Gossip as a site of resistance: the zine
Gossip as a site of resistance: the zine
In grad school, I wrote a thesis for my MLIS on gossip as a site of resistance: information-sharing strategies among survivors of sexual violence. I always dreamed of turning it into a zine - & I finally did! Gossip as a site of resistance (aka how survivors use gossip as a strategy to share info, seek support, & protect one another) is a 56-page black & white (very) text-heavy zine (with a pastel cardstock cover). Like, this baby is THICK & I’m so excited to share my MLIS thesis as a condensed & clarified zine.
Basically, I argue that when survivors are isolated, shunned, and excluded from not only our communities but also from traditional information institutions (i.e. mainstream media, the education system, & political sphere), gossip becomes one of the only tools remaining to us. Gossip becomes a lifeline.
This zine explores:
💖 what gossip is;
💖 the productive social & political values of gossip;
💖 why gossip is condemned and trivialized;
💖 what contemporary feminist literature says about gossip;
💖 how survivors utilize gossip as a tool for resistance, information-sharing, building community, & protection through the mediums of social media + zines;
💖 & directions for future research
