- 'How had I forgotten that this - this absorbed, tongue-between-the-teeth, little-girl feeling - was the essence of art.' - Pagan Kennedy 'Zine' pg xiii.
- 'Part of what makes girl zines remain so vital as a feminist project is that they are an ongoing conversation, a way to be achingly immediate yet also provide a link to the printed matter that came before.' -Andi Zeisler (in the forward)
- 'Despite predictions of their demise in the mid-1990s due to the rise of the internet, they are part of a continuing trend in the late capitalist culture.' pg 2
- 'A material object that can be altered to mark the passage of time and changing opinions.' - an example of this is 'Riot Grrrl' terminology being crossed out in Jigsaw, as opinions change about it, pg 4
- 'Is it truly activism or simply immaturly absorbed?' - similarity between 3rd wave and zine phenomenon. pg 9
- 'The power of style must not be down played in terms of political mobilisation.' Tobi Vail, Jigsaw #4 (1991). Indicates that part of girl power is style and with this is a resource it should not be ignored. Style has often been portrayed as a weakness in the past! pg 1. Jigsaw was the front runner of zines by girls and Riot Grrrls, symbolises emergent third wave feminism
- 'Shove the booklet into their pockets and take it home to read about what it means to have a revolution not just by and for girls, but girl style - grounded in aesthetics, narratives and iconography' pg 2
- 'Scruffy, homemade little pamphlets. Little publications filled with rantings of high weirdness and exploding with chaotic design.' - Stephen Duncombe pg 2
- 'The jigsaw manifesto is so earnest it can seem sarcastic in the context of the girlish pictures and stars in the zine.' - The style is overpowering to make a point? pg 9
- Definition of a Zine: 'Zines are quirky, individualised booklets filled with diatribes, reworkings of pop culture iconography, and all variety of personal and political narratives.' Self-produced and anti-corporate!
- 'May contain handwriting, collage art, and even stickers and glitter.' pg 2
- An estimated 50,000 zines in circulation in 1997. pg 2
- 'Grrrl Zines are often the mechanism that third wave feminists use to articulate theory and create community' pg 9-10
- Third wave feminism is considered under theorised, Piepmeier believes the theories and vocabulary are unrecognised as they have been found in zines. It is unexpected and not academic. pg 10. It is 'intentionally low-brow'.
- ''Insubordinate Creativity': creative construction of the self using the cultural materials that are 'ready to hand.'' pg 10
- Bust - feminist magazine, started as a zine, has come under fire for offering cosmetic advice and its approval of pornography. A 'flattening representation of girls'.
- Agency and victimisation, complicity and resistance are two approaches that bifurcate the cause.
- Zines are a nostalgic medium that harks back to the punk area. Are they perceived as quaint? pg14
- 'Zines do provide a kind of intimacy and demand a kind of effort, that seems to block some of the more opportunistic aggression that is prevalent online.' pg 16
- It is easier to contextualise zines, they age, just as opinions do! pg 16-17 They have longevity and may be more precious in future.
- 'Most studies of zines identify them as resistant media originating in male-dominated spaces. They are positioned as descendants of the pamphlets of the American Revolution and Dadists and Samizdat publishing, emerging from the fanzines of the 1930s and the punk community of the 1970s.' pg25
- However! Grrrl zines have predecessors in the first and second waves of feminism. Women are not often associated with resistant media. By suggesting their origin is male punk communities it implies women are making aberrations. pg6
- 'A recognition of the connection between incarnations of feminism is important in the name of historical accuracy; moreover, it will allow young feminists to learn from and build on the past, recognising work that has come before so that they aren't always having to act as pioneers, trailblazers.' pg 28
- Woman throughout the 19th and 20th centuries have created informed publications. Scrapbooks, woman's health brochures, mimeographed feminist pamphlets - direct historical predecessors of grrrl zines. - unsure if these are entirely direct? moreover that they share a similar sentiment but are they directly linked?
- Creative and resistant and they provide a platform for women speaking from disempowered positions. pg 29
First Wave Origins:
- Zines are participatory media (important!) made by individuals.
- Scrapbooking - 19th Century, 'a material manifestation of memory.' - 'offered a space to comment on mainstream culture and also construct community and solidarity' pg 30
- Allowed women to construct their own legacy and public identity. pg 30 Publications could reframe and reprioritise mainstream media reporting.
- 'While allowing space for personal expression, often served a more colonising interest, incorporating people into a commodity market place rather than providing a site for resisting the market place.' pg 32 - scapbooking also taught women how to read advertising and fitted the creators into capitalism. Or is this marketplace literacy that they can use to critise the marketplace?
- Margaret Sanger 1914, she published her own paper - 'woman rebel' offering information about sexuaity and contraception. Illegal under the comstock law so fled to Europe.
- 100,000 copies of the pamphlet 'Family Limitation were produced and distributed, covering contraception, vaginal suppositories, woman's sexual pleasure. This was an outlet created outside of existing media. pg 34
- These pamphlets did require printers and a sizeable budget, as no inexpensive technology available. Changes in tech meant multiple copies could be made, similar to zine production.
Second Wave Origins:
- Mimeograph Printing! Could be a useful technique to learn for authenticity.
- 'The process was imperfect; the ink was often messy (as well as purple), only one page could be produced at one time, and it was easy to fold and ruin stencils during the process of reproduction.' It was inexpensive and accessible though.
- 'Iconic significance of the movement' pg 36
- Many second wave texts began as pamphlets or fliers not unlike zines. E.g. The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm by Anne Koedt. pg 36
- 'Integral to the creation of feminist community' pg 36 has lots of insight.
- Zines 'are created in the context of the available technologies, and they make use of cultural ephemera' pg 42
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