I enjoyed this article because of the historical context leading up to the internet age. Blyer communicates a palpable sense of what it was like to create something genuinely fresh. The foundation of the essay highlights the beginnings of the girl zine movement as the precursor of today’s internet content. I especially like the quote, “Free speech on demand and without apology,” (p. 45), alluding to the contribution of the zine mentality towards the internet era. Girl zines served as a conceptual microcosm of the maverick nature of the world wide web.

I think the historical context is especially meaningful given we all grew up with computers and watched the evolution of the internet firsthand. From a historical viewpoint, it is easy to follow along with the progression of the zine culture to the e-zine culture, because we all ‘lived it.” It was right here, right now, and we were along for the ride. I can type in www.bust.com and ‘see’ the present state of the zine movement as opposed to just reading about plantation oppression in the Anderson text. The girl zine revolution is vivid.

Also, and this might be a little adolescent in thought, it was a nice break from some of the dense feminist readings so far this semester. The overall message was more of a description of a point in time with respect to feminist expression leading to the future. The author points out that the movement lives on through the internet “because you have to create your own venues” since “nobody else is going to do it for you (p. 60).” The picture below is an example of the cut-and-paste method found on the internet. The puppet strings symbolize societal expectations of heterosexism with the artist cleverly pointing out there is more to life than heterosexist constructs.

This next point is more of an observation. At a distinct time in the early 90’s, the ‘new frontier’ effect of girl zines meshed into popular culture. Many young women embraced girl zines and feminist trends as pop culture fashion and adopted the style and culture without the underlying understanding of the movement thereby diluting the overall effect. This reminds me of the revolution of “new wave” and “alternative” music succumbing to the masses and then suddenly transforming into everything the movement was against. When does alternative stop being alternative? Can pop culture consume radical ideas and free thought? More importantly, if/when it’s universally ‘cool’ to be feminist through action and ideology, will feminism live on?

In conclusion, Blyer’s essay was a fun commentary on girl zines and progress. The cavalier freedom afforded to zines enabled images like Wonder Woman versus Paris to express alternative ways of thinking. Whether the message is spread via pamphlets or disseminated through the electronic universe, feminist ideology will continue to evolve and transform over time to represent social change and progress.

So far the subject matter is on par with what I expected to learn regarding women’s studies and feminism. From the initial reading I think feminism is a concept that is continuing to evolve and advance with time. Women’s rights and equality is an ideal the enlightened and educated aspire to achieve. It doesn’t take a genius to understand a person should be judged equally without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, etcetera. A person’s actions, beliefs, and knowledge within the framework of society alone should define her/him. However, it’s one thing to preach it and a totally different thing to practice it.

For example, I consider myself a feminist. I have a 13 year old daughter, and I firmly believe her future should have no barriers imposed by the uninformed and ignorant simply because of her sex. Except this morning when I was having breakfast in the ASU cafeteria and reading from the class text, I found myself subconsciously compelled to flip the book upside down so passersby wouldn’t see the title. I literally caught myself wanting to hide the book! What does this mean to me? It’s not the action of an enlightened person. I guess at the very least, it’s something to work on over the course of the semester.