Zines

Zines are self-published works, generally produced for a small audience and non-commercial purposes. They are often used as forms of personal and political expression by marginalized people and communities, including queer people and feminists.

Nonbinary gender in zines

In 1999, a zinester named Micah Bazant created TimTum: A Trans Jew Zine, taking for their title a word used in early rabbinic literature for people of unclear/hidden sex. Noting that "timtum" accumulated pejorative uses over time, including "stupid" and "ineffectual" in Yiddish, Micah intervenes with their own definition, "a sexy, smart, creative, productive Jewish genderqueer". Micah also addresses the binary gender expectations of the reader, imploring them to "Please see me beyond gender. Please know that I don't fit into this stupid fucking system. Please remind me that there have always been people like me. Creatures who are not 'men' or 'women'".

In 2005, a short piece called "The End of Genderqueer" appeared in issue 2 of Rocko Bulldagger's zine Bleached Blonde Bimbos, lamenting what the author saw as an exclusionary move away from an expansive and solidaristic definition of "genderqueer" to a narrower definition (not identifying as male or female). She observed that this newer, identity-based scene was only friendly to a small range of gendered embodiments and expressions, generally young, white, masculine female-assigned people who had not "fully" transitioned, conformed to specific fashion trends, and did not use she/her pronouns.

In their 2007 zine Queer & Trans Sexual Assault: A Youth Issue, writer Erin Johnson expressed their distaste for the gender binary, commenting "It has only been recently that I have been redefining my gender identity and recognizing that the binary-gender system is ridiculously constricting and truly a whole load of crap". Johnson includes "genderqueer" and gender neutral pronouns "hir/ze" as glossary items, mentions that some people describe themselves as "gender neutral" or "genderless", and observes that personal identity is not necessarily static over time.

Relevant Collections and Archives

The Pratt Institute's LGBTQ̘ Zine Collection houses zines that discuss non-binary identity, like They Walk by Jasper Campos and Gender Euphoriaː A Zine by Mick Moran.