Womanhood: The Bare Reality

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These days we are all less bound by gender and traditional roles, but is there more confusion about what being a man means? From veteran to vicar, from porn addict to prostate cancer survivor, men from all walks of life share honest reflections about their bodies, sexuality, relationships, fatherhood, work and health in this pioneering and unique book. I was afraid of penises my whole life. First I wanted to have one. Then I entered puberty and my breasts grew, and I knew there was no way I was going to be a boy. Then I was hurt by penises. I was molested by my father and I had teenage interactions with boys who put pressure on me. With that in mind, she couldn’t not confront her own vulnerabilities. “When I first looked at my vulva I thought, ‘Whoa, there’s a lot going on there!’ But taking part has been transformative for me: I’m more comfortable in my skin as a woman. It’s a pivotal experience to do something like this because it’s so exposing.

I love my beautiful c**t, it’s a gorgeous pinky red colour. It’s been appreciated by partners, too. The vulva stories Dodsworth has collected made me laugh and cry, moved by the openness with which each person talks about sexual liberation, grief, loss, abuse and everything in between. The very fact that vulvas feel so controversial to look at underlines the power of the project. --The Guardian Now, her latest work puts vulvas and vaginas in the spotlight thanks to her new book Womanhood: The Bare Reality and forthcoming Channel 4 documentary: 100 Vaginas. The same themes run through everything I do: my work is an exploration of people, our lives and our place in the world. I’m drawn to telling the untold story with integrity.

The labia minora are usually first, and sometimes more prominent during the early stages. But it can be hard to find accurate information about this.” Vagina, vulva, lady garden, pussy, beaver, c**t, fanny... whatever you call it most women have no idea what's 'down there'. Culturally and personally, no body part inspires love and hate, fear and lust, worship and desecration in the same way. Having endometriosis means that my periods are irregular and can be excruciating. It’s like a hot, burning sensation in my uterus that radiates throughout the lower half of my body, into my hips and down into my knees. People think I’m exaggerating, but sometimes I can’t work. I also get a sudden sharp shooting pain in my vagina, which catches me off guard. It’s exhausting having to live with a level of pain that never really goes away.

Photographing this intimate area led to some unique and deeply personal stories. “Each one has stayed with me,” she says. “The 46-year-old virgin. The woman who endured FGM. The woman who had her vagina removed because of cancer.” Hearing these men’s stories was an absolute privilege and honour and I am very grateful for the experience. I’m excited this book share with you. I don’t think people will have heard men talk so honestly about so many fascinating subjects. Masculinity is associated with being ‘strong and silent’, yet here is a book of 100 men talking frankly and intimately about their manhood in both senses. My books Bare Reality: 100 women, their breasts, their stories, Manhood: The Bare Realityand Womanhood: The Bare Reality attracted worldwide media coverage and critical acclaim. I gave a TEDxtalk about the series. A Channel 4 documentary based on Womanhoodcalled 100 Vaginashas now been aired around the world. That led to being commissioned by The Guardian to direct another documentary, SCARS.Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

I feel a bit broken as a woman because we’re supposed to carry babies. Also, I have a shorter vagina now so I can’t even get the same pleasure I used to. I felt angry that the part of my body, which is central to women’s identity, had done a number on me at 24. For the first time, 100 brave and beautiful women reveal their bodies and stories on their own terms, talking about how they feel about pleasure, sex, pain, trauma, birth, motherhood, menstruation, menopause, gender, sexuality and simply being a woman. When I masturbated when I was younger, I used to hate it when my clitoris got bigger – I thought it looked like a penis. I felt very self-conscious about it. I thought my labia were too big as well. I had to be drunk to have sex and I never let anybody pleasure me.My vulva is happy and majestic. It’s heart-shaped and it isn’t one colour, there are different shades of brown. It’s kind of tidy, but it’s also an organised mess. I think there’s something really powerful about having the opportunity to look at yourself in more detail. It gives you a different appreciation for your body. The idea that women are turning away from pleasure because they’re worried about what they look, smell and taste like has unearthed a fundamental message for Laura. women bare all in an empowering collection of photographs and interviews about Womanhood. Vagina, vulva, lady garden, pussy, beaver, cunt, fanny... whatever you call it most women have no idea what's `down there'. Culturally and personally, no body part inspires love and hate, fear and lust, worship and desecration in the same way. From smooth Barbie dolls to internet porn, girls and women grow up with a very narrow view of what they should look like, even though in reality there is an enormous range. Womanhood departs from the `ideal vagina' and presents the gentle un-airbrushed truth, allowing us to understand and celebrate our diversity. For the first time, 100 brave and beautiful women reveal their bodies and stories on their own terms, talking about how they feel about pleasure, sex, pain, trauma, birth, motherhood, menstruation, menopause, gender, sexuality and simply being a woman.

Where would you normally see another vulva?” photographer Laura Dodsworth asks me. “Mainly only in porn,” she answers. “Especially if you’re looking online. But there’s a world of difference between how you see vulvas in porn – and how you see them in real life. It’s so important for women to know what vulvas look like. It can help with body image anxiety. We really need to talk about them because many women haven’t looked at their own. They don’t know what’s down there.”

Womanhood: The Bare Reality. Laura Dodsworth

Most women have no idea what’s ‘down there'. Yet no body part inspires love and hate, fear and lust in the same way. It’s time for women to see how they really look, and long past time that we bared the truth about female experience. The process of creating these embodied stories of pleasure, pain, sex and birth has changed me - I feel freer, more in my prime, sexier and more powerful than ever. I’d love Womanhood to do that for other women.” And when 100 women share intimate photos and deeply personal experiences relating to their vaginas, the result is a tender yet taboo-exploding message of women reclaiming their womanhood. At least, that’s what Laura set out to achieve. I was awake throughout the procedure. He injected anesthetic into the labia and up into my bottom – and then just sliced away. In reality, my labia were probably quite small pieces of skin, but to me they felt like big elephant ears. I lay there thinking how much better my life would be afterwards. It got to the point where I was obsessive in my desire to have a child. My mum told me I needed some counselling. I started to re-evaluate what womanhood could look like for me, outside of my biological capabilities. I think we kind of take for granted that we’re going to be able to have children. Not being able to conceive doesn’t reduce your value as a woman, it doesn’t make you less of a woman – but that’s kind of what society tells us.