Zines Explore Transgender Culture Beyond Stereotypes

By Maya Schenwar, Punk Planet. Posted December 19, 2006.

There's the Oscar-nominated hit, TransAmerica. There's the new book Self-Made Man, in which author Norah Vincent tries on maleness for a year and a half. And even the often-less-than-risk-taking The L Word featured a transgender character this season. Trans issues have hit the big time. However, despite mainstream media's slowly increasing interest in -- and occasional thoughtful exploration of -- trans issues, many big-time portrayals don't get past stereotypes and jokes. (Take, for example, TBS's reality TV show, He's a Lady, in which super-macho guys dress in heels for a day to get the true "female experience.")

Fortunately, another rapidly growing sector of the media is stepping up to broaden and complicate the picture: print zines. A huge range of publications are devoted to trans issues, each of which may include editorials, poetry, art, fiction, interviews, even musical compositions. Trans-focused zines have been steadily multiplying in recent years.

Why? As public interest in gender variance increases, it's important to show that it's about people -- not simply newsworthy phenomena -- said Red Durkin, who produces four zine series and tours with the Tranny Roadshow, a traveling group of performers, artists, and writers.

"Zines are an almost perfect outlet for us," Durkin said. "Being trans is personal. There's no instruction manuals. I think the failing of any broad sweeping analysis is that it could never encompass all of us. The only way for all of us to be heard is for each of us to have our own voice, and that's what the zine world offers." Many zines are produced and distributed by a single author or artist. Others are collaborative efforts, but most zines are never shipped off to an outside publisher or distributor, so zine writers need not worry about misrepresentation.

The complete freedom of self-identification that a zine offers is especially important for trans populations, noted Jamez Terry, a co-founder of the Tranny Roadshow.

"Zines are the ultimate DIY [Do-It-Yourself] media, which means you're totally free to define yourself and no one can challenge your right to identify however you want within your own zine," said Terry, who has produced more than 50 zines, including Transcendence, a zine by and for trans youth. "No one else is going to edit you and get your pronouns wrong."

And while we're on the topic, no one can assign your zine any pronouns either. Since zinesters don't gear their products toward a particular section on a Barnes & Noble shelf, they don't need to grant them identities that fit into culturally predetermined categories. Trans zines are instead characterized by fragmentation, mixture, parody, and ambiguity. According to Doug Blandy, a University of Oregon professor and zine scholar, zines are the perfect example of postmodernism, throwing all the identities and definitions we thought we knew into question, including our definitions of gender -- and of magazines.

DIY Democracy

Blandy doesn't see zines as merely a good example of postmodernism in the midst of a rigidly structured society. He sees them as a route to changing that society.

"I believe strongly that people, through their artistry, can participate in the public dialogue essential to democracy," Blandy said. Zines allow radical ideas -- many of which would never appear in a mainstream magazine -- to emerge onto the printed page. They then spark discussion between zinesters and their audience, both directly and indirectly, leading to more zines and more conversations -- a do-it-yourself chain of democratic participation.

This means that, unlike TV and mainstream print media, which produce a static stream of "information," zines foster a dynamic forum for discussion, in which readers are just as important as writers. The barista who plucks a stray zine off the café floor can write to the creator and debunk her column, or take up one of the zine's rallying cries and publicize it to a much wider audience than the zine might reach.

This also means that, in the zine world, the connection between personal and political is constantly blurred. Elke Zobl, creator of the Grrrl Zine Network, which publicizes and promotes connections between feminist, queer, and trans zinesters, says that simply putting one's uncensored voice into the world makes a political statement. For trans people, speaking and writing as themselves may be a radical act.

"It's a truly democratic form of media," Zobl said. "Anyone who reads a zine can create one. Insofar as [people's] thoughts and experiences are made public, zines are not only an important personal outlet and means of empowerment but also have a significant social and political function."

Take the experience of Jackie O., a performance artist, sex worker, and "SMBD aficionado" whose zine, Crazy Pink Revolver (CPR), was first churned out on a manual typewriter and photocopied "by any means necessary." (One issue was scanned and copied illegally at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.) The zine spans a broad range of topics -- some of Jackie's favorite pieces include "The Adventures of Tampon Boy," "The Few, the Proud, the Queer Tranny Vampires," and "Wigs 101." Jackie began by handing out CPR "brick by brick and queer by queer," then distributed some copies to independent bookstores across the country. Now in her 11th year of producing CPR, Jackie says she sees it as a mode of inserting herself into a society that has marginalized her.

See more stories tagged with: transgender, media, zines

Maya Schenwar is a Chicago-based freelance writer and an editor for Publications International.

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