Review of: Catherine Blackledge, The Story of V: Opening Pandora's Box
(London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003), 322 pp.
What in heaven's name is this book about, and why would anybody buy it ?
Does it make sense, or is it a fuck-up ? What is "V", is it the 21st letter
in the alfabet, or a Latin numeral denoting the number 5 (26-5=21) ? Well I
got sucked in, and had a think about what I got sucked into, while seeking
to drink from the cup of knowledge. According to the blurb on the front
flap, it is about "the seat of female sexual pleasure, the site of the
creation of humankind, and the channel of its birth... a potent arouser of
sexuality. Yet we know less about the vagina - its structure and function -
than we do about any other organ of the human body - why ?". You guessed it,
it is a book about vaginas. On the rear flap, we learn that Dr Catherine
Blackledge was born in 1968. She completed as science degree and a Phd, and
then worked as science journalist and freelance broadcaster. This is her
first published book, featuring a black and subtly greenish/grayish cover
with the lower half of a woman lifting up her skirt.