Zines for Social Justice: Adolescent Girls Writing on Their Own

Barbara J. Guzzetti, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

Margaret Gamboa, Arizona State University

Zines (pronounced zeens), also known as fanzines or little magazines, are self-published alternatives to popular culture magazines. They are considered a form of “indie media” or independent media. The word zine is not short for magazine but comes from the word fanzine, a term coined in the 1930s to refer to self-publications of readers' reactions to comic books and science fiction publications (Wertham, 1973). Zines have evolved through the decades to encompass not only the typical fanzine, but also other types, such as personal zines (prose and poetry focusing on the author's feelings), zines with themes (special interests such as skate-boarding, punk rock, or commercial fishing), and political zines. Those who create zines (called zining) are referred to as zinesters.

Zines have been around since the early 1930s, although participation in the movement exploded in the 1980s after Mike Gunderloy created the magazine Factsheet Five, which cataloged zines (Gunderloy & Janice, 1992). Although zine writers include young men, the international movement of zining today is most popular among adolescent females, particularly those of the middle class or those with the resources (e.g., time, money) to produce them. Young women use zines creatively to express themselves. Though they write and edit their zines for themselves, they distribute them for public consumption and interaction among their peers. Girls writing zines today explore issues such as body image, sexuality, politics, and violence. Their writings describe girls' problems that are largely ignored by the media. As a result, zines have become “influential tools for expression by adolescent girls” (Wagner, 1998, p. 12).

Booth Moore, a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, described the stories found in zines as inherently different from those found in mainstream publications such as Glamour and Seventeen. Moore quoted two representatives of the media, Carolyn Wagner, an author in The Futurist, and Bonnie Fuller, the editor of Cosmopolitan, in characterizing zines:

Wagner writes, “Young women's magazines cater to the perception that females want fantasy, not reality; the models are impossibly beautiful, and the articles (and ads) try to show women how to achieve those impossible images themselves.” As Bonnie Fuller, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan told the New York Times, “I don't think women are buying magazines to look at their next-door neighbors. Women enjoy fantasy. It's genetic.” Nonetheless, according to Wagner, sales are down for traditional women's magazines while girls' zines are booming.” (Moore, 1998, p. 2)

Zines have also been characterized in other ways, and they have been referred to as an act of civil disobedience; a tool for inspiring other forms of activism; and a medium through which girls effect changes within themselves, including confronting their own weaknesses, such as racism, homophobia, and other forms of prejudice. The production and distribution of zines have been considered

a politically and emotionally charged act which aims to create change. Girls in this country are socialized to remain quiet and obedient. The act of creating and publishing a zine is in and of itself an act of civil disobedience which balks at the societal demand that girls should not speak their minds. (The website, http://www.Columbia.edu%7Ekw139/activism.htm, is no longer active)

Zines have the potential to empower an enormous number of young girls by giving them a public voice (Bayerl, 2000).

Evidence of their popularity can be seen in the myriad ways zines are distributed. Zines are shared on the Internet (on zinesters' websites or through online distribution centers called distros), by mail order, by word of mouth, and at some record stores and bookstores. Zines are distributed at shows (concerts), raves (underground and usually clandestine all-night dance parties), and technos (dance parties that feature repetitive and manufactured music that imitates biorhythms). They are advertised in other zines and are available for the costs of printing and postage. Zines are ubiquitous as forms of writing for self-expression and social connection among adolescent girls (Moore, 1998).