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The Wonders Down Under
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Posted By:
Whitney105 at 02/29/2008 12:24:12 PM
Comment:
the article states the Redd was in the Miss America Pageant in 1994 and that she is 26...that would make her 12 years old when she competed...what gives?-
Posted By:
samuelt at 03/01/2008 11:24:02 PM
Comment:
testing
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Posted By:
Dread_Delilah at 02/29/2008 11:57:28 AM
Comment:
I can only second the writer's and author's comments in saying that THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR YOUNG WOMEN!!! I was fortunate enough to grow up with the sort of frank discussion Redd advocates, was given frank, accurate [and age appropriate] information from the time I was 5 and asked "Where do babies come from?" I resisted sexual activity through high school and most of college. Not to say that I haven't had my share of body issues, made mistakes about men or don't constantly struggle with my "body drama", but knowing better deep down inside me makes it easier to say that I'm okay how I am. I learn to love myself a little more each day, but I would be so far behind if my mother hadn't helped me along all those years ago. Buy this book for some woman you love! (I know I'm going to) -
Posted By:
D.C. at 02/29/2008 11:54:39 AM
Comment:
I was in the bookstore a few weeks ago and saw this amazing book about girls and women bodies and love it and I'm a 55 year old women, I went back a week later to buy it and it was gone and I couldn't remember the name. Thank you for writing this article or I would never have found this book again. the thing is I wish I had this book as a girl it would have had my life a lot easier my mother was a older parent and found it hard to talk to us girls about these things, the most I ever heard about was my period other than that I learned about from my older sister who became a mother right after high school. Thank god I had a older sister. Thank you again for this book I hope many girls get to see it. D.C. Ford -
Posted By:
chris01 at 02/29/2008 11:52:40 AM
Comment:
How about a book for boys? -
Posted By:
micahmcdonald26 at 02/29/2008 11:48:00 AM
Comment:
I THINK THIS IS A VERY GREAT BOOK TO PUT OUT THERE FOR MOHTHERS AND DAUGHTERS TO READ AND TALK ABOUT TO GETHER. IN MY OFFICE WE TALKED JUST TWO DAYS AGO HOW WHEN WE WERE GROWING UP OUR BLACK MOTHERS DIDN'T TALK TO US ABOUT BODIES AND OTHER PERSONAL THINGS OF THIS NATURE. WE HAVE LITTLE GIRLS NOW AND WE SAID THAT WE WOULD NEVER BE LIKE OUR MOTHERS ON THIS TOPIC. WE FEEL IT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU SHOULD TALK ABOUT AS SOON AS YOUR CHILD IS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND HER BODY PARTS. WE ALL WISH OUR MOTHERS WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE FORTH COMING WITH THIS TOPIC, IT WOULD HAVE HELPED IN OUR EARLY YEARS OF YOUNG WOMAN HOOD. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING THIS GREAT BOOK OUT THERE FOR US YOUNG MOTHERS. -
Posted By:
sdjames at 02/29/2008 11:02:39 AM
Comment:
I appreciate that Nancy Redd took the time to write a book about bodies directed to young women. I do agree with the problem that the images shown in media do distort a young woman's perception of herself. It seems as if the fast growing trend in the media is to sell sex and when young women see those images, they think that is how they should define themselves. As a mother of a fourth grader, I have noticed how young girls are becoming more sexual in their appearance. And it doesn't help to see celebrities such as Lindsey Lohan who was in Freaky Friday and Herbie Fully Loaded (movies my daughter enjoyed) now currently posed in a sexual manner on the cover of a magazine. So the media moves young people towards sex quickly and then they wonder why the teen birth rate is on the rise. Common sense. But as a black mother of a fourth grader, I started as young as five to teach her about herself and not let the media or schoolmates do the job. Now that my daughter is sprouting breasts, she is very comfortable with talking to me and even showing me things that look strange on her body. We talk openly and sometimes even joke about our body parts. She is fully aware that she will be changing and that B.O. happens, but she knows she can come to me at anytime to get help or understanding. That openness between us comes from the constant communication and allowing her to see me be comfortable and relaxed about my own body. I believe wholeheartedly that everything begins at home, but I do appreciate people like Ms. Redd who pick up where some moms have dropped the ball. I'm not familiar with who she is nor have I read the book yet, but I appreciate what she is doing with her book for young girls in this society. -----Sherese (Miami, FL) -
Posted By:
chevygurl at 02/29/2008 10:56:10 AM
Comment:
I'm glad there is finally a book out to help girls realize that having a video girls body is not realistic. We need to realize that our body is not just for a man's pleasure. I plan to go look for your book today!
Caprice Slade, 16 yrs old -
Posted By:
jlc102482 at 02/29/2008 10:48:27 AM
Comment:
Finally! I think is this a wonderful idea for so many reasons. It is so important that young (and old!) women see that their bodies are something more than just sexual. I honestly don't think this occurs to young women nowadays, with all the sex the media throws at them from every possible angle. The inevitable uproar that a book about womens' "privates" will cause is simply further evidence of the fact that women are oversexualized. Nudity and genitals are NOT "bad" - they are perfectly natural and do not only occur in the context of sex or porn. Why should we NOT see womens' genitals in a non-sexual manner? Are they not something that every woman possesses? Why make women feel "dirty" for having what they were born with? Bravo to this author and her wonderful idea! -
Posted By:
luckymom56 at 02/29/2008 10:45:18 AM
Comment:
This article was awesome! Maybe if more mothers talked to their daughters frankly we wouldn't have the teen pregnancies, STDs, etc. I have a 12 year old and we don't mince words about anything. If she asks, I tell it like it is. I have raised her to not be afraid to ask me anything she wants to know. In today's world you have to leave the lines of communication open - both talking and listening! -
Posted By:
wanda at 02/29/2008 10:36:59 AM
Comment:
Excellent information. I need more information like this. i mentor inner city youth. -
Posted By:
wanda at 02/29/2008 10:36:03 AM
Comment:
Excellent information. I need more information like this. I mentor/teach adolescents and youth(inner city). Thank you -
Posted By:
alitim at 02/29/2008 10:35:33 AM
Comment:
Thank you for writing the article about your book and helping me to open my eyes more! I have two teenage daughters, that are soooo different, yet simular. They have finally come to terms about their bodies and not worried about looking like the models and the dancers in videos! They like themselves the way they are. the 15 year old is 5'4" (a diva and a singer/dancer), and her sister is 14, 5'10 1/2( mostly tomboy and plays bball)! Since they were 9 and 8 years old, I have told them ,"You have to finish high school , go to college, get married in college, but NO BABIES till after college cause Momma is not babysitting or rasing them!" They have it so embedded in their heads that I think they are afraid to have babies now!! LOL But I have to embed in their minds that education is the key to their lives in the future, and if I dont do it who will? My 15 year old also has special needs, and her "friends" have boy friends! She wants to have one like them, and doesnt understand the need for her to be more careful, so she is NOT takin advantage of. Her sister and I are very protective of her, and have had to unfortuately "threaten" a boy so he would leave her alone. She did NOT understand, that if a young man is interested in you in the right way, he will not send you nasty pics of his private parts, or send texts and talk about sex, or babies, love or marriage at the age of 15. We talked about it, and I think she understands it all now! However, I am going to buy your book for both of my girls to read, because I believe there are things that evenm though we as parents tak to our children about, sometimes it means more when it comes from someone else!
Congratulations, on writing a great book for all women, but especially for our young women to teach them to be "PROUD" no matter what skin they are in, or the size of their boobs, or their hips, their lips or the way their hair is! BE PROUD OF BEING THE WOMAN YOU ARE AND WHO GOD MADE YOU TO BE!!!
Nichole Green (alitimgreen@yahoo.com) -
Posted By:
GiGi3 at 02/29/2008 10:25:36 AM
Comment:
My only comment to this well written article is why would you use the phrase "give it up"? This implies objectification and the loss of "something" forever. I cringe whenever I hear someone (mostly males) use this phrase. I'm not giving anyything up! I'm choosing to share a part of myself. In this way I maintain control of not only my body but my choices. "Giving it up", sounds like I am relinquishing that control. That's just my two cents! -
Posted By:
melissapiet at 02/29/2008 10:06:03 AM
Comment:
error alert: I don't think Nancy Redd could have been a finalist in 1994 if she's only 26 now - she would have been 12. Perhaps 2004? -
Posted By:
Cass13 at 02/29/2008 9:38:32 AM
Comment:
It sounds like a fantastic book. My daughter is only 4 1/2 but I'm going to buy it to read through and be ready for conversations as they come up. I'm also going to suggest it to my friends who have middle school aged children. I really think that the images sent to girls are so awful and create such horrible insecurities. I hear tiny teenagers talking about how "fat" they are and I hear from adult women whose husbands want them to get a Brazilian wax because that's what porns have fed them into thinking women are supposed to look like. It's tiring. Girls and women alike need a healthy understanding of what is normal. -
Posted By:
pjlionheart at 02/29/2008 8:57:45 AM
Comment:
hi -
Posted By:
pjlionheart at 02/29/2008 8:41:58 AM
Comment:
How can you put having a bay in degrading way or even sex?It's pleasure for our body too! You can't be prowomen when your degrading a mircle of our bodys. Having a baby is just that a mircle. A man can't do that. It is the most precious experience to nurture a bay within. Please dont go the opposite direction. We need someone frank about the women body,but don't belittle our ability to find pleasure in sex or in having babies. -
Posted By:
caribroyal at 02/29/2008 8:30:14 AM
Comment:
???The Wonders Down Under???
Written to women, but at the age of 65 when I watch the joyful innocence of my tiny granddaughter and contemplate the cruel predatory practices of men, even very ordinary guys I have known, much like myself, who surround her, some already well into adulthood, it is clear to me that this is a book that should be handed, without embarrassment, to every 10 year old boy ... preferably by his mother. So much of the lascivious commentary I have been involved in, some leading to shameful disrespectful behavior, originated and was fuelled by fires raging in our own developing bodies and directed by prurient curiosity in the face of abysmal lack of the understanding which leads to a measure of compassion.
As a boy and young man, the 'urge to merge' was made all the more urgent and reckless by the drive to explore unknown, (dare I say virgin), territory. The thought that his own mother had a part and an interest in his behavior at a party somewhere, or on a beach in Aruba maybe, might moderate the cruel remarks or the wild behavior of many a young man, and even save a life occasionally, conceivably. -
Posted By:
mgillis at 02/29/2008 5:41:22 AM
Comment:
When the population rate went below people replacing themselves in the western countries and depression went up, I questioned what is right in teaching fertile young people about birth control. I quit trying to tell people what to do. I lived on the south border for 25 years and the young mothers there seemed to be the most happy and passionate people in the world. I moved to a large metropolitan city and saw life, love, and passion in the ethnic neighborhoods. If God or the Cosmos makes a person physicallly ready to reproduce, I will not try to be a controller. To me it is like having a gold mine and not mining it. We are going to pay for someone's babiies, might as well be our own.
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