Reddit reviews The "What's Happening to My Body" Book for Girls, Revised Third Edition

I HIGHLY recommend: The What's Happening To my Body Book for Girls. It's what I learned on but the book is updated very often to include new information. It's informative but in a way that kids can undesrtand (without being super dumbed-down). Lots of useful pictures, lots of positive messages. I love this book! I read it cover to cover and referenced it many times throughout my pubescent years when I had questions.

Good luck!

Edit: If that one seems too advanced, try The Care and Keeping of You. It's mostly about hygiene and puberty. They are going to need something more informative in a few years, though...I find that book to be rather incomplete and it raised more questions for me than it answered.

Oh, this horribly embarrassing but great book: What's Happening to My Body?

Okay, this might sound really silly... but I'm guessing that since sex/masturbation was taboo in your house, you never really got one of those "What's happening to my body?" type books meant to teach kids about puberty, their bodies, and sex. I had a couple in late elementary/middle school and I think they're great. I think you should get one or two books like that and read through them! You can go to a bookstore and pretend you're buying them for a niece or sister or something, or just order one online. It may seem juvenile, but these books are specifically made to present sexual health info in a friendly, non-threatening, no-nonsense way.

The reason I think this will help is that you need to sort of un-train your brain from connecting sex and your body with immorality. Your body is just a body, it is not sinful, and it is built to provide you pleasure. You need to learn to normalize that concept in order to remove the guilt from masturbation. Think of it like anything else you need to learn: adults who learn to read don't start with classic literature, they start with kid's books.

Edited to add links to some suggestions: I owned a companion book to this one and really liked it. This one is actually angled towards adult women so that would probably be a good read too.

I was given the old version of What's Happening to my Body Book for Girls. It is very long and very clinical and I read the SHIT out of that thing. I plan on giving my daughter an updated version. Some of the info on AIDS etc is outdated now so it wouldn't be right to give my copy to her, though I still own it.

This is what they gave my kid, and I think it's a good book, no pejorative, information that is up to day, starts with the basics. Don't be ashamed because you are learning a little late - you are learning facts, and that's the most important thing.

https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Happening-Girls-Revised-Third/dp/1557047685