Month: January 2019

It’s My First Time, I Swear
Written by: Anonymous
Complied/Illustrated by: Marin Boyle
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MarinBoyle

It’s My First Time, I Swear is a ½ fold black and white zine about sex work collab between Anonymous and Marin Boyle.

As Anonymous writes on the inside front cover, this zine is not a sex work 101 zine: this is a sex work positive zine with stories about the work. Following this is an intro to why Anonymous wrote this zine and the influences on their perspective (privileges that come with being white, etc.). It’s strong, clear, and if you had any doubts about what this zine entails, you won’t after reading the intro.

After that, Anonymous opens by taking on one commonly held belief: that ‘no little girl dreams of growing up to be a whore’. They write about being fascinated by sex work and sex workers from a young age – especially after seeing them on daytime talk shows. Anonymous went on to do huge amounts of research.

From there, we read about a series of firsts – from their first day stripping to their first day as an escort. (It took me a few moments before I realised how that tied into the title.) I was completely fascinated by all of it. I don’t know why, but somewhere in my mind, I thought sex workers tended to stick to just one area. All the different things Anonymous has done reminded me that sex work is like other jobs – people switch, get bored, transfer, etc all the time.

Anonymous’ writing voice is a pleasure to read. It’s strong and direct with no fluff while still sharing plenty. That makes this zine all the more interesting in my mind because it’s a clear, concise, real-life view of sex work that challenges stereotypes in sex work. One quote that really stuck out to me is:

“Throughout my other jobs, sex was always the least of my concerns. It was always about making the client feel seen and heard. It was about making them feel special. It was about making them – if only for a short while – feel important and significant. I was equally therapist and whore.”

Marin’s illustrations and layout choices are fantastic. The font is a good size and easy to read. The illustrations add visual interest to the zine would taking away from the impact of the writing.

I think this is an excellent zine, my bias being that, like Anonymous, I have been fascinated with sex work and workers for a long time. This zine is exactly what I was hoping it would be.

Adventures Close to Home
Rebecca Sheedy
http://mildscribblingzine.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rebeccasheeeedy/

Adventures Close to Home is a perfectly square and adorable full-colour comic zine about fun things you can do without travelling too far.

This 8 page (front and back, not including covers) zine is as cute as the cover implies. In Rebecca’s usual detailed but not busy style, they feature eight different fun, close-to-home adventures. Each adventure gets its own page full of colourful drawings that give tips for a great time and reasons why each adventure is cool.

I like how Rebecca mixes adventures that most people can enjoy like going to the local library as well as more location-specific adventures as well. Why? Well, because they’re now also within travelling distance for me, too. Haha. But while Rebecca may list something specific to South Australia, you can make it more general again (like ‘go to a tourist attraction’ rather than the one listed if it’s too far away from you) to help it suit you.

I really adore Rebecca’s work and love checking out all the little details included on every page. I want all of Rebecca’s work.

Check this one out.

Spoonie: Some Stuff About Chronic Illness
Phoebe Kitcher
https://www.instagram.com/phoebekitcherart/
https://tictail.com/phoebekitcherart

Spoonie is a full-colour one-page folded mini about the Spoon Theory and chronic illness. Not familiar with the Spoon Theory? Check out this link: https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

There’s nothing like a well-timed zine read, and I needed to read this today while stressing over zine fest preparations.

I’ve seen (and loved) a lot of self-care and chronic illness related zines, but I think this is the first one I’ve read that touches specifically on what the Spoon Theory actually is (many reference it but don’t explain it) and how it works. (That’s not a poke at other zines, by the way.) It’s a brief overview, but this hits the main points and offers a table that further illustrates the concept.

“A Spoonie in the Wild” – Phoebe’s self-portrait sketch – follows the overview as well as spreads that made me smile like “Unauthorised Spoon Usages” and “Befriending a Spoonie”. I like how Phoebe has made something personal enough to still appeal to those well-versed in Spoon Theory and gentle enough to introduce those who aren’t.

I’m familiar with Spoon Theory and am a spoonie, and it’s nice to see people making zines about it. It’s also nice to have little reminders (that I always forget all too quickly) like how the same activity on different days can take different numbers of spoons.

This is a lovely little zine that I’m happy to recommend.