By Sharanya Gopinathan
In 2015, Rebecca Roher started a new series of comics called Mom Body, which shows realistic portrayals of women’s bodies during and after pregnancy. Now, she’s teamed up with Toronto-based gynaecologist Dr. Aparna Sridhar to create a series of comics called Birth Control Tales that brings knowledge and awareness about different kinds of birth control available to women. There are currently two instalments, one on intrauterine devices (IUDs) and one hormonal implants, while a third, which will be on hormonal injections, is in the pipelines.
The creators told The Globe and Mail that one of the things they wanted to keep in mind while creating the series was to frame the comics as conversations taking place between friends. So, there are scenes of women hanging out in coffee shops or under trees, along with chats with friendly doctors. This lends the comics a nice, personal feel, while still conveying important information in a sensible way.
While these comics are aimed at a target audience of young North Americans between the ages of 18 and 29, they’re a really nice example of something that could be tailored and reworked to fit different audiences across ages and geographical and cultural locations, like India’s own Menstrupedia, a guide aimed at educating women and girls on menstrual health, that’s is available in a variety of Indian languages.
There’s also a Birth Control Tales app available for Apple users.