Zine Review: Dirty Lesbian

Dirty Lesbian
Nina Echozina
https://echopublishing.wordpress.com

Dirty Lesbian is an A6 black and white 24-hour zine about reclaiming lesbian-feminism. Nina also writes this, which I think is fabulous:

“It is a call for a more radical feminism, for a lesbian and trans revolution, for getting rid of cishetpatriarchy instead of cutely smiling in the hopes of getting some crumbs.”

Wowza.

Dirty Lesbian opens with a comic about a homophobic comment made to Nina in what she thought was a positive feminist space – and her anger about it. From there, we jump into a cut and paste style zine that has a lot to offer.

There is plenty going on in this zine. Nina writes about the damage that homophobic – especially lesbian homophobic – comments can do and the fallout. She includes reminders of straight privilege, feminist history, examines words like ‘queer’ and ‘femme’, and there’s even a recommendation section with music, zines, films, and comics.

To top it off, Nina even includes some mini-posters for your enjoyment.

It’s clear from the beginning of this zine that Nina is angry about what happened, but it’s also clear that she still wants to educate people. I think that’s very admirable. When I’m angry, I want to eat cookies and play computer games. I adore that Nina has used her anger to make a zine that is so full of information and looks great, too.

I’m angry and sad that what happened happened, but I struggle to imagine a better response.

I think this is a great zine, whether you want to check in with your own behaviours, whether you are a lesbian wanting support and a louder voice, whether you’re interested in learning more… Nina’s mixture of passion and artistic skill make this zine one to check out.