ABSTRACT
It is vitally important for women to be knowledgeable about their bodies so that they can understand the processes they experience without misconception or fear and so that they can know what types of experiences are typical or normal and which are not. This knowledge is helpful in maintaining one's health. If a woman experiences a symptom that she knows to be atypical and that she cannot explain, she can then seek out the help of a professional to determine its cause and possibly a cure. It is the intention of this chapter, then, to provide information about the biology of women with this purpose in mind. Specifically, we will discuss the sexual anatomy of women, menstruation, and reproduction. We also discuss sexual differentiation, the process by which we become male or female, in order to provide a basis for understanding that women and men may actually be more similar than they are different.
