Suggested Reading: What's Up Down There

I assumed Lissa Rankin’s new book, What’s Up Down There, would be exactly what it said on the cover: Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend. I was not disappointed, as her expert information was told in a kind, un-clinical and often humorous manner. What surprised me though was that it exceeded my expectations.
On one hand, you have myths being dispelled, what many would feel as embarrassing situations explained, and guidance given about caring for the female body. The book is an easy to read owner’s manual, if you will, for women everywhere. On the other hand, you have the brutal truth that there is little common knowledge about the female body out there. Rankin recounts countless women who came to her in utter confusion of what was going on ‘down there.’ Filled with shame at feeling like a freak, they wanted to just ignore that part of themselves and be removed from their body. In fact, most women are not only in total ignorance of their own body but they choose to be. Believing themselves to be abnormal in their uncertainty and anguish, they are too embarrassed to seek the truth.
It’s sad that while we learn, perhaps more than we wanted to know, about a man’s penis and its many letdowns while watching commercials during a football game, the word vagina itself is taboo. It’s even worse as a topic of discussion; it’s only for whispers amongst girlfriends late at night. Even with your doctor, most things go unsaid.
This approach to oneself creates a disconnect that may make things easier at the time, but can cause massive problems down the road. Knowledge is power, we’ve all heard the statement before, and nowhere is it more true than when it comes to your own body, your own physical and mental health. As Rankin says, “Opening to the truths of your body will lead the way for the rest of your personal growth.”
Rankin’s book is a full-on fight to get that truth out there, to get self acceptance out there. That no matter how different things may seem, there is no rule that says, this is how it should be and you’re wrong for being this way.
What I loved most about the book, while I appreciated its knowledge and its fight, was its underlying message. The message of loving and nurturing yourself was what really touched me. While Rankin answered countless questions, she also championed the concept that you must own your body. Whatever flaws you see and whatever strengths you’ve chosen to ignore must be appreciated and loved. While Rankin’s way with a story kept me laughing more than I thought I would, and I learned some things I would never even have thought to ask, it was her message of empowerment that kept me turning the pages.