Month: December 2022

photo of the zine Violet Tendencies. The cover shows the creator curling their arm with their hand in a fist. Black ink on pink paper.

Violet Tendencies

As 2022 draws to a close, we’re saying “we’ll see you soon!” to our intern Cedar. For their final zine project they made a 24 page perzine called Violet Tendencies #2. A combination of personal narrative, pop-culture influences, and an exaltation of all things butch, it’s a great addition to our archive, and shows a growth of their work in zines as both an artist and writer. While we’re sad to see them go, we’re super excited that this zine is out in the world, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with them in the near future.

One of the fun things that Cedar did with this issue is create a personality quiz. It’s very Autostradle-style, but also hearkens back to older queer zines, and even the long-departed Sassy. Click through to take the quiz and find out…  What Lesbian Earrings Are You?

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Sex Panic! At the Disco – World AIDS Day, 2022

Cover of the zine Sex Panic! circa 1997Today is World AIDS Day, and while we’re not “celebrating”, per se, we are acknowledging the day, and the incredible impact this stupid fucking virus has had on our lives, our friends, our communities, and the whole damn world. In this vein, we present Sex Panic! – The Zine by the fine activists of Sex Panic!

This 40 page, digest size zine from 1997 is a collection of essays about how the anti-sex policies and politics of the 1980s and 1990s (and into the current millennium) have had a huge negative impact on queer communities. While the zine’s focus, at least initially, is on New York City, it’s contents is applicable much more broadly.

This is an incredible document, up there with Diseased Pariah News and How to Have Sex in An Epidemic in terms of DIY community-based communication about AIDS. Essayists include Douglas Crimp*, Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, Allan Bérubé, Lisa Duggan, Alison Redick, and Jim Eigo, among others.

We’ll be bringing this, along with a bunch of other AIDS activist ephemera, to the panel talk that we’re participating in with our friends from Gerber/Hart and Chicago Public Library on Monday, Dec. 5th, 2022.

*Doug Crimp was also one of the authors of AIDS Demo Graphics, which documents the first couple of years of ACT UP visuals, and has been a huge influence on us and scores of queer zine makers around the world.

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