The Birth of Bitch King:

Issue #1

 

Sample pages of Bitch King #1 are available on the stuff page.

I wanted my zine to give voice to feminist issues that donÕt get talked about, but I also wanted to encourage others to write and publish their own zines as well. To encourage others to do it themselves, I decided that the overall aesthetic of the zine had to have an Òanyone can do thisÓ feel. One way to show this was to ignore my perfectionist instincts and leave in crooked and torn pictures, to let the lines where I pasted in text show, and in the printing process, to leave in smudges and fingerprints. To really get my point across, I decided my letter from the editor at the beginning of the zine should use certain stylistic and rhetorical techniques to make my agenda obvious. ÒI am hoping to see more zines and chapbooks in the (909)Ó seemed the most effective way to weave ethos, pathos and logos into my call for more independent self-publishing. By stating, ÒIÕll start, ok?Ó I show that I will not only be using a conversational tone in my writing, but that IÕm not just talking about something I want, I am doing something about itÑtaking action! Then, I go on to persuade my readers to create a zine of their own, using some examples that I see as primary motivators to action. I wanted to show that zine publishing is a way to gain respect, recognition, power, and connections with people.

When my readers flip the page, the first text that they encounter is the poem that starts off ÒÕI think IÕm gonna start/ livinÕ life on my feet.ÕÓ I placed this poem first because it echoes the previous page, showing my audience a verbal call to action.

My zine builds upon some aesthetics I have carried with me for years, the most important of these being the juxtaposition of image and word. Take, for instance, the ÒhaikuÓ(syllable pattern 9,7,9) that starts with a sumo wrestler Òspeaking,Ó then finishes by writing on his back. This piece plays with subjectivity, form, and political content and straddles the line between collage and poem. By making the object of our gaze speak the first line of my poem, I play with the idea of intertextuality within speaking subjects, our words being responses to (and modeled after) the texts that shape our perceptions (a personal nod here to comics and comic books). In effect, this piece shows my view of art: art is a creation by any force in the universe that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Yes, that means everything is art. The specific aim here is to show how art takes on political content and thus becomes a form of protest. In a culture that asks us to consume and to channel our creative impulses into consumption, making art (and writing, and especially making a zine) is an act of subversion, of protest.

Of course, there are more overt examples of political protest in the column titled ÒAngelaÕs Pet Peeve.Ó Every issue of my zine will explore the ways that language is ideology; this particular issue deals with Òusing ÔheÕ as a universal pronoun.Ó I use texts I found as examples of the problem. I try to juxtapose an associative form of organization with a clear (and even forceful) agenda. I assume that sexist language is a problem, and I donÕt spend time convincing my audience or providing evidence. Instead I focus on the solutions: using the plural form or using ÒSHEÑthe new and improved ÔsexistÕ universal!Ó

With a zine, I can use my own handwriting to establish ethos by emphasizing a DIY style. This is the case with the letter from the editor in the beginning, as well as all of the ÒrantsÓ and some of the poetry. The handwriting in ÒThe Eyes Are the Vagina of the FaceÓ maintains the organic nature of the work, and the handwriting in ÒOde to My TeapotÓ conveys the personal nature of the poem, an aspect that may be overlooked in a more traditionally typeset poem (unless I specifically said Òhey, this is personal!Ó). I use my handwriting to give a glimpse of the personal, like I ripped a page out of my journal and copied it for everyone to see.

That is my aim for making all the ÒrantsÓ handwritten: ÒWhat Women Really WantÓ explores how media attempts to dictate the goals and values of women. I juxtapose the typeset aesthetic of the corporate magazine with my handwriting, trying to counter, stylistically, what readers usually consider authoritative (anything in print!). The personal voice here, as represented by my handwriting, overshadows the normative ÒneutralityÓ of printed type. This stylistic device works (I think) to rhetorically situate my readers on my side, the side that critiques and talks back to the hegemony of popular media. It also gives me the opportunity to use symbols, such as the heart, thus creating layers of meaning (as some scholars have equated the heart symbol with female genitals). This leads readers to the conclusion that I take in the text: that although this piece is supposedly ÒreportsÓ on the results of a Òstudy,Ó the masked patriarchal agenda becomes clear; this article is meant to reinforce some womenÕs desires to attain the ÒperfectÓ body. I take a decidedly militant stance against this propaganda, showing readers that there are women who refuse to buy into societal values that serve to incapacitate and silence women. I firmly believe, as I point out, that womenÕs energies and dreams are funneled into self-destructive ideas and behavior in order to subjugate us. The personal is indeed political in a society where the first step in body image revolution is to love yourself.

Immediately after turning the page, readers find Òthe Universal Body,Ó where a plain body accompanies text that reads, ÒYou can dress me up as a girl or a boy!Ó I wanted my readers to think about what codes we use to ÒperformÓ genderÑwhat would you add to the universal body to ÒexpressÓ who you are? A dress? Or a pair of boots? Or both? What kinds of symbols do we use to Òput onÓ our identities? Also, more interesting to me is the representation of a ÒsexlessÓ body as being ÒunfinishedÓ or Òincomplete.Ó I wrote the phrase ÒDo you know who you are?Ó next to it to highlight the introspection I hope will take place as my readers contemplate how our society constructs gender.