NAKED

A sex encyclopedia by a Canadian student of sexology, translated from the French and clarifying terms related to bodies, gender, and sexuality.

The 150 alphabetical entries include factual, historical, and cultural information as well as the etymology of each word or phrase. The work provides background on topics including some that are increasingly being discussed by teens, such as rape culture and, in the entry on bras, sexist dress codes in schools. The tone is accepting of the full spectrum of gender identity and expression and reassuring about the range of what is “normal.” The short entries vary in length—some are a couple of paragraphs; most are one to two pages. Sidebars often provide links or references to additional information: Planned Parenthood’s website appears beside the entry on contraception, and later readers learn of Iceland’s Phallological Museum. Certain topics could have benefited from more detailed and precise exploration; the entry on the word gay briefly mentions the Stonewall uprising, saying that a few men were arrested and erasing the central role of trans women of color. The broad statement that in North America until the 1970s, post–wedding night bedsheets were checked for blood to prove virginity will raise eyebrows. Attractive, lighthearted, stylized illustrations adorn the text.

A validating tome that will spark an interest in further learning.