Beauty queen tackles body image

Here's how the struggle over girls' self-image is shaping up.

On one side: ubiquitous media images of pouty supermodels whose digitally enhanced perfection promotes shame, longing and cosmetic surgery among everyday girls battling zits and thunder thighs.

On the other side: the Dove "campaign for real beauty," the first bans against ultrathin catwalk models and our mothers' assurance that we're beautiful just the way we are.

Guess which side is winning.

The scales may have tipped a bit closer toward sanity with the Dec. 27 release of "Body Drama" (Penguin, $20), a sassy, photographic body manual being hailed as "a book of liberation" and "the modern girl's 'Our Bodies, Ourselves.' "

Filled with practical, big-sisterly advice pitched to the adolescent ear, it celebrates the lumps, bumps, sags and smells that make us human while also sharing tips on fake tanning, hair removal, PMS and other health and beauty issues.

It doesn't just tell, it shows -- through frank, unretouched photos of exuberant young women of all sizes, shapes and colors. Women flaunt stretch marks, dimpled behinds, keloid scars from piercings, uneven breasts and rough elbows as if to say, "Yeah, this is how I am -- so what?"

The brain behind this unusual book is a bubbly ex-beauty queen with the soul of a feminist and a girlie demeanor that masks focused determination.

"I wanted a body book with boobs and vaginas and cellulite and birthmarks and all the things that get erased away," said Nancy Amanda Redd, 26, who laughs freely and often while speaking at warp speed.

Defying stereotypes, Redd won the Miss Virginia 2003 title two weeks after graduating from Harvard as a women's studies major. She went on to win the swimsuit competition in the 2004 Miss America pageant.

"Body Drama" has won kudos from such heavy hitters as Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women; Eve Ensler, author of "The Vagina Monologues," and Nancy Brown, a Stanford University professor of adolescent sexuality.

The book was vetted by the director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center in New York, the nation's largest teen clinic.

Her verdict: "I think the presentation is excellent. I haven't seen any book like this. My teenage daughter looked at it and said, 'Wow! They have everybody in here! All shapes, all colors.' "

Walker plans to buy a copy for the clinic.

Black, curvy and 5-foot-4, Redd often assures teens she has body issues, too, including weight that has fluctuated from 167 to 115 to her current 140.

"What I realize now," she says, "is I was never any happier when I was a size 2."

On the eve of "Body Drama's" release, Redd talked by phone from Los Angeles about her campaign to show young women how beautiful normal can be.

A There's so much media out there, but there's no photographic help for normalcy. All these women have is porn, and they have a lot of it.

So I really wanted to make this happen because we've got to get a reality check.

Q What reactions did you get when you proposed a photo display of vulvas?

A When I came up with the idea, I was really nervous, because I knew it was kind of weird to have a photographic body book. I mean, my mom totally was like, "You're never going to get this made." She was very supportive and let me follow this dream as long as I was going to, but she said, "You know, this is totally porn."

Q So you thought of this as a photo book rather than an advice book.

Q Where did you get the models for the photos?

A I wanted real women, so I posted on Craigslist for young women who wanted to be part of a really important project to help other young women feel better about their bodies.

And I said, "I don't want to see your body, I just want a face pic -- just because I wanted diversity. I just want to know why you want to be part of this project, right?"

I was terrified that I wouldn't get any responses. [But] I got hundreds of women who were like, "Totally, that's awesome!" And, "I'd love to -- I'm a music teacher. I'm an artist. I'm a student. I'm a musician. I'm a lawyer. I'm a PE teacher." All sorts of wonderful people. I was shocked. I was totally shocked.

And then I even asked for specifics. "Do you have braces? Do you have cellulite? Do you have a birthmark? Do you have a keloid? Do you have bad liposuction?" And everything came through.

A Yeah! Oh, I had to. I couldn't have women show up in my studio and like -- hello!

Q You took the photographs yourself?

A Oh, no. Goodness, no. The photographer [Kelly Kline] is awesome. I got her on Craigslist. She was a sports photographer and she was up and coming.

She was so helpful, especially for the vulva shootings. She was a trouper. It was such fate. We both grew up in southern Virginia. We both grew up not being able to talk about our bodies. And she got it.

And so the cool thing about this project is we were just this collaborative of women who wanted to make a difference -- to do something fun and positive.

A This is a body book and not a sex book, but one of the interesting things that I've found from showing my male friends and colleagues [is] they haven't seen it either. Because there's so much shame around the vulva.

I've found it fascinating the number of guys who are just like, "I've never seen anything like that." I'm just like, "Well, you obviously aren't looking, because I didn't create these. These don't come from another planet."

Q The politics of female genitalia seems to be high on the radar lately, what with "The Vagina Monologues," the "vajayjay" thing [the euphemism was used on "Grey's Anatomy" and then by Oprah] and the sudden popularity of surgically altered labia, or "designer vaginas." What's going on with this body part that used to be one's own?

A The problem isn't public discussion, it's ignorant public discussion. OK, like this whole labiaplasty thing is completely insane, I mean completely insane! So much misinformation is being spread around.

I'm stoked that Oprah talked about her vajayjay. We need talk, but we need more than talk. We need photos. You can talk about having a healthy body image, but unless you show them what normal is and what healthy is, so they don't have to look elsewhere for validation, you're losing the battle.

Q Does public discussion of private body parts lessen shame or does it just further the sexualization of women?

A There's good elements and bad elements. It's great that Tyra [Banks] is talking about how you don't need to douche. That's awesome -- you go, girl, thank you. She quoted her mother that you don't need to douche because your vagina's a self-cleaning oven. Then Oprah talked about her vajayjay. That's great.

Then you have the whole, like, "Ninety percent of guys prefer women without pubic hair." I've seen so many articles about the whole new trend, like, completely bare, and it's just like you have to do it [remove hair] every week or else you're weird. It's just really sad.

Q I didn't realize that had become the norm.

A Oh, it is! Anyone under the age of 30, I'm telling you, like, [having] pubic hair is like being some kind of fur baby. OK, let me stipulate -- if you are part of the culture that believes in pop culture. Like, clearly, there are lots of really strong people who choose their own pube-do.

I think that you get to make choices and you get to experiment, and that's human. But I don't think you should do these things because you feel like you have to.

Q How much difference do you think you can make against the pop-culture juggernaut?

A Huge. Because I think a tremendous amount of consumption has to do with shame -- not fitting in, not feeling good, worrying, trying to go along with the status quo.