can't. Even.  First of all, this is a waste of good coffee.")

Says Dr. Jen:

The patriarchy and snake oil have had a good run, but I'm done with how they negatively affect and weaponize women's health. So I am not going to stop swinging my bat until everyone has the tools to be an empowered patient and those who seek to subjugate women by keeping them from facts about their bodies have shut up and taken a seat in the back of class. 

That's my vagenda.

This is one of those books, like "Taking Charge of Your Fertility," that I wish I had had when I was growing up and starting to learn about my body, and one that I think all women need to read, or have on hand to dip into when they have questions. (Men would learn a thing or three or ten if they read it too.) It's a fabulous and much-needed resource that deserves to be widely read and shared. We need more Dr. Jens.... and I hope she will be writing many more books like this one in the future.

Five stars on Goodreads.

This was book #34 that I have read in 2019 to date, bringing me to 142% (!) of my 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 24 books.  I have completed my challenge for the year -- currently 10 books beyond my  goal -- and I have surpassed my reading total for 2018 by 7 books.  :)