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Sunday, December 30, 2007
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
As Miss Virginia 2003, Laurel Park native Nancy Redd embodied the traditional ideals of grace, poise and beauty, whether she was visiting middle schools or strutting across the stage in a yellow bikini.
But, Redd says, that perfect image isn’t who she really is.
And just in case anyone thought otherwise, Redd has written a book telling girls that like them, she has insecurities. And what’s more, she says, they are nothing to be ashamed of.
“I’m a normal, real woman,” said Redd, 26, who now lives in Los Angeles. The preparation involved involved in pageants — “glue places and tape other places” — is just not real, she said, and despite pageants’ many benefits for women, they can create insecurities.
In her book, “Body Drama,” Redd confronts those insecurities head-on, sharing the things she worried about as a teenager, from how much she weighed to how much she sweated, and exploring the issues that other girls struggle with — their “body drama.”
As she defines it, body drama is, among other things, “physical issues that mortify, shame, humiliate, disconcert, abash, chagrin, fluster, distress, embarrass and threaten to ruin your life.” It encompasses things girls and women worry about but don’t discuss, from their hair to their shape to ... well, you name it.
“‘Body Drama’ is a unique, unprecedented book that will open a treasure chest of questions and answers for the young woman reader (and her parents),” writes Dr. Angela Diaz, director of the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center, in the book’s forword. “It will help eradicate much ignorance and many misconceptions about real women’s bodies.”
To do that, “Body Drama” features color photographs of normal women of various shapes, sizes and ethnicities. Redd, who has a degree in women’s studies from Harvard University, found them by posting an advertisement on the Internet.
The graphic photos will seem shocking to some, but Redd said young women need to see images of girls who look like them paired with frank, accurate information about their bodies.
“We’re tired of keeping everything under wraps,” she said. “It’s time we started getting real with who we are and our health.”
The book is targeted at teenage girls because they live “in this land of misinformation,” Redd said. The best way to empower young girls, she said, is to educate them about their bodies.
“My book has nothing to do with sex education; it’s all about body education,” she said. “It’s my belief that if you understand how your body works ... you don’t feel compelled to disrespect your body. You can be comfortable with who you are and not have to look to others for approval.”
Girls who understand and accept their bodies will be less likely to make bad decisions, such as having unprotected sex, she said.
Diaz, with whom Redd worked to provide medically accurate information, sees 10,000 teenagers a year at her clinic. The book describes the Mt. Sinai facility as the largest and most comprehensive adolescent health center in the United States.
“As initially shocking or graphic as its contents may seem, ‘Body Drama’ reflects the concerns I deal with daily,” Diaz wrote.
Redd said she hopes the book will be a conversation starter that encourages women to talk about the things that bother them and prompts them to get medical attention if they need it.
“That’s why I wanted to talk about my own body drama in it,” she said. “I’m dishing. I’m letting it all hang out, so there’s no reason you should feel ashamed” to do the same thing.
The book, which hit stores Thursday, already has generated feedback, Redd said. She has received e-mails from girls and women telling her they relate to her “drama.”
Redd got the idea for the book while she was traveling the state as Miss Virginia. Young girls she met would e-mail her to talk about their insecurities, and Redd would respond.
“I would reassure them. As you know, I’m a pretty frank person,” she said. Those exchanges convinced her that “there needed to be more of a discussion about the things that happen to our bodies, so women can grow up and be more confident.”
Even when friends and relatives balked at the idea of such a graphic book, Redd did not lose her determination.
The Laurel Park High School graduate said she hopes “Body Drama” will encourage women to be proactive about health issues “so we can know our bodies, own our bodies and love our bodies.”
The process of writing the book has helped her do just that, she said.
“I learned so very much. It allayed all my fears” and showed her “that I’m not weird and gross. I feel much better about myself, too.” |
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