“My zines, so far, aren't as political as other works I've produced”: Communicative Capitalism Among Queer Feminist Zinesters

Abstract

Self-published zines have been celebrated by some feminist communication scholars for offering an emancipatory outlet for women and queer people. But under the logics of late capitalism, zines cannot reach truly transgressive potentials. This study situates zinester politics within a framework of communicative capitalism: the current era of command individuality and “woke” representational politics. I also historicize zines’ proliferation through punk, do-it-yourself (DIY), and White, feminist communities. Using critical discourse analysis as my analytical approach, I illustrate the interpellation of capitalist ideology in online questionnaires completed by 11 queer, White, feminist zinesters from Chicago. By harnessing a DIY production model, respondents said they resisted mass-mediated expectations of normative sexuality and gender identity, but zinesters also reflect and reify the systems they attempt to transcend.