Riot Grrrl Reviews 2
Compiled by Jolie Ruin
https://www.instagram.com/jolieruin/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/theescapistartist

Riot Grrrl Reviews 2 is a black and white half-fold collab zine of reviews (music, beer, zines), interviews, art, and more.

Full disclosure: I contributed a couple of zine reviews to this zine.

Riot Grrrl Reviews 2 opens with a sad (to me) note about how this issue of the series will be the last. Alas, I think nearly everyone who has made a collab zine understands the frustrations and delays that can come along with the endeavour. (I type, remembering a piece or two I still owe others…)

The zine then launches into music and beer reviews by Gemma Mahadeo. I must admit that I immediately smiled seeing a fellow Australian in a US-based zine. The piece was a mix of beer review, a review of Men At Work’s album ‘Business as Usual’, and socio-political commentary – making a great opener for the zine.

Absolutely no one is surprised that I spent the most time pouring over the zine reviews (as if my wish list needs to get any longer). I was excited to find new-to-me zine recommendations and equally as excited to see zines I know and love being appreciated by other reviewers.

And yes, my wish list did grow a bit.

Three interviews – with Greta Moody, Jull Waldrep, and Tafanovaginite – make up the centre of this zine, creating the third ingredient in a lovely mix of pieces.

I quite like this zine am still sad to see the series end, but I’m glad I got the chance to be a part of it. I’m glad to have it as a part of my collection. (And I’m definitely getting issue 1.)

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.