‘My Version of Feminism’: Subjectivity, DIY and the Feminist Zine

Abstract

Feminist zines – independent, not-for-profit publications that are circulated via subcultural networks – form an important part of the communication network of the current Do-it-Yourself (DIY) movement in the UK. Although feminist zines have consistently been read as instances of ‘third wave feminism’, this perspective has obscured a more nuanced understanding of these zines as products of ‘DIY cultural lifestyle’. Drawing upon interviews with 29 zine creators in the UK, this research suggests tension between identifying with both third wave feminism and the DIY movement simultaneously. This results in the enactment of intellectual work on the part of the zine creator centred on the imagining of a new (DIY) feminist historicity within which they feel able to comfortably situate their own feminist subjectivities.

Keywords::

• Zines
• feminism
• DIY
• third wave

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle Kempson

Michelle Kempson recently completed her PhD in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Warwick, where she also held a position as an Early Career Fellow. She is currently working as a Lecturer in Social Studies in the Access to HE department at Solihull College.