Arabella - QZAP - The Queer Zine Archive Project

Heed the call: Siren

October 15, 2026October 16, 2026Arabella

Siren is a fanzine by Kathie Bergquite about local and not local queer/fem music. Kathie encouraged fans to send in things to be added to the zine. The zine is an amalgamation of interviews, newspaper articles, reviews, and more.

Hello Dykes, Spikes, and everyone nice! Arabella here, and welcome back to Zine of The Gay! This week I chose a musiczine recommended to me by my Milo, one of QZAP’s Co-founders.

I am going to see Weird Al Yankovic on Saturday, so I thought focusing on a music zine would make for an interesting post. While Weird Al may not be exactly queer, he has shown major support for the community, so props to the freak himself.

Queer music is such a great outlet for not only getting words out to yourself but others as well. Think of yourself when you were a queer teen, or maybe you are a queer teen now; either way, what music represented you? Was it literal in its lyrics, or did you have to read between the lines? I probably listened to Scary Monsters and Supercreeps by David Bowie a thousand times from the age of 16-19. But I always yearned for something outright and raw.

Songs that read between the lines are important, but having more explicit songs to describe what you are feeling and how other queer people are feeling too is life-changing. It helps connect people with identities and phrases and even politics. I thought I was libertarian until I heard Baby, I’m an Anarchist! By Against Me for the first time. Music opens our worldview and fucks our ears. You can decide if it’s in a good way or a bad way.

The first band featured in the zine is an all-female punk group from the 1970s called the slits. Their song Typical Girls describes what society traditionally expects from a woman, with the song ending with “The typical girl gets the typical boy”. The lyrics are hard to ignore, which I love; reading between the lines can also mean ignoring. The typical girl persona keeps evolving to adapt to new versions of our society, but at its core it is all to control women. It is important for us to find new ways to keep talking about it and reference ways we have talked about it in the past.

The Slits – Typical Girls

Camille Rocha holding a saxaphone — Camille Rocha

The next section got me very excited personally; it was an interview with a lesbian saxophonist. I am also a lesbian saxophonist! I started in late high school, and I decided to become a high school band director, but the community was so swamped with misogyny that I passed on it to pursue Women and Gender Studies. It feels good to be reminded that queerness isn’t the only thing we have in common with each other; we have all kinds of hobbies and worlds that connect with our queerness in interesting ways. Camille talked about having to play classical saxophone, and as a female saxophone player, I can confirm that is how it feels. Jazz is labeled “for the men,” and women are pushed to the outskirts and expected to stay soft. To combat this, I played Baritone Saxophone. It is hard to force that instrument to be soft. Camille rebelled by playing pop in groups outside of a concert ensemble setting. It is a nice reminder to know you are not alone, and that there is always another lesbo somewhere in the crowd with you.

“Yeah, all the women were probably turned on by this mysterious leather-clad sax player.”

Girls in the Nose flyer — Girls in the Nose

Girls in the Nose were the next band talked about in the zine. They are a female punk band who have been active since 1985. In January, they did their 40th anniversary show, which I have inserted a clip of below! Their name came from men telling them they needed nose jobs, hence the name Girls in the Nose. Their song More Madonna, Less Jesus is about rejecting purist culture and embracing pleasure. In an article quoted from the zine, Tipper Gore’s wife had this to say about the band, “What this band, Girls in the Nose, are trying to do to our innocent young citizens is convert them to an anti-family lifestyle that is sure to lead them on a path straight to hell!”

This giant fear of conversion is always lurking; people think if you look at em too funny, it’ll “turn them queer”. Honey, if you’re queer from a queer person looking at you, I can guarantee it is not their fault. Girls in the Nose has a very fun energy to them, and I can’t wait to dig my teeth into more of their work. Viva La Vulva!!

“I prefer to think of these bands as girls who strap it on and rock it hard.”

So what’s on your turntable this week? If you need any ideas, I hope this zine gave you some. If it didn’t, here are some albums that have been on my turntable this week that might pique your interest

By The Time We Get to Colorado by Tribe 8

Tribe 8 is a lesbian punk band that was active in the San Francisco area from 1991-2005. Through writing this post, I found there is a documentary about Tribe 8, which I will be watching promptly after this post is finished. The song Lezbophobia is one of my favorite songs of all time. Growing up a lesbian teen in small-town Wisconsin, I felt like I was constantly being accused of flirting with girls or chased out of locker rooms when I was just trying to change for gym; keep in mind I didn’t even fucking like gym. Lezbophobia takes the words right from my mouth and puts them into context. Fist City is my favorite album of theirs, so I recommend checking that out too.

Bitch and Animal

Bitch and Animal met in Chicago theater school and started making music together around 1995. The duo lasted until about 2004 before going their separate ways to work on solo projects. My dog Magdalena is obsessed with this album. I played it a ton when she was a puppy, so I wonder if the influence rubbed off on her. Either way, her and my favorite song on the album is Drag King Bar. I’m into it for the drag kings and their allure, and I think Magdalena is just into it for the fiddle, but who knows her inner psyche? I let her choose her sexuality, and she chose butch radical feminist, so I suppose she could be like her mom.

“If you treat a woman like a dog, she will piss on you.”

Arabella (She/They) is interning at QZAP fall of 2026. She is an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee finishing her last year in Women’s and Gender studies. In her free time Arabella likes to spend time with her dog Magdalena and butchering the banjo.

Honey, I think I’m Going Homo!

September 30, 2026September 30, 2026Arabella

I don’t want to make queer history clean.

That was probably the biggest takeaway from reading Going Homo #2. I don’t want to turn this zine into a neat little artifact of queer progress, where everyone was brave and political and knew exactly what they were doing.

I was reading this zine with a close friend of mine when they mentioned how the zine was “A little misleading about how gay people held themselves.”, and of course that made my ears perk right up. I asked them to elaborate, and they said, “Well, being gay in the 90s was more about fighting for equality; we had to be respectful.” This coming from a person born in 2003 confused me.

Their version of gay 90s is Ellen and Will and Grace. This is exactly why I love queer zines; it allows us to be horny and remember the horny that came before us. I love that the zine is horny, angry, political, personal, and sometimes completely unhinged. I love that it feels like somebody made it because they had a lot to say and nowhere else to put it. Thank god for zines

“{Queer zine N. A sexy, subversive and explicit publication devoted to enlarging and examining our cultural assumptions.”

I tend to lean into lesbian works, but I am trying to push myself to discover more; that is what pulled me into Going Homo #2. It is so important to engage with other queer people and their sexuality and/or gender, especially right now. We need to be able to understand each other and where we are all coming from.

Stephen Dedalus wanted submissions that are “outrageous, thoughtful, provocative, enraged or excited.” That list feels like the entire personality of the zine. Personally, I clung to the outrageous, and the “A dirty story” segment on page 9 absolutely floored me.

I am sure we all remember the first time we became aware of our own bodies’ gross puberty stuff, yeah, yeah. Who hasn’t had at least one terribly embarrassing masturbation story? Well, the writer describes his first time trying to masturbate, and he ended up pissing on himself. I feel like that perfectly describes being a queer teen and growing up different without knowing why. Everyone else is always cumming, but here you are pissing on yourself.

In the zine, there are letters from readers, reviews of other zines, music recommendations, personal stories, political arguments, artwork, sex writing, and long angry rants. Some of it is genuinely funny. Some of it is uncomfortable. Some of it is really dated. I appreciated Going homo #2’s attitude toward language (for the most part). One of the writers says, “Words are powerful tools for both liberation and oppression.” The discussion isn’t presented as some settled conclusion. I use the term queer and alot and I most often identify myself as a dyke. I have noticed from talking to older gay people it is about 50/50 whether they use the same terms or it makes their skin absolutely crawl.

As a queer person, I often find myself in a world that can turn hostile quickly, especially at night. In another section, a writer talks about types of boots you can wear to protect yourself. They are something you can wear because you are afraid of what might happen, but they can also become part of how you present yourself. I wear my brown leather Doc Martens everywhere, not only for looks, but for practicality too.

There can be an appeal to the heavy boots. I love leather *wink wink*, so big, heavy boots are already part of the day-to-day me. I like the feeling of putting them on and suddenly feeling a little more grounded. There is something satisfying about a shoe that feels substantial. Queer clothing can carry multiple meanings at once. A pair of heavy boots can be fashion but also a reminder that you are moving through a world where you sometimes have to be more aware.

There is also something kind of melancholy about how familiar that feeling still is. I was excited to be able to relate to it. Then I very quickly was upset that I was able to relate to it so well.

When it came to the bands mentioned in the music section, I felt lost as hell. The only familiar band I saw was Bikini Kill, whom my partner and I actually saw earlier this month. There is something strange and wonderful about reading this old queer zine and seeing a band that exists in my own life now.

Sidebar: I think punk shows are great for relationships; there’s nothing sexier than throwing yourself at your partner head to head, sweating, touching, and getting bruised to hell and back. If you need something to do on Saturday night, go find a fucking show. If you play your cards right, maybe you can bring home your own sexy queer 😉

The last couple of pages are a rant about the relationship between white Christian heterosexual power and the oppression of queer people, but Jazmyn does not stop there. They connect homophobia to racism, sexism, and the political power of religious and social institutions. The argument keeps expanding because these systems of oppression all rely on each other to keep perpetuating them. It is so important to talk about how these systems of oppression coexist and collide to understand harmful rhetoric.

Jazmyn refuses to separate queer issues from everything else happening around them. The KKK, Christianity, racism, sexism, heterosexuality, and mainstream political power all become part of the same conversation. All of these things affect us, and all of them intersect in some form or another. We cannot divide queer issues into their own category separated from race, gender, and religion.

Bitchin about systems designed to keep us in a perpetual loop of shit is my favorite thing. The more we bitch, the more will change. Rant up a fucking storm and stay classy, queers.

Buzzed and Broken Hearted – Dykes and Their Hair

September 16, 2026September 16, 2026Arabella

This is one of the first zines I ever read in the archive. Chris, QZAP’s co-founder, recommended it and pulled it out for me to read. Up until then, I had been a very academic reader, and my whole zine collection was academic zines. This zine opened up my world to a whole new queer world.

illustration of a haircut. fig 10. — figure 10

At age 14, I was a baby dyke with nothing but scissors and a dream. Naturally, I chopped all my hair off and gave myself what I like to call to this day the shark cut. In the zine I am about to discuss, it is figure number 10. Since then I have probably given myself and other dykes dozens of haircuts over the last eight years. Like many lesbians, hair is so important to how I express my queerness.

DYKES and THEIR HAIR by Teresa Chun-Wen Cheng was published in April of 2008. The zine is both a satirical take on dykes and their particular trim choices and a commentary on what has commonly been accepted as dyke culture. It is another situation of who gets remembered in the collective, and who gets left out. Cheng comments, “So this is simply laughing at ourselves, or being pissed off that oftentimes “dyke” is a reserved term for non-heterosexual white women.”

The art is very simple, showing no faces and only hair. Yet with its simplicity, it tells a million stories. I myself have had four of the haircuts shown. As I am sure others can also say, they have had multiple of the haircuts shown as well. This zine is tied to a very particular era of hair. At (almost) 22 years old, these are the lesbians I grew up admiring from afar. These were my teenage sister’s friends who I would feel connected with and not know why. The age range displayed in the zine, to my best guess, would be eighteen to fifty-four.

illustration of a haircut. fig 12. — figure 12

Figure 12 in particular reminds me of the scene subculture that emerged in the early 2000’s. This would have been a popular style during the time that Dykes and Their Hair was written. There are a lot of hairstyles in the zine that I have not seen since I was a kid. There is a large chance I have just not been looking that closely at other people’s haircuts. Or a lot of these hairstyles have died out in popularity. That being said, I constantly see the comb-overs and mullet hairstyles. The most popular haircut I see with queer women my age is some form of a shaggy mullet. They are also the most requested haircut I get when people sit down in my chair.

While I was pursuing this zine, the way Cheng uses scraggly lines in the hair reminded me of my favorite comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. While I was searching for a snippet to include in my blog post, I came across this snippet of characters: Mo, Jezanna, and Lois. I was struck immediately by the realization that Jezanna’s hairstyle could not be found. Lois and Mo’s hairstyles can be found within the first eight pages of the twenty-page zine.

“It must be noted that the most recognizable dyke hairstyles only cater to those with hair that is straight, straight–ish, able to be straightened, or wavy.”

Dyke styles often cater to a particular style of white, masculine-presenting lesbians. There is a pressure that comes along with the first queer haircut, because you want it to be queer, but what is collectivized as queer isn’t always what might be right for you. Especially because, as Cheng talks about, these hairstyles are catered to a demographic with no textured hair patterns, leaving out a large chunk of queer women of color.

illustration of a haircut. fig 2. — figure 2

There is a very baseline level of “greaser” that comes with a lot of these haircuts. They draw on classic working-class masculinity and rebellious fashion. Short haircuts also provide a relief from male-approved hairstyles for women. Allowing them to put space between themselves and the crushing weight of patriarchal expectations. This can be seen in figure 2 with a shaved side comb-over.

Another interesting thing about this zine is that it is a pre-2010s lesbian, not dyke, hairstyle takeover. Think Kristin Stewart and Ruby Rose circa 2015. That style of cut, I feel like, is inescapable when talking about lesbian haircuts. If you google lesbian haircut, the second picture is the style I am referring to. If you Google “dyke haircut,” it is the FIRST image I am referring to. I would describe this haircut as a volumized comb-over with a fade. There is probably an actual name for it, but my searches all led back to pixie cut. Maybe it is a form of a pixie cut.

From my experience, there are a lot of lesbians who do not play around with their haircut. Even if it is a choppy mullet cut with a two-blade razor in the bathroom. Once you gain some level of autonomy, whether that be at the beginning of adulthood or not, hair is a popular first choice for how you want to represent yourself. A good haircut can make or break the next couple of months afterwards. It can transcend your sense of self and belonging, not just with a group, but with yourself.

I would love to see an updated version of this zine. After all, it is almost twenty years old. There are so many hairstyles that I consider core dyke hairstyles that are really popular with other dykes my age that you NEED curly hair for. Everything can change, and everything can evolve. Even dykes and their precious hair.

So what is your next haircut going to be? Haven’t decided yet? Well, maybe Dykes and their hair is just the zine you are looking for! Or maybe it is the exact opposite. Either way, I hope you are left with the same joy and frustration I was after reading it.

Author: Arabella

Heed the call: Siren

Honey, I think I’m Going Homo!

I don’t want to make queer history clean.

Buzzed and Broken Hearted – Dykes and Their Hair

Get QZAP Swag!!