What Were Told Not to Talk About Bu..., Nimko Ali
What Were Told Not to Talk About Bu..., Nimko Ali
List: $11.25 | Sale: $7.88
Club: $5.62

What We're Told Not to Talk About (But We're Going to Anyway)
Women’s Voices from East London to Ethiopia

Author: Nimko Ali

Narrator: Nimko Ali, Amarah-Jae St Aubyn

Unabridged: 6 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 06/27/2019


Synopsis

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of What We're Told Not to Talk About (But We're Going to Anyway) by Nimko Ali, read by Nimko Ali and Amarah-Jae St Aubyn.

14 countries, 42 women, each with a story no one has heard before.

What do you do when you're living on the streets and on your period? What does it feel like to have a poo after you've given birth? How do we learn to love our bodies again after they've been abused? And, how do you know if you've ever really orgasmed? We all have questions about our bodies but often women's voices are silenced for being impolite or improper

What We're Told Not To Talk About (But We're Going To Anyway) is an important, taboo-breaking book that gives voice to the experiences of women from all walks of life, whose stories might not ordinarily be heard. Alongside Nimko's story of living with FGM, rebuilding her relationship with her own body and being a woman her own way, these are the true stories of real women who are sharing the experiences they've always been told should be secret and shameful.

The book is a call to arms for all women to reclaim the narrative around their bodies and to refuse to bow to the taboos which keep us silent. There is no such thing as oversharing.

'Hilarious and heart-breaking at the same time, Nimko has blown apart all taboos, blown apart the echo chamber and included all women in the feminist conversation. Essential reading for everyone' - Scarlett Curtis, author of Feminists Don't Wear Pink

'Nimko's book is going to shift the conversation around women's bodies. Our bodies, and everything they do, make us who we are'
Amika George, founder of Free Periods Campaign.

'Nimko says it how it is. There is no subject too taboo for her to tackle. We should all be talking about our vaginas and she is leading the way'
Bryony Gordon, author of Mad Girl

'Nimko Ali is my hero! She's an anti-FGM activist and is responsible for changing laws across the globe! She is also hilarious and wonderful'
Zoe Sugg

'Nimko Ali is heroine for our time, she destroys the notion of things being too rude to discuss' Caitlin Moran, author of How to Be a Woman

Reviews

Goodreads review by Layla on January 18, 2025

2.5 On one hand, this was a cool concept - combining the perspectives of different women as a way to dispel what’s thought of as the ‘universal’ experience of living in a female body. I also liked the factoids throughout the chapters, I feel like I learned quite a bit about conditions like endometrio......more

Goodreads review by Sofia on June 21, 2025

The perspectives are there, but the thematic depth just isn’t. At times, it read more like a collection of Reddit threads. Note: I love Reddit, but there’s so much more that could have been unpacked. Still worth reading tho: “I did not know what they had cut off from my body, and I did not try to find......more

Goodreads review by Blaire on September 12, 2022

3.5 Primarily first person narratives of women’s experiences of their first period, first orgasm, pregnancy including abortion and miscarriage, and menopause. I appreciated the wide variety of circumstances presented including women who had been subjected to FGM, women living in refugee camps, and w......more

Goodreads review by Rali on November 22, 2024

It is a very nice book with a lot of different stories and interesting input. Have in mind, as a reader, that it is quite intense and sometimes heavy, and if you are looking for something lighter like I was maybe it's not for you at that time but save it for later, it's really important! In it, ther......more


Quotes

Hilarious and heart-breaking at the same time, Nimko has blown apart all taboos ... Essential reading for everyone

A beautiful book with such a wide range of uplifting but often heart-breaking stories. Made us cry and think in equal measure.

Nimko Ali: a heroine for our time destroys the notion of things being too rude to discuss

Rude is going to shift the conversation around women's bodies.

Nimko says it how it is. There is no subject too rude for her to tackle. We should all be talking about our vaginas and she is leading the way.

Nimko Ali is my hero! She's an anti-FGM activist and is responsible for changing laws across the globe! She is also hilarious and wonderful.

Nimko Ali: a heroine for our time destroys the notion of things being too rude to discuss Caitlin Moran, Author of How to Be a Woman