A camera obscura reflects the world back but dimmer and inverted. Similarly science has long
viewed woman through a warped lens one focused narrowly on her capacity for reproduction. As a
result there exists a vast knowledge gap when it comes to what we know about half of the
bodies on the planet. That is finally changing. Today a new generation of researchers is
turning its gaze to the organs traditionally bound up in baby-making-the uterus ovaries and
vagina-and illuminating them as part of a dynamic resilient and ever-changing whole. Welcome
to Vagina Obscura an odyssey into a woman's body from a fresh perspective ushering in a
whole new cast of characters. In Boston a pair of biologists are growing artificial ovaries
to counter the cascading health effects of menopause. In Melbourne a urologist remaps the
clitoris to fill in crucial gaps in female sexual anatomy. Given unparalleled access to labs
and the latest research journalist Rachel E. Gross takes readers on a scientific journey to
the centre of a wonderous world where the uterus regrows itself ovaries pump out fresh eggs
and the clitoris pulses beneath the surface like a shimmering pyramid of nerves. This
paradigm shift is made possible by the growing understanding that sex and gender are not binary
we all share the same universal body plan and origin in the womb. That's why insights into the
vaginal microbiome ovarian stem cells and the biology of menstruation don't mean only a better
understanding of female bodies but a better understanding of male non-binary transgender and
intersex bodies-in other words all bodies. By turns funny lyrical incisive and shocking
Vagina Obscura is a powerful testament to how the landscape of human knowledge can be rewritten
to better serve everyone.
