Wombastic, the graphic battle for the reappropriation of the female body in the face of Gallardón’s anti-abortion threat

Abstract

The pro-life project that the Government of the Partido Popular developed between 2010 and 2014 caused a important social reaction in our country, understanding that the legal-medical custody that pretended on the woman’s body supposed a clear regression in her rights. By violating the dignity and freedom of the female population, this law became a form of gender violence. Among initiatives that emerged in that period, Wombastic, the graphic platform on Tumblr created by the Asociación de Autoras de Cómic, where the vindication of the female body, as territory forbidden to external decisions to the own woman, was translated in more than 250 images and slogans contributed by illustrators and authors of comic. The creations were free download, with the aim of flooding the streets and demonstrations of these protest posters. Women reappropriating their bodies in the face of the threat of state tutelage, drawn with humorous and/or solemn intentions, but always resounding in their messages, and a ridiculed minister Gallardón, were the common denominators.