A photographer who has taken pictures of hundreds of vulvas is on a mission to show Australian girls why they should never have genital surgery for cosmetic reasons.
Byron Bay-based Ellie Sedgwick is a former preschool teacher who has photographed more than 500 vulvas since she set out to promote body positivity through her “comfortable in my skin” movement seven years ago.
She has now compiled the photographs and is about to publish a book called ‘Flip Through My Flaps’ which she plans to distribute to Australian schools.
Ms Sedgwick told the Daily Mail Australia that her insecurities about her vulva began at a young age.
“I was 13 when a boy tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a note that said, ‘Is your belly button in or out?’ And no, he wasn’t asking me about my belly button,” she said.
“At that age, I had never seen another vulva, so I had no idea where I was on the vulva spectrum. That’s when my vulva anxiety started and I started to wonder, ‘Am I normal? ‘”
The photographer, originally from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, said her “vulva anxiety” grew over the years and eventually led to three consultations with surgeons for a labiaplasty.
Labiaplasty is when tissue is removed or altered from the labia (the folds of skin that frame the vaginal opening).
Ellie Sedgwick began photographing vulvas to promote body positivity and compiled them into a book titled ‘Flip Through My Flaps’ (pictured)
Over the past seven years, the Byron Bay resident has photographed the genitals of 500 women (pictured) as part of her ‘Comfortable in My Skin’ initiative.
But it wasn’t until Ms. Sedgwick saw the third surgeon that she felt reassured.
‘This surgeon, after seeing my vulva, said to me, “Ellie, have you ever seen another vulva?”
‘He explained to me that what I had was completely ‘normal’ and encouraged me to go to Google.
‘This consultation started my journey of vulva self-love and eventually led to the idea of Flip Through My Flaps.
‘Imagine if there was a place where vulva owners could go and see the beautiful diversity of vulvas that are everywhere.’
The photographer said she never wanted women to feel “alone and ashamed of such a sacred part of their bodies” and wanted to end self-hatred.
Ms Sedgwick believes her book should be added to school curricula, saying sex education in schools is too “basic”.
‘We just have to look at the recent data from Women’s Health in Victoria which found that labiaplasty is the fastest growing surgery in Australia, to acknowledge that current sex education in schools is flawed,’ she said.
‘School sex education is basic at best and not enough is done to educate people, especially women, about their anatomy and the true diversity of their genitals.
‘Flip Through My Flaps can help trained sex educators inform students about the diversity of vulvas that exist in the world, removing shame and stigma around our body parts.’
The photographer, who has been speaking at schools across the country about the importance of “vulva diversity” while ensuring classes are age-appropriate, wants sex education to address deeper issues.
Many women have thanked Ms. Sedgwick (above) and supported her book.
“Sex education should be more than just putting condoms on bananas,” he said.
‘I would love to see schools develop a more in-depth curriculum that covers all topics related to sex education, from genitals to consent, tracking menstrual cycles and more.
“It should be considered as important as mathematics.”
Ms Sedgwick also stresses the importance of only trained sex educators teaching classes “rather than physical education teachers who do not have the appropriate training”.
But the idea of making the photographer’s vulva book available to students sparked division on social media.
“You’ve lost control! Seriously!” one man wrote on his Facebook post.
Another man said: “Did I read that right? You’re publishing a book about ‘people’s vulvas’, meaning women’s genitals, and you expect the book to be distributed in schools?”
The man added: “Can you enlighten me? I’m a privileged white man. How is that a decent support for teaching diversity and body positivity… to children?”
‘To be fair, I wouldn’t want a coffee table book on strictly penis topics in my kids’ school library either… even if they all equally show the spectrum of the human species.’
But many women supported the photographer, whose mantra is “happiness is sagging,” with one woman even writing “sign me up.”
“You are the change we need and I’m here to support you,” wrote one.
“Sounds fantastic! Thank you for such an important and wise initiative!” said another.
Another added: “I think this is great because it desexualizes and brings back the beauty to our Yonis!”