Have You Zine Me? - A Study of Zines as Empowerment for Women Within Skateboarding

Abstract

This study focuses on the theoretical characteristics of zines, such as their place in the context of the third wave of feminism, their embodied materiality and their content serving as a third space using 'borderlands rhetorics'. These theories are considered using a framework of, respectively Alison Piepmeier & Rebecca Walker, Judith Butler & Donna Haraway and Adela C. Licona. These theories are connected to the skateboarding culture in order to point out how zines can work to empower women within this culture and the culture as a whole. For the skateboarding culture this research focuses on the works of Becky Beal, Asa Bäckström and Lisa Weidman. The position of girls within skateboarding is studied using Steph MacKay & Christine Dallaire's earlier study on the matter. Three girl skateboarding zines, Gunk, Escape Route & Brash, are analyzed to illustrate the theoretical research.