If you or someone you care are experiencing relationship violence, please consult Being Barnard's resource page.
Here's a CLIO search that currently (9/29/2022) yields 142 results from the Barnard Zine Library.
Here are a few zines we recommend, that are inclusive of people holding marginalized racial, ethnic, gender, and sexuality identities, alphabetically by title:
Beautiful final tribute no. 6 : Speak out! by Bee Lavender, Zines L384b no. 6 (Stacks, Special Collections)
Bee Lavender, publisher of Hip Mama, writes this narrative account filled with 1960s photographs and short articles about her escape from the cycle of domestic abuse. Lavender, who grew up impoverished in the pacific northwest in the 1970s, writes also having cancer as a child, television programs like Doctor Who and the Avengers, and the violence in her immediate and extended family and that she herself exhibited to her lovers. Finnish-American, Lavender also writes about the cultural implications of the violence she experienced as a young person.
Behind the closet doors : confronting emotional abuse in intimate partnerships by the kids at Support New York, Zines S877b 2010z (Special Collections)
Provides information about emotional abuse and queer people, ways to identify emotional abuse and understand its impacts. Also discusses factors that enable widespread prevalence of different types of abuse. In addition, covers ways of self-identifying abusive behavior.
Disloyal to feminism : abuse of power & control within the domestic violence shelter system by Emi Koyama, Zines K693d 2003 (Stacks, Special Collections)
As a survivor of domestic violence and an ex-employee of a domestic violence shelter, Emi Koyama has had first-hand experience with the exclusion and abuse of power within the shelter system supposedly created to empower survivors. She employs the personal stories of women in shelters, scholarly articles, and historical data to articulate the need for a restructuring of the shelter system, emphasizing harm-reduction and a balance of powers rather than the present paternalistic and/or radical-feminist utopian structure. She also samples some of her proposed reforms from other successful groups such as San Francisco's Coalition for Homelessness and the Harm Reduction Coalition. The zine includes an outline for a workshop on how to implement survivor-centered services and hold service providers accountable.
Domestic violence : mostly my story by Jessica, Zines J47d (Special Collections)
Jessica shares information on domestic violence, an issue she finds often ignored in the punk rock community. Emotionally and physically abused by her father, Jessica writes about the cycle of abuse and dealing with her own anger.
Happy Mother's Day, Zines H365 (Stacks, Special Collections)
In this personal zine, the trans male author uses black and white snapshots and collages of phrases to describe being a childhood victim of domestic violence: a tumultuous relationship with his mother, witnessing his father rape her, and taking care of her after throwing his father out.
Hard Knox by Sage Adderly, Zines S235h (Stacks, Special Collections)
Sage's personal zine focuses on domestic violence - how to survive abusive relationships and how to be a good ally to a friend or family member who is in one.
Rad girlz : my struggles with sexism, racism, & violence, Zines R3345 2001z (Stacks, Special Collections)
The author shares stories of sexual abuse, cutting and self-harm, and eating disorders. There are entries on feminist porn, interracial relationships, white privilege, and being queer. The zine is illustrated with photographs.
Radical slut dis-covery : Building & re-building our sexual selves by Midge and Emiliah, Zines M534r (Stacks, Special Collections)
Midge and Emiliah put together this zine after deciding to do a polyamory workshop for survivors of sexual assault. The zine includes resources for survivors and communities, including a quiz for men entitled, "Are You a Manarchist?, Midge's and Emiliah's personal stories, guidelines for becoming comfortable with sex and your body after sexual assault, suggestions for confronting assaulters and sample lists of demands for assaulters, and ideas for how a community can both support a survivor and help an assaulter change their behavior. There are illustrations by the authors, comics, illustrations, photographs, and handwritten personal stories. The authors have a MySpace account, as well.
The revolution starts at home edited by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Ching-In Chen and Jai Dulani, Zines P547r (Stacks, Special Collections)
Focused on partner abuse in radical, queer, and activist communities, this comp zine contains essays operating on both personal and organization levels. Women that identify as queer and hetero, of color and white, differently-abled and typically-abled all contribute, as well as organizations such as INCITE!, Communities Against Rape and Abuse, and Philly's Pissed. Articles address physical, verbal, and mental abuse, abuse and disability, intersections of oppressions, queer relationships, abuse and trans folks, consent, "mutual abuse," and offer suggestions for communities dealing with intimate partner violence. Included is a list of all featured organizations and their contact information, as well as lots of resources and recommended books and websites.
She's so very... by Melissa Ann, Zines C6656s (Stacks, Special Collections, online)
Twenty-something social worker Melissa Ann Cook's topics include her experiences with being raped, having an abortion, boys, anxiety, etc. Music and television also play an important role in her life, and she often mentions Idlewild, Belle & Sebastian, and the Gilmore Girls. The writer can also be found on MySpace. The typewritten and stringbound zines contains photographs, and contributed poems and comics. No. 12 include and interview with the members of the band Le Tigre, where Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman share their definitions of feminism.
Susie is a robot / LB, Zines L12s, (Stacks, Special Collections)
Genderqueer punk LB writes about illness, both physical and mental. Issue two focuses on her hospitalization for and six-month recovery from Lemierre's Syndrome, a potentially fatal bacterial infection. They also talk about their relationship with their family, being a survivor of sexual abuse, and their struggles with anxiety and alcoholism. Visual features include type and handwritten entries, clip art and original drawings.
These Hard Things I Haven't Told You... by Sawyer Lovett, Zines A777h 2014z (Special Collections, author original)
Sarah recounts the beginning and end of a physically abusive relationship with a woman she met in a chat room. She writes about how being the child of abusive parents contributed to the violence in this relationship. The zine contains explicit details and the creator urges readers to do what is necessary for them to feel safe if they decide to read this. The back page lists domestic violence resources.
Voces : a zine by the Voices Against Violence Project : no. 3 by Noemi Martinez, Zines M368v no. 3 (Stacks, Special Collections, online)
Voces is a compilation zine with stories, poems, and photographs from people of color, indigenous folks, trans people and queer survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and sexual assault. Included topics are healing from trauma, transformative words used as a healing mechanism, enabling healing, life after trauma, self help guides and resources, self healing, forgiveness and collective healing.
Women's self-defense : stories & strategies of survival edited by Ariel Clemenzi, Zines C862w (Stacks, Special Collections)
In this political compilation zine, contributors discuss their experiences with sexism, rape, and self-defense and how they defended themselves in tough situations. There are articles as well as poems, comics and an account of one woman's experience with sexual harassment while working as an emergency medical technician.
Note that we created a page for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in 2020 with zines that are (or were at the time) available online.
