Zines: Difference between revisions

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.<ref>Fife, Kirsty (2019). "Not for you? Ethical implications of archiving zines". ''Punk & Post Punk''. '''8''' (2): 227–242. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1386/punk.8.2.227_1. [[S2CID (identifier)|S2CID]] 199233569 – via EBSCOhost.</ref>

Since at least the 1990s, some zinesters have endorsed non-binary understandings of gender in various forms. These include expressing disapproval for binary notions of gender, using or advocating for gender neutral pronouns, or giving accounts of their own non-binary gender identities and/or expressions.

In the 1996 transgender zine ''Girly (''issue 5), Mona X asserts that gender is "more like a spectrum" than a binary.<ref>X, Mona. ''Girly'', issue 5. Queer Zine Archive Project. 1996. https://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/58</ref>

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]]".<ref name=":0">Bazant, Micah. ''TimTum - A Trans Jew Zine''. 1999. Accessed October 22 2024 via Queer Zine Archive Project. https://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/408</ref> 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'".<ref name=":0" />

In an interview from ''Mutate'' (issue 5), Angelique (a member of the band Venus Bleeding), mentions dating a "crossdresser" who was "the sweetest man but a difficult girl". She uses they/them pronouns to refer to her ex, noting that the relationship had problems because "they were still learning about themselves".<ref>Angelique. Interview with Milo Miller. ''Mutate'', issue 5. 2001. https://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/294</ref> In a piece by Seeley Quest which also appeared in this issue, Quest talks about how sie<ref>"Seeley Quest Biography". Tangled Arts. https://tangledarts.org/about-us/artist/seeley-quest/</ref> enjoys getting read as male and being "difficult to categorize" genderwise.<ref>Quest, Seeley. "The Sexual Underground". In ''Mutate'', issue 5, edited by Milo Miller. 2001. https://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/294</ref> Sie also expresses a desire for an androgynous body.