Author: Nyx

Fat is Beautiful
Crystal Hartman
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/artist/crystal_hartman
crystal_hartman@hotmail.com

Fat is Beautiful is one of those zines that made me punch my fist into air and say, “Yes!” I try not to let myself riled up about these things, but if I hear ‘it’s all calories in, calories out’ one more time… If was all just calories, then conditions like PCOS couldn’t possibly have ‘makes it harder to lose weight’ as a symptom.

Anyway, not the place for a soapbox, Nyx…

Fat is Beautiful is not a blind foray into ‘love and love alike’ (though they have their space, too). Crystal comes in firm, strong, and – even better, supported by facts and statistics.

Mmm. Statistics.

This zine is full of pieces that address the oft-touted health arguments against weight, facts about weight, calories, etc, and even the politics of facts.

It was fascinating to me to have my own preconceptions challenged not by lecturing but by showing alternate causes to the effects that we are all but beaten over the head with. For example, fat people (yep, I am doing as encouraged and using the ‘f’ word) have more health problems. However, no one mentions how much is blindly blamed on weight rather than being investigated/prevented/treated.

A recent study found that far women are a third less likely to get breast exams, gynecologic exams, or Pap smears.

Something to think about. (Again, I recall my own experiences of non-treatment – even by a female doctor.)

As much as this zine could have come off as a complete rant and nothing else, it’s actually educational and well-based in multiple resources that are listed in the back. (And, if you’ve been reading here for a while, you know how much I love it when a zine encourages me to further investigations outside the zine itself.)

The Fat Liberation Manifesto is beautiful.

My one nitpick with this zine is that some of the text has been cut off the edges of the pages to the extent that it did cause some pauses in reading to sort out exactly

Even so, this is a great zine to remind yourself that you’re not alone and/or educate yourself about not listening to everything the mainstream media tells you about weight…

Woolf Pack #4
Rebecca Cheers, Chloe Reeson, Alice Jane, Izzie Austin, K. Queene, Amelia ‘Dashurie’ Moss, Talia Enright
http://woolf-pack.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/woolfpackbrisbane

So much colour! <3

I certainly don't hold it against a zine to be in black and white (that would be silly, considering), but I can't help but notice when a zine goes full colour. And wow does it serve this zine so well. There is such vibrancy and passion in the words that the colour printing only adds to that.

Woolf Pack #4 opens with a gorgeous, colour 'merbabes' comic encompassing the ideas (I think) that being yourself doesn't mean you don't have to be alone and how today's technologies make it even easier for us to connect. I don't think I've been so 'welcomed' to reading a zine. Lovely stuff.

I don't usually point out specific stories even in collaborations because it's about the zine as a whole for me – and this zine is no exception in that I have enjoyed each and every piece in this.

Still, I have to mention the piece 'Vagina Christmas' because it spoke volumes to me in a way nothing has before. Rebecca Cheers talks about many things surrounding her experiences with vaginismus. At one point, she writes:

I made that crack about it sounding like ‘vagina Christmas’ every time I spoke to a new doctor, because I thought it mad me sound less sad.

In the moment I read that, I felt less alone in the world. How many times had I made jokes at my own expense, about my own, painful, experiences? (My personal one is the Pap smear treasure hunt jokes…) That one moment of connection made me think about the whole piece in a more personal way – especially regarding sexual education (or lack thereof).

I love being inspired to think without being told I’m an idiot.

The great moment for me with this zine is when I was nearing the end, really enjoying everything, and then I realised that the comic I enjoyed so much at the beginning utterly applied to my ‘feels journey’ with the zine itself. Woolf Pack #4 has left me feeling that much more able to be part of this community of awesome ‘merbabes’.

Woolf Pack #4: Pick up a copy.