Comic strips with their lively illustration and simple language are widely read by adults and children in Latin America. Consequently, a number of women's groups have developed the use of this form as a popular tool for consciousness-raising and action.

Below we reproduce extracts from two booklets, each of which is part of an ongoing series treating different themes: violence, produced by the Centra de Investigacidn Para la Accion Femenina (CIPA F) in the Dominican Republic; and sex education by women from the Carlos Chagas Foundation in collaboration with a housewives' group in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

From "No! To Violence Against Women," Ediciones Populares Feministas, Dominican Republic 1983.

What causes violence against women? Women's situation... "Downtrodden, unemployed,.." "Dependent on men, subordinate..."

Education... "Marriage is a cross to bear my daughter, a good woman has to endure suffering."

Machismo... "I rule in this house!"

Why do women accept violence? Why don't they denounce it? Because in capitalist patriarchal society the majority of women are economically dependent on men. In our country, with all its unemployment, 3 times as many women are unemployed as men.

"Furthermore, laws don't give us adequate protection..." "They don't guarantee us protection from beating..." "No one should interfere between man and wife."

"What am I to do with so many children?"

"Laws don't insure that fathers maintain them!" "I'm sorry madam, we can't do anything for you."

What can we do about it? We can and we must do a lot of things. First we must realize that it's unjust for women to be the victims of society and machismo. "For example..." Denounce the men who beat us up... demand the creation of mechanisms to protect us. We can denounce and protest against songs which offend our dignity and encourage violence against us.

We can organize to support, protect and help our neighbors, friends and relatives who are ill-treated and abused by their father and husbands.

We can discuss with men in the unions, in grassroots communities, in cooperatives, political parties and organizations, churches and work-places.

From "When Children Ask Certain Things" in the series Esse Sexo Que E Nosso (This Sex of Ours), Brazil.

From an early age children are very curious. They want to explore everything.

They also enjoy touching their own bodies or the bodies of their parents. That way they learn the pleasure of skin contact.

Little girls want to know why they don't have a penis and little boys are curious to know how theirs will grow. Some parents give direct and honest answers to these questions for they want their children to receive more open education than they had.