Author ORCID Identifier
Degree Year
2022
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Comparative American Studies
Committee Member(s)
KJ Cerankowski
Wendy Kozol
Danielle C. Skeehan
Keywords
Zines, Riot grrrls, Sexual violence, Rape, Gender-based-violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Metoo, Personal as political, 1990s; 2000s, 2010s, Mini-magazines, Survivors, Trauma, Personal narratives, History, Anita Hill, Katie Koestner, Tarana Burke, Kobe Bryant, Cindy Crabb, Christine Blasey Ford, Alyssa Milano, Mimi Thi Nguyen
Abstract
This thesis constructs a history of the changing role of survivors’ narratives in anti-sexual violence zines from the 1990s to the early 2020s. I argue that zines are a window to the changing politics of the American anti-sexual violence movement. Through this lens, I find that the role of survivors’ narratives in zines has complexly changed and ultimately diminished over time. I examine how and posit why this change occurred in zines and the anti-sexual violence movement. Among other reasons, I find that both have followed the traditional arc of social movements, which chronologically involves emergence, coalescence, institutionalization, and decline. There are complicated consequences of zines’ transition from helping survivors heal to providing impersonal education and the paralleled progression of the anti-sexual violence movement. Ultimately, I advise that there must always be space for survivors’ narratives in anti-sexual violence efforts because of their benefits to survivors’ healing and the movement’s progress.
Repository Citation
Colby Fortin, Jeannine, "The Personal Must Always Be Political: A History of Survivors' Narratives in Anti-Sexual Violence Zines" (2022). Honors Papers. 843.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/843
