It all started accidentally but has become the best selling 'zine at a bookstore on Castro Street. Twyla Stark and her former girlfriend, Barbara, sent in photographs to be published in a magazine but never got a call and never saw them published. After the anger subsided, a few days and beers later, they jokingly said that they should start their own zine and publish the photos. They were going to call it "Fat Dyke" and just have stories with photos of fat dykes and the women who loved them.
According to R. Seth Friedman, publisher of Factsheet Five (F5) "the definitive guide to the 'zine revolution," if there lies a passion for a certain subject there's always an audience which in turn can spawn a 'zine.
A 'zine is a handmade, amateur publication done purely out of passion, rarely making a profit or breaking even, Friedman says. "Anyone who does a 'zine is doing it as a past time rather than a profession." And F5 is a digest cataloging a passion for 'zines as a whole.
For Stark and Barbara, "Fat Dyke" fantasy turned into "Fat Girl" reality. There was a collective of four women that led to eight, and the magazine snowballed from pure talk, to an issue aimed at what they enjoyed. But they mainly did it for themselves.
"I think that people like it because of all the love and quality put into each issue," says Susannah Siger, a new member of the Fat Girl collective, and a die-hard fan since the first issue.
To publish a 'zine you have to love what you're doing because it's a lot of work without pay, Stark says. "You have to care a lot and keep willing to come back."
"I never thought of myself as a masochist until Fat Girl," jokes Stark about all the work.
Fat Girl is just one of over 50 'zines published in San Francisco alone. Issue No. 5 carries 69 pages with editorials, reviews, photo spreads, poetry, features that battle stereotypes and fat phobia, and a fat-watch page, all lyrically written and smartly packaged.
"There is a trend toward publishing more zines," Friedman says, "but a lot of zines coming out really do suck. And I'm not going to allow this to happen."
In Friedman's opinion, a good 'zine is one that is not too big, nor too expensive. But he is finding out that there are many zines that people won't read. For example, books that are poorly bound, with no content or have crappy xerox copies that are printed upside-down. In other words, 'zines that are sharp looking are far more likely to sell and be read than a 'zine without stitching containing upside-down xeroxes of diary entries.
Fat Girl began its publicity stint in June, 1994, by passing out stickers advertising the 'zine and flyers calling for submissions and finally came out during the Castro Street Fair in October. Twyla and Elizabeth Stark where dressed and ready to go. Stark in her skin-tight black cat-girl outfit and Stark with her dog collar and chain.
They passed out the materials during the entire parade, listening to the barrage of comments from people expressing their opinions of Fat Girl. One woman was truly excited about the idea of a lesbian magazine for and about fat women, while another woman was appalled that the zine would laud women for being fat.
"Fat is such a charged word," Siger says. "Everyone around me would ask why I called myself a fat girl. Like the word 'fat' is synonymous with horrible."
When Siger first had to deal with the printer and the prepress, she worried that printing companies would question her about the S/M content in the 'zine, the graphic text and photos. But to her surprise, her source was only incredulous when they discovered the 'zine was about fat women.
"Admitting you're fat is like coming out," Siger says. And for Stark, it was hard to say the name of the 'zine at first.
"What happened to the concept of reclaiming within the queer community?" adds Stark.
But whatever the technique used, Fat Girl gets mostly positive feedback and sells more with each forthcoming issue and receives positive reviews of its online version. "We've gotten some flack regarding the S/M photo spread and article in the second or third issue," Stark says, but she feels that the 'zine has brought together several different communities, like gays and lesbians, different age groups, and the S/M groups.
"It's weird to be making history," Stark says.
"It's weird to be making cultural history," Siger says.
[ Prism Online June 1996 Article Index ]
[ Top of document ]
HTMLized by Steve Thoemke (sthoemke@nermal.santarosa.edu )