APRIL 07, 2019 – MUTATE (NO. 3)
Hey there! Let me introduce you to “Mutate” (no. 3). Released “52 hours till the new year” in 1999 by Milo, this zine is a wonderful time capsule from the turn of the millennium. Its vertical, half-standard form immediately sets it apart from the other zines in my sample, and the contents within are pure perzine (personal zine) gold.
It begins with a 15-question interview of Pansy Division, the punk/queercore group that tore it up in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. Then we get various coming out/transition stories, poetry, and other random musings.
I love this zine for its title. “Mutate” openly embraces an outsiderness that we are so often taught to be afraid of. Most of the socialization that locks us into gender, sex, sexuality, and race categories is done with the purpose of eliminating as much difference as possible, and queer/trans/othered folk are not only told that they are outsiders, but that they should try to do whatever they can to get inside. Embracing our “mutations,” then, is a power step toward a queerer world. (Also the readership is referred to as mutants and that’s cute).
So lets get to it: what was in this zine that was super exciting for my research?
Well, speaking of the title, one of the first discursive tactics I noticed in this zine is what I am calling mutations and/or being a freak. These rhetorical moves occur when a zine author claims, discusses, and celebrates their outsider identities. To sign off the intro, Milo writes: “I’m a little gender fuckin freak saying Goodnight.” This kind of identifying says that it’s all right to be a freak; that you can be a proud freak. This rhetoric is so important for non-binary and third-space folk, as they are often told they don’t belong, or don’t align, with either side of a rigid two-part identity binary. Celebrating otherness is a key component to the queer rights movement, and its great to see it come up in the writing!
Binary Reinforcement. There are also quite a handful of sections in this zine that confront the gender binary. When a zine author exposes how gender binaries are reinforced on both personal and systematic levels, I label it as “binary reinforcement.” In a great rant about online shopping, Milo writes that “at gap.com, you HAVE to be one or the other…for as much as clothes can be andro, while shopping, the customer must pick either male or female.” It is often small, everyday activities and actions that become the target for exposure, as they exemplify how systemic binaries are socially engrained.
And there ya have it. This is going to be a shorter zine review because it’s a rainy Sunday and I’m sitting here dipping Oreos in my coffee and I don’t want to be doing much else. “Mutate” (no. 3) is just one of many of “Mutate” zines. They are phenomenal examples of zines and zine culture, so if you have a friend you need to explain zines to, give them these.