Ellie Sedgwick was going to have surgery to 'fix' her vulva... until she asked 500 women to show her theirs. Now, she's on mission to get her book Flip Through My Flaps into Australian schools

A photographer who has taken photos of hundreds of vulvas is on a mission to show Aussie girls why they should never get surgery on their genitals for cosmetic reasons.  

Ellie Sedgwick, from Byron Bay, is a former preschool teacher who has taken pictures of more than 500 vulvas since she set out seven years ago to promote body-positivity through her movement 'comfortable in my skin'.

She has now collated the photos and is about to publish a book called 'Flip Through My Flaps' which she wants distributed through Australian schools.

Ms Sedgwick told Daily Mail Australia her insecurities about her vulva started at a young age.  

'I was 13 when a boy tapped me on the shoulder and passed me a note reading, Do you have an innie or an outie? And no, he wasn’t asking about my belly button,' she said.

'At this age, I had never seen another vulva so I had no idea where I sat on the vulva spectrum. This is when my vulva anxiety began and I started to question, "Am I normal"?'

The photographer, originally from Sydney's Northern Beaches, said her 'vulva anxiety' grew over the years and eventually led her to have three consultations with surgeons about getting a labiaplasty.

Labiaplasty is when tissue from the labia (the folds of skin framing the vaginal opening) are either removed or altered. 

Ellie Sedgwick started photographing vulvas to promote body positivity and has compiled them in a book titled 'Flip Through My Flaps' (pictured)

Over the last seven years, the Byron Bay resident has photographed 500 women’s genitalia (pictured) as part of her 'comfortable in my skin' initiative

But it wasn't until Ms Sedgwick saw the third surgeon that she was put at ease.

'This surgeon, after seeing my vulva, said to me: "Ellie, have you ever seen another vulva?"

'He explained mine was completely 'normal' and encouraged me to head to Google.

'This consultation started my vulva self-love journey and eventually led to the idea for Flip Through My Flaps. 

'Imagine if there was somewhere vulva owners could go and see the beautiful diversity of vulvas everywhere.'

The photographer said she never wanted women to feel 'alone and shameful about such a sacred part of their bodies' and wanted to stamp out self-hate.

Ms Sedgwick believes her book should be added to school curriculums, claiming that sex education in schools is too 'basic'.

'We only have to look as far as the recent data from Women’s Health Victoria that found that labiaplasty is the fastest-growing surgery in Australia, to recognise that the current sex education in schools is flawed,' she said.

'School sex education is basic at best and there isn’t enough being done to educate people, specifically women, about their anatomy and the true diversity of genitals.

'Flip Through My Flaps can help trained sex educators inform students about the vulva diversity that exists in the world, removing the shame and stigma around our body parts.'

The photographer, who has been addressing schools over the country about the importance of 'vulva diversity' - while making sure classes are age appropriate -  wants to see sex education tackle deeper issues.

Many women have thanked Ms Sedgwick (above) and support her book 

'Sexual education needs to be more than just putting condoms on bananas,' she said.

'I would love to see schools build a deeper curriculum that covers every topic related to sex education from genitalia to consent to tracking menstrual cycles and more. 

'It should be considered as important as maths.'

Ms Sedgwick also stresses the importance of only trained sex educators teaching classes 'instead of PE teachers who do not have the correct training'.

But the idea of the photographer's vulva book being available to students proved divisive on social media. 

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'You have lost the plot! Seriously!' one man wrote on her Facebook post.

Another man said: 'Did I read this right? You are publishing a book of "people's vulva" aka women's genitalia and you're hoping the book to be distributed in schools?'

The man added: 'Can you enlighten me - privileged white male. How is that a decent support to teach diversity and body positivity... to kids!

'To be fair I wouldn't want a coffee table book about strictly penises either in my children's school library... even if they're all equally showing the spectrum of the human kind.'

But many women were supportive of the photographer - whose mantra 'happiness is flappiness' - with one woman even writing 'sign me up'. 

'You are the change we need and I’m so here for it,' one wrote.

'This sounds amazing - thanks for such an important and wise initiative!' another said.

Another added: 'I think this is great as it is de-sexualising & bringing beauty back to our Yonis!'