Overview

In 1962, the 20 years young Monika from East Germany marries the ""youngest Captain in the world"" and moves to Cuba, a country with a very different climate, culture, and customs. Soon she clashes with Afro-Cuban saints, food shortage, and the macho mentality. Monika's memories and recollections, told with humor and heart, provide a unique glimpse into the turbulent first thirty years of the Cuban Revolution. The young mother of two boys experiences the follies of the Cuban educational system, when a whole country was turned into a laboratory for the formation of the New Man. Like so many others who once believed that the Revolution would lead to utopia, Monika Krause gradually came to realize that she was in, and part of, a totalitarian system based on the cult of a caudillo. As fate would have it, Monika became Cuba's first Sex Educator, charged with developing and implementing an ambitious and impactful national program of sex education and planned parenthood. Monika was the first director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), a celebrity with own radio and TV programs, a strong advocate for women's rights, and a staunch fighter against institutionalized homophobia. In 1990, exhausted and disillusioned, with her marriage over, and her grown children eager to break free from the rigid ideology, Monika returned to Germany, her country of birth.

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9780578340135

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Reviews

Fighting taboos, prejudices, inhibitions, and machismo in a patriarchal society, preparing young generations for a sexual life based on shared responsibility, consent and knowledge, and the discovery of individual happiness in search of oneself were Monika's daily bread. (Dominique Gay-Sylvestre, Professor at University of Limoges, France) With women's rights under attack, I can't think of a better time to embrace Monika's commitment to education, pleasure, and liberation. (Jacqueline Loss, Professor at University of Connecticut) What a bold, intrepid woman! Monika combines a fierce sense of mission with a tender-hearted maternal instinct which jostle each other through the pages of this unputdownable and riveting read. Kudos to her sons for having made this unique story available to an English reading public. (Prajna Paramita, International Executive and Leadership Coach) Monika's recollections and insights, told with humor and heart, offer the reader a unique glimpse into the turbulent first thirty years of the Cuban Revolution--and one brave woman's part in it. (Regina Anavy, translator, author, and editor in San Francisco) Monika Krause was a fresh wind of sexual freedom in the Orwellian Cuba of the 1980s. The story of her life is also a journey through a country full of yearning, fear, and disruption. (Yoani Sanchez, Cuban independent journalist and founder of 14ymedio.com)

""Fighting taboos, prejudices, inhibitions, and machismo in a patriarchal society, preparing young generations for a sexual life based on shared responsibility, consent and knowledge, and the discovery of individual happiness in search of oneself were Monika's daily bread."" (Dominique Gay-Sylvestre, Professor at University of Limoges, France) ""With women's rights under attack, I can't think of a better time to embrace Monika's commitment to education, pleasure, and liberation."" (Jacqueline Loss, Professor at University of Connecticut) ""What a bold, intrepid woman! Monika combines a fierce sense of mission with a tender-hearted maternal instinct which jostle each other through the pages of this unputdownable and riveting read. Kudos to her sons for having made this unique story available to an English reading public."" (Prajña Paramita, International Executive and Leadership Coach) ""Monika's recollections and insights, told with humor and heart, offer the reader a unique glimpse into the turbulent first thirty years of the Cuban Revolution--and one brave woman's part in it."" (Regina Anavy, translator, author, and editor in San Francisco) ""Monika Krause was a fresh wind of sexual freedom in the Orwellian Cuba of the 1980s. The story of her life is also a journey through a country full of yearning, fear, and disruption."" (Yoani Sánchez, Cuban independent journalist and founder of 14ymedio.com)

Author Information

Monika Krause (1941-2019) moved to Cuba in 1962. Monika was appointed in 1977 to lead the National Working Group on Sex Education (GNTES) which eventually became the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) in 1988, of which Monika was the first director, a position she held until her return to Germany in November 1990. Monika played a key role in the development and implementation of a modern, scientific, and impactful national program for sex education and planned parenthood in Cuba.

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