There was a lovely, pink-haired girl. And she was angry. Now when I say angry, I don't mean, 'Golly gee, my boyfriend hasn't called me yet, and I slaved over a hot stove all day for dinner!' We're talking, 'That bastard cut me off to drive 30 under the speed limit?'-angry. 'I'm going to tear out his stomach and watch him eat it'-angry. 'I will follow him home and make him gargle with acid and rusty nails.' But I digress.
This girl--Liouxsie (pronounced Loose-ee)-- wasn't satisfied, and that wasn't enough for her. One day she pulled herself up by her fishnets, found an audience, and... well, she says 'Hi.'
Hi.
For a little over a year, I edited a femme-zine called Danger! hole Zine. In that time, I covered topics ranging from stereotyping to body image, sexual harassment to sexual health, etc. And though I love my zine-baby to tiny, little pieces, I had to put her to sleep to awaken a new project.
Sex rules. And it's always fascinated me. I raised hell in my day, and was sent for a stint of therapy when I explained to my fellow fish-eyed first grade classmates how Sex should be done; I believe hand gestures were involved.
But it's really not just Sex that's so compelling; it's what that word does to some people--what it means to others--and the power it really holds over everyone in between. Sex has truly permeated the subconscious of the country. We are simultaneously bombarded by sexy advertisements (the likes of which we buy into every damn day) and terrified by the concept of sex, itself, and sexuality. As a feminist, I wanted to investigate how sex plays into art, pornography, and censorship in mainstream culture.
With this project, I'm looking to do something I haven't seen yet. Making this all the harder.
For lack of a better term, this is my book. And this book will incorporate all the formatting quirks and playfulness of a magazine layout (bringing in the aesthetically pleasing quality as well as the relevant and approachable interior... which is intended to draw a smile out of in-the-know zinesters who may recognize elements in an unusually stylized and sleek incarnation, as well as bring in readers from outside the underground-publishing circuit: the Untapped-into Majority... who may typically bypass a dingy little xeroxed, hand-made and hand-loved zine with grainy graphics and a shady address from the middle of nowhere, and dull word fest, but professionally published, feminist literature) and the thoroughness, sleekness, and various little throw-backs to professional, nonfiction feminist books.
In fact, the actual design of this project is so major an element that I have a sub-folder stuffed with mad ramblings on the layout alone. More to come on this later, I'm already getting so worked up I'm foaming at the mouth, getting my poor keyboard soaking wet.
What am I doing here?
I have no idea.
Perhaps this blog is a virtual manifestation of my brainwaves involved in the book. Perhaps this is where I'll let all you confectionary sugar heart readers in on interviews, general progression, and updates to the book. Perhaps this is where I'll sneak in subliminal tips on how to Increase the Size of Your Penis, Lose Inches of Stomach Fat Now, and Compare Your IQ to Obama's. Perhaps this is my feeble attempt to apologize to the Rainforests of the world for running my zine for so long...
I suppose you ought to know that I'm here now. And with that said, let's all live happily ever after...
Until something pisses off another little girl (or boy) and pushes her to the brink of writing a book set out to save the world as we know it, too.
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