BIFP Zine: Listening and Being Heard

The Bipartisan Feminist Project Zine is accepting writing, art and photography from people of all genders, identities, and views of feminism until April 20. Click on the headline of this article to see some writing topics and submit your works!

As I began collecting works for this publication, I asked myself: How will our zine effectively convey feminist ideas, which have so often been misunderstood and rejected?

I was reading an article in the Guardian regarding intersectionality of feminism.

Intersectionality is a term used to explain that feminism should include people of all races, genders, and identities. The article stated that feminism is one of the first movements that has called for special attention to ensure we are supporting all groups. This is because earlier social movements have usually only intended to support a single group. For instance, Marxism supported the average worker. The French Revolution supported the working-class, or Bourgeoisie.

However, since then, we have noticed that many early movements have excluded women, non-property owners, slaves, or other groups. Therefore, today we strive for equality for all people. This goal can unfortunately be very confusing and challenging. It is nearly impossible to remember every group, and advancing one group may inevitably lead to making another feel neglected. For instance, company diversity quotas may forget about women of color or make white men feel ignored. At the same time, conservative women may reject feminism because they feel the movement does not support their views, and consequently liberals may think conservatives are anti-woman. People so often reject feminism because they feel unsupported.

We believe that the way to garner the most support and inclusion in the women’s movement is to ensure everyone can listen and be heard. We will publish works in our zine that display a wide array of views of feminism, both positive and negative. By reading works from those with opposing views, conservative readers may find that much of the portrayal of feminism as “radical” is a result of inaccurate media. At the same time, liberals may find that conservatives are not anti-woman, but just feel a little excluded from the women’s movement.

Through two parts, our zine will first display the discussions from our meetings, and second show the works from contributors. In part one about our meeting discussions, we will point out sexism, but also explain how we can get all groups on board to solve gender issues. Part two is an open forum. We believe that a place, or a publication, in which all people can listen and be heard, is the epitome of equality - the epitome of feminism.