I'm Not Like Other Girls

[incurable hippie]

I'm looking for submissions for a one-off zine called I'm Not Like Other Girls.

What I want women and girls to do is to complete the sentence,
"I'm not like other girls because..."

I will make a zine of the responses.

The sentence will appear randomly placed, with all credits at the end, so your sentence and your credit aren't linked. This may help you to be more open, and the zine will flow much better too.

They may be categorised by theme, but that will depend on the submissions.

If you want to contribute, email me at [e-mail]

1) Put 'I'm not like other girls' in the subject line.
2) Email me your sentence (I'm not like other girls because...)
3) Tell me if you want to be anonymous.
4) If you want to be credited, tell me how (name / pseudonym, name of zine, etc)
5) If you want to receive a contributors' copy when it's ready, tell me your address too.

I can't guarantee your words will be put in the zine, but it's very likely. I only want submissions from women and girls.

Thanks!

[incurable hippie]

A lot of it is actually women sharing their insecurities, and the zine will show women and girls that they really are not alone if their bodies do certain things, or they think certain things.

My hope for it was that women who feel alone will realise they are not alone.

[Nadia Brady]

How would you guys finish the sentence? I had to really think about how I'm different from most other girls, not how I'm different from the stereotype of a perfect girl. I think you're underestimating incurable hippie and the zine community in your criticism - I'm sure we could all come up with something better than 'because I don't wear makeup'.

[incurable hippie]

Thank you Nadia! I've just read through all the submissions again, and can not only confirm that not a single person said 'because I don't wear make-up' but also that it is full of creative and moving ends to the sentence, I'm not like other girls because.

Nadia Brady said:

How would you guys finish the sentence? I had to really think about how I'm different from most other girls, not how I'm different from the stereotype of a perfect girl. I think you're underestimating incurable hippie and the zine community in your criticism - I'm sure we could all come up with something better than 'because I don't wear makeup'.

[kit feral]

awesome. I'm still really looking forward to reading it, I hadn't even thought of how it could turn negative until I saw Amy's comment- which I'm sure wasn't even meant to be taken negatively.

incurable hippie said:

Thank you Nadia! I've just read through all the submissions again, and can not only confirm that not a single person said 'because I don't wear make-up' but also that it is full of creative and moving ends to the sentence, I'm not like other girls because.

Nadia Brady said:

How would you guys finish the sentence? I had to really think about how I'm different from most other girls, not how I'm different from the stereotype of a perfect girl. I think you're underestimating incurable hippie and the zine community in your criticism - I'm sure we could all come up with something better than 'because I don't wear makeup'.

[Amy]

I didn't mean to sound so sarcastic there. (It was sarcasm, fyi)

I had just gotten out of a social studies class in which one girl asked what Darfur was (it was community service day) and they generally acted like stereotypicalhigh school girls. (e.g. we did one assignment where we were each given an income and a list of things we needed, and one girl was going on about 'how come my group gets less than their group? NOT FAIR.' I mean, no duh, that's why you go to private school and lots of people can't afford it.)

Anyway. it was kind of uncalled for. I was just in a really bad mood.

helenomicon said:

Okay...I don't really know how I feel about this. I get that it's kind of a bummer sometimes to be a lady who doesn't meet certain gendered expectations (not dressing the "right" way, not having the "right" kind of cultural tastes), but framing it as "I'm not like other girls because..." seems to me like it's just reinforcing gender stereotypes. Like, "I'm DIFFERENT, not like the rest of those shoe-shopping, Sex-and-the-City loving airheads!" Amy's reply above me here is exactly the kind of thing I'm worried about. You think "car[ing] about things that don't involve [you]" makes you an anomaly among females? I'm sorry, but what the hell? How is that not a misogynist statement?

I used to be really into thinking that I was special because I didn't wear makeup, dressed kind of tomboyish, and listened to metal, and I used to put other girls down all the time for being stereotypically feminine in their dress and cultural tastes. Then I got out of middle school and realized that talking shit on "girly girls" just reinforces a system in which markers of femininity are considered bad/weak.

There have been some good zines written in part about being a lady-identified person who doesn't fit neatly into the "feminine" box - Truckface and Emergency are two I can think of that have dealt with these issues in an engaging way that didn't involve putting down other females. I think a comp zine that deals with ways that people defy gender stereotyping definitely has the potential to be awesome, but I really can't get behind the concept of this one.

[Nadia Brady]

And if the sentence was 'I'm not like other people', which I'm guessing is more what you meant, I doubt you would have got as much backlash.

[Amy]

True. I was mostly in a crappy mood. I think the more correct version would be "I'm not like other high schoolers because...:

[Nadia Brady]

My brother's in high school and he writes zines, is in a band, and the last time he got in trouble it was because he yelled "how many dead babies before you learn?" during a debate when he was talking about chernobyl. Maybe "School is total hell for me because...". (I don't think people who think are the exception to the rule, it's just not really something schools encourage.)

[kit feral]

I don't think you can make generalizations like that without getting backlash. There's plenty of high schoolers that care about what's going on around them, and plenty of adults that DON'T.

Amy said:

True. I was mostly in a crappy mood. I think the more correct version would be "I'm not like other high schoolers because...:

[Jessica Espiricueta]

ah okay, i've sent something in. :)

[Amy]

well, they sure as heck don't go to my school. Their idea of service is litter pick up.

But really this whole thing is generalizations, isn't it? And not in a bad way. I mean, it might be stereotyping a little, but stereotypes do exist because people act like that. (I some cases. Not in all.)

star blanket river child said:

I don't think you can make generalizations like that without getting backlash. There's plenty of high schoolers that care about what's going on around them, and plenty of adults that DON'T.

Amy said:

True. I was mostly in a crappy mood. I think the more correct version would be "I'm not like other high schoolers because...:

[incurable hippie]

Ok, strictly no more submissions now - production in progress!

Thanks grrls for your fab words :)