Zines, Femininity and Empowerment

 Looking at the links between zines and feminism, I've started narrowing down my project as to what it is within that I really want to focus on. 

I still like the idea of the portrayal of femininity within feminist zines, however I'm not sure if that's what I want the bulk of my dissertation to be about. At this point, I'm also considering how these portrayals empower women through their subversion of traditional femininity. A lot of the reading I'm doing at the moment is concerned with Third Wave and the zine world's connection with Riot GRRRL. Perhaps I need to step away from that a little so as to not get distracted from my contemporary zine focus.

A lot of these issues within femininity (being explored and challenged within these zines) arise from Fourth Wave feminists concerns. Theory is leading me to start investigation Intersectional feminism as well as Fourth Wave. The two often work together and share very similar beliefs. While Fourth wave feminists are defined by their constant use (and perhaps reliance) on the internet, Intersectional feminists are more defined through their morals and ideals (further inclusivity, equal rights for WOC, trans-women, women of different sexualites, cultures ages etc). 

The two often work together, with Intersectional feminists using the web to promote and discuss their concerns and opinions. Zines are still a mode of communication many are using to do this, but now with the inclusion of e-zines through platforms such as Issuu the reach of their messages are often a lot greater than those of their Third Wave predecessors. 

Moving on from this I'm going to consider how these zines are being used to empower women. Although this is something I'm interested in, I'm aware there may be issues with this regarding what is 'empowerment'. It's a difficult subject to tackle and this is something I must bare in mind.