Your Body Rocks by Emily Lauren Dick

A book about, and I have to read it because I can’t remember, private parts,

consent, anatomy, reproduction, and gender.

Hi, I’m Cath Hakanson, and welcome to Sex Ed Rescue.

Sex Aid Rescue is where I help parents to find a better and an easier,

simpler way to talk to their kids about love, sex, and relationships.

And it’s where I review a lot of books.

And the author of these book reached out to me and asked me to review it.

And I’m so glad they sent it to me because it’s actually a really good little book.

It’s called Your Body Rocks by Emily Lauren Dick.

And it’s a really nice little book.

So what I’m going to do is show you

through it because that’s the easier way to do it.

So starts off by acknowledging that it’s okay to be curious about bodies.

Curiosity is fantastic because it’s how we learn.

So I love the fact that that is what they

started off with is by talking about curiosity.

So it’s a thick little book so it’s going to be challenging.

And then it talks about how

it’s important to not focus on people’s outward appearance.

So there’s more to a person than the way they look.

But it’s still, you know, so it’s talking about the fact that it’s

okay to be curious about bodies and how they’re different.

But to remember that, you know,

what’s on the outside doesn’t really sum up who they are as well.

And then it talks about underneath your clothing are the private parts,

and they’re the parts of your body that you cover to protect them.

Private parts are off limits to other people.

That means that no one is allowed to touch your private parts except you.

This book is going to be going

into my list of books that I’m always telling the parents about.

If they’re looking for books that say don’t touch and look at other people’s

private parts because it handles that in a very direct way.

It explains why we need to need to have these conversations as well.

Our bodies are really amazing.

It’s perfectly normal to be curious about private parts.

You may even find yourself wanting to touch them because it feels good.

Just remember that this is something you should do in private by yourself.

Hang on, I’ve got to pause this video for a moment.

Sorry, I’ve just done a master class at the time of recording this recently

on masturbation, and I’ve included books in there that are helpful.

I’m now going to go in and add this back

into that masturbation master class because they cover this beautifully.

So when you’re little, the adult that takes care of you helps you wash.

But if you’re older, you can do it by yourself.

Now, talks about the fact that sometimes

your family doctor might need to check your private parts of the doctor’s office.

But this should only be done when an adult that you trust is with you.

And then it talks about other examples of safe touch.

And that can be the fact that sometimes safe touches can feel a little

uncomfortable, like when the dentist has their tools

in your mouth, but that’s done to ensure you’re healthy.

I’m not sure if this author is a parent, but they’ve obviously done their market

research as to what we need in a book, because as I was reading the book

for the first time, I kept going, Wow, this is in it.

I was just so blown away by it.

So if someone touches your private parts or asks you to touch their private parts,

you can tell them, No, stop, or I don’t like that.

When a touch feels unsafe, your body will provide you with signals,

things like feeling sick or like you want to cry.

Now, I just want to add on here as well

that because I work in this area in this field is that the one thing it doesn’t

acknowledge here is the fact that sometimes touch can be pleasurable.

And sometimes an older child might say to a younger child, Can I have a look?

And they will say yes, because they don’t want to say no.

But they will also say that, Yeah,

I told them they could have a look, but it felt nice.

So we also…

Sorry, back of my head, once I start scratching, it keeps getting itchy.

So I just think it’s important

to probably, maybe just be aware for yourself as

a parent, that sometimes touch can be pleasurable as well.

So when this happens, tell an adult that you trust and feel safe with right away.

You are in charge of your body.

Anytime someone wants to touch you, you need to give your consent.

So it talks about consent.

And then it talks about some of the funny names that we hear for private parts.

Some of us have heard people call private parts by funny names, and that’s okay.

Look, this one gets contentious.

If I was a sexual abuse person, I would be saying you never call it by a funny name.

I come from a healthy sexuality background, and my approach is about…

It’s about having healthy conversations.

So kids do need to know the proper names, but there’s nothing wrong with having

funny names as well, as long as they know what the proper name

is, and that they need to know when to use the proper name as well.

So it’s nice to see that in a book.

I know a lot of people will just like this book because that’s in there.

But as I said, I think it’s great that they are saying that in here.

It’s also good to know what the real names are.

So let’s discover what they’re called.

So that’s the picture there, labelling it all.

And yes, it actually calls the outside the velvet.

It doesn’t get it mixed up, which is really good. really nice to see.

This is a unique way of drawing it.

It’s like it’s the velvet sits down below, but then it’s…

Anyway, I think the illustration is lovely.

So that’s that there.

And then we’ve got the other ones.

So it talks about here and about the fact that that is where the sperm is.

It doesn’t say that the sperm won’t happen

until they go through Poverty, but that’s not what this book is about.

And then it just talks about that when you

become an adult, that that’s when the testicles will start to make the spur.

So it does mention that it will change.

And then it talks about the baby growing.

Apparently, it is really uncommon

for books to include babies that are a different skin color.

I didn’t realize this until I found an African blogger that was talking about

the fact that it was just impossible to find.

And then it talks about babies being born.

And then it talks about that,

did you know that even though many of us learn that boys have penises and girls

have vaginas, sometimes this is not the case?

Maybe you’ve even wondered if someone is

a boy or a girl, but did you know that there are more than two kinds of gender?

It might seem a little confusing, but it’s actually pretty easy to understand.

I’m so glad this is in here.

Because this is the thing you might go,

Well, look, there’s no transgender kids where I live, but you just don’t know.

And I think it’s about children just being

aware that the world is a different place and everyone is different and that’s okay.

So gender is something that’s assigned

to us at birth based on the type of private parts we have.

We all experience the world differently based on our gender.

This happens because of gender

stereotypes, which are generalisations about what a boy or a girl is like.

These include things like what people

should wear, what they should play with as kids, or how they should act.

The thing is that gender isn’t just split into two things.

It’s actually fluid.

If someone grows up and they don’t feel like they fit into the gender that they

were given at birth, they may be transgender.

Say a doctor decided that Sally was a girl at birth.

When Sally got older, they decided that they felt more like a boy.

So he decided to become Sam.

You’re probably wondering if that means that Sam will grow a penis.

I’m so glad they call this out.

But you don’t have to have particular

private parts to identify as a certain gender.

Some transgender people do get surgery so that their private parts match their

chosen gender, but other transgender people don’t.

Either way, their bodies are nobody’s business.

There are also intersex people

whose private parts are a combination of what is typical for a girl or boy.

For example, they could have both kinds of private parts.

This is more common than you may realise.

Every day your body will grow.

Your child body doesn’t look each… Sorry.

Every day your body will grow.

Your child body doesn’t look the same as

your baby body did, and your child body will look different from your adult body.

We are always growing.

We are all unique and come in many shapes, colours, and sizes.

There isn’t one right way for a body to look, but each one is special.

Everyone should feel comfortable just being themselves.

So look, this book, it’s almost like they popped

into my brain and found out all the things that need to be in a book.

And what’s even more exciting is that this

book has got so many things that most books don’t cover.

So this is a book that I’m going to be

recommending to a lot of families and a lot of parents.

And that’s why I had to stop the video to write a Post it note for myself.

I’m also going to start a intersex…

So I’m writing it down as I talk to you, an intersex book list,

because so few books actually call out that intersex bodies exist.

So super important.

Anyway, I have raved.

This is a long video, but this book deserves it.

Okay, cheers.