Fruit of Knowledge: The Vulva Vs. The Patriarchy

From Adam and Eve to pussy hats, people have punished, praised, pathologized, and politicized vulvas, vaginas, clitorises, and menstruation. In this feminist graphic novel, Swedish cartoonist Liv Strömquist calls out how genitalia-obsessed men have stigmatized women’s bodies, denied their sexuality, created a dubious gender binary, and much more. Her biting, informed commentary explores history and taboos from the darkest chapters (the Salem witch trials) to the lightest (when menstrual blood was used as a love potion). Like humorists Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For), and Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant), Strömquist uses the comics medium to reveal uncomfortable truths about how far we haven’t come.