The purpose of a review is to let you know who something is for and whether it is worth it. I’ll cut to the chase. If you have a vagina, you should own this book. In fact, it would be foolish not to own this book. If you love vaginas and find them fascinating, you should own this book.

We have been waiting for this and got it hot off the press. We were not disappointed. Dr. Jen Gunter’s excellent blog has been a go to resource for this site when doing fact checking and especially for weeding out fact from fiction. Her regular exposures of Goop and their pseudoscience have been referenced many times here on Sex in Review, as well as being a resource for my Sex Science Sunday podcast. She knows her stuff.

Dr. Gunter is an obstetrician and gynecologist who has been practicing medicine for nearly 30 years. She appears on television, writes books (her experience having triplets led her to writing one of the first extensive books on the subject of premature births- The Preemie Primer), writes articles for many magazines and is a New York Times columnist. Besides her knowledge of women’s health, she is also an expert in pain management.

She is Canadian-Ameican, and this jumped almost instantly to the top of the Canadian best seller list. I read that Twitter blocked her publisher’s ads for the book for use of inappropriate language (probably the “offensive” word “vagina”), creating a big backlash that probably did not hurt sales. Twitter finally had to relent. I am adding this to my very long list of reasons I despise Twitter.

This 420 page book is extensive, detailed, and covers every topic I could think of and many, many more. You should read it once through and then keep it as a reference book that you will go back to time and time again.

It is strongly science based, bringing you up to date on what we know about vaginas. Surprisingly, we don’t know everything yet. For example, the phenomena of female ejaculation still poses some mysteries. While many take a stance one side or the other, she tells us what we know and what we don’t know. She is correct that gushing fountain-like orgasms in porn are fake. I have had maybe a dozen women squirt on my hand during manual stimulation. It never smells like urine. It is always clear. The truth is that the bladder is the most likely source, but there are still unanswered questions, and she makes that clear. That is one of the many reasons this is such a gushing review.

If you think of a bible as a source of truth, this is that, at least as much as we know to date. She is not dogmatic, and understands that people have different feelings about things (such as in her detailed section on shaving). When she is giving her opinion she makes that clear but also discusses other ways people might approach things. She understands that people have different risk/benefit approaches that might differ from hers.

As would be expected, this is science heavy, but explained in clear terms and surprisingly easy to read. Having slogged through a lot of biological science texts, this was a pleasure to read. I especially like her “Bottom Line” at the end of each chapter that summarizes the contents and key information.

I like to think that I am well-read and knowledgeable about the vagina, at least as much as one can be without having one. Here it seems I can turn to almost any page and learn something I did not know. I could spend a lot of time describing in detail the contents of the book, but let me save you time better spent reading this book. If you have a question about anything vagina related, its in there. She even covers topics related to transgendered men and women. Its all here. Just get it.

I did share this with my wife, Kris, who used to work for an Ob-Gyn. Since she has a vagina of her own, I wanted to get her take. She was also impressed and thought this book was well-written and indispensable.

After I write a review, I check other reviews to see if maybe I left out something important. Every single review I read is saying basically the same thing- this a great book that has long been needed and every woman should have it.

I am a huge fan of Dr. Gunter, and in my world she is a rock star. Here is my recommendation. Order her book, and then while you are waiting for it to arrive, visit her blog at drjengunter.com. Maybe even better, run to your local independent bookstore and get a copy. You can always read her blog later. It is also available in Kindle and Audible versions.