Book Review: "Vagina Obscura" by Rachel E. Gross

 5/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

I had no idea where this book was going to take me, but either way, I learned quite a bit. Rachel E. Gross writes with compassion, humor, wit, and wonder about the taboo topics surrounding women’s reproductive and sexual lives in Vagina Obscura. Especially about the vagina and the overall complexities of the female reproductive system as a whole, which science seems to finally be coming around to discovering its complexities.  

“Your vagina is another planet. If you could shrink down to the size of a grain of sand and go between your own legs, you'd find a wondrous realm of humid jungles, cool caves, and viscous pits of mucus created by your teeming ecosystem of microscopic life. Like your gut or your mouth, your reproductive tract is home to billions of microbes, which work together to repel disease and create the ideal conditions for you. Its landscapes are populated by clusters of long, thin rods and hordes of tiny round balls that cling to its contours. These microbes live together in a delicate balance, spewing acid to stop would-be colonizers from worlds far-off (tampons, toys, penises) or nearby (the anus).”

For me, reading Vagina Obscura was similar to that of my experience with the equally well-written book, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez, in that I was frustrated with how blind society still seems to be towards women. I was not surprised to find out the sordid origins of the gynecological field, where the doctor’s motivations were basically ensuring enslaved women continued producing future slaves. [internal screaming]

Learning about the origins of the field of gynecology and the history of misogyny and its corruption on every facet of society, including science, was infuriating, but not surprising. I mean, we’re still not close to understanding the mechanisms of endometriosis, a debilitating condition experienced by those who menstruate monthly. (It’s crazy that endometrial tissue can find its way elsewhere and cause all sorts of issues. Another aside: It was revealed in the book that we’ve known about endometriosis for around 150 years, but we still don’t have effective treatments or a cure.)

As much as I wanted to tear my hair out, Gross also explained to readers that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, from research seriously looking into conditions like endometriosis to the hopeful stories of transgender people undergoing gender affirmation surgery.

I think one of the more intriguing sections of the book was learning about how science is coming around to recognizing the dynamism of the female reproductive system, in which stem cells are constantly at work around tissue regeneration. (For goodness’ sake, the uterus creates and repeatedly destroys a part of itself every month in a cycle that stops around one’s 50’s! That’s crazy, and really cool, if you stop and think about it!) This has led to hope about restoring functioning ovaries in patients who have undergone chemotherapy, for example.

The fact that I learned much more about the female reproductive system in this book than I ever did in health class just speaks volumes about the historical silence regarding women’s bodies, outside of their reproductive capacity, of course.

Vagina Obscura is a wonderful, informative journey that I think everyone with a uterus (and even those without) should read. A truly fascinating book!

Happy reading!

--BookOwl