Readers may be daunted by what to expect if they dare to read The Ins and Outs of My Vagina. I must say that author Karin Freeland has real guts to share so much of her intimate life. Without a doubt, more reserved female readers may be positively scandalized by what Freeland airs about her voyage with her vagina in this work of memoir and creative non-fiction. Others will envy her courage and applaud her honesty. Her style is friendly and conversational: you’ll feel like the two of you are close friends having a “girly” conversation over several glasses of wine.

I confess, I didn’t select this book to learn more about a very private part of my anatomy; there are plenty of medical books to consult if I need that information. No. I decided to read The Ins and Outs of My Vagina from sheer curiosity about how and what Karin Freeland would write in a “penetrating memoir” (pun obviously intended) with such a clever and provocative double-entendre title. Was she going to shock or amuse me? I just had to read this memoir! Let me start by saying Freeland’s memoir is unique, not just because of its subject but also because if women were game enough to be as open as Freeland is, we might all be less hung up on the paradox of those blessed curses called vaginas; those incongruous sources of so much pleasure, pain, and confusion.

As Freeland traveled back into her childhood and first real awareness of her vagina, I found myself laughing. Once she entered puberty, I recognized myself in all her questions, fears, and misgivings about her anatomy. And when it came to her desire and eventual struggle to experience that “big O,” I heard the voices of so many of my women friends who have confessed to faking it instead of making it. Guess what, ladies? You are far from alone in getting your vagina to co-operate during sex!

– Viga Boland