The Women of the Sea
and Menstrual Education
A bilingual menstrual education graphic novel (English-Spanish)
Synopsis
Azuleja, María, Luis and Regina are four youth from Brisas del Mar, a rural community in San Bernardo del Viento, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, living in a coastal beach and mangrove ecosystem.
Azuleja and María are part of the "Women of the Sea" girls' surf club of Fundación SinuMar. More than a sport, surfing is a tool to bring women closer to the sea, to their own bodies, and to ocean conservation.
Accompanying the surf trainings are the dialogue circles of the "Knowledge Vessel": open spaces in which to share knowledge. Between surf and the circles, Azuleja and María begin to lose their fear of the sea, and to learn about menstruation.
Regina dreams of the sea, but her parents won't let her join the surf club because they don't want her to swim. Her curiosity brings her to the dialogue circles and, in time, Regina begins to understand her changing body. Meanwhile, Luis, María's little brother, is just starting to explore these questions.
The Women of the Sea and Menstrual Education is an educational tool written for youth, by youth. Bringing educational material together with a sensitive storytelling based on real events, this graphic novel is meant to open conversations on the body, ecosystem, and community as spaces of knowledge production. Through metaphor that flows between the rhythms of the ecosystem and those of the body, it invites the reader to examine menstruation free from taboos.
This book is freely available for download.
If you would like a print copy, please contact marie[at]mariedelutz.com
We are developing a methodological guide to accompany this book.
If you are an educator, we would love to connect with you!
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Written by:
Mariana Bravo Serrano, Angela Cervantes Bravo,
Luis Ángel Cuadrado González, María José Guerrero,
Luis Eduardo Palomino Rivera, Isabella Peinado Polo,
Luisa Peinado Polo, María José Rivera, Wilmer Simanca Julio
Illustrated by:
Edited by:
Coordination of the course:
"Studies in Pedagogical storytelling and illustration"
Fundación SinuMar in partnership with the Instituto Pensar, Pontificia universidad Javeriana
Con el apoyo de:
