Hshuma means “shame” in Moroccan dialect. More precisely, the word is used to refer to taboo subjects that should not be spoken about in front of one’s family or in public. Both an artistic achievement and an educational initiative, this graphic novel’s goal is to chip away at the taboos around gender, sexual education, and violence against women.

The women drawn by Zainab Fasiki can be provocative femmes fatales, and even quite sarcastic. Whether naked, wearing lingerie or veiled, in town or at the hammam (Turkish baths), they poke fun at male hypocrisy and fear of women’s bodies, and flout imposed canons of beauty. The drawings are, therefore, a way of celebrating women’s bodies and beauty, and upsetting one of the pillars of patriarchal society – both in Morocco and in the western world. In addition to its visual beauty, Hshuma is an important book by an activist fighting for women’s liberation in the Arab world.