Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism Book

I was very excited when I first heard about this book, because I know the impact feminist zines have had on me and I think some serious academic respect is long overdue. I am not exaggerating when I say zines taught me how to think hard and how to think critically, and they played a huge role in my political and intellectual development. They plugged me into this community of incredibly intelligent, tough people who, just by knowing they existed, gave me the courage to deal with my own life. Plus, they inspired me to stop being a consumer of media and to start seeing myself as a producer of media, as someone who was capable of writing my own essays and books, who didn't just have to content herself with what was available at the bookstore. I am pursuing life as a writer in large part because of my experiences with zines.

Piepmeier writes, in the end of the book, that she had set out to make the point that zines fostered some sort of concrete political activism and involvement, but that over the course of her research she came to the realization that zines fostered a different, subtler kind of political resistance. I think her conclusion is right on, that what feminist zines do isn't so much about getting women into street protests or whatever, but that they change who we are at our core, so that everything else we do afterward is filtered through this new, politicized, empowered lens.

Things I liked about the book: I loved that she referenced some of my favorite zines (although quite a few didn't make the cut). Her writings about Doris gave me goosebumps, and has me all excited to re-read my Doris anthology. I liked that she dedicated a chapter to intersectionality and zines, as zines were the medium that first introduced me to the idea of intersectionality. I liked seeing the way she deconstructed select pages from zines, treating them with the same kind of respect I usually see accorded to art and literature. That was pretty cool.

What I didn't like: Obviously that she pointed people to Microcosm Publishing. There are a lot of zine distros out there that are not run by men of questionable ethics (to put it politely). Feminists and allies of survivors would do well to go through one of those other distros for their zine needs. Also, I worry that the academia-speak could make the book inaccessible for someone who isn't well-versed in theory.