Consent Zines

Good consent is very important. Consent is a mutual verbal, physical, and emotional agreement that happens without manipulation, threats, or head games. As Project Respect states, “Everyone has the right to sexuality without violence and as part of that, positive sexuality begins with enthusiastic consent. This means being as excited and into someone else’s enjoyment as we are excited and into our own enjoyment. Only yes means yes – and yes should come from an engaged and enthusiastic partner.” The following zines speak more to this subject, and offer some good tools to consider when approaching sex, love, and daily life.

 

 

See no speak no hear no : articles & questions about sexual assault

Cover of See no speak no hear no

This zine collects stories about sexual assault in punk/anarchist communities. It includes comics and essays from both the perspective of an assaulter and a survivor.

 

Sexual objectification

Cover of Sexual objectification

A Bloomington created/distributed piece, this zine has perspectives from three individuals on how being objectified for their bodies is upsetting and triggering.

 

Learning good consent

Cover of Learning good consent

Curated by Doris editor Cindy Crabb, Learning Good Consent looks at the culture of sexual consent from a standpoint both sexy and educational. Over the course of 46 pages, Cindy and friends create a well-rounded consent workshop, with all sites set on healing and helping. As says Cindy in the zine's intro, "Talking about our experiences with consent, our struggles, our mistakes and how we've learned, these are part of a much larger revolutionary struggle." (https://www.sproutdistro.com)

 

Ouch! Reflections on bad sex, rape, & shame

Cover of Ouch! Reflections on bad sex, rape, & shame

This is a zine about personal experiences with sexual assault and bad sex. As the author states, “I share these experiences and reflections openly, in hopes that true stories of sexual assault (and the emotional processing after a sexual assault) can be valuable in making sense of sexual assault, both on a personal level, and on a societal level.”

 

Support

Cover of Support

In a time when sexual assault and abuse are an increasing problem; even in so-called radical and punk communities, and when most women have been sexually abused in one way or another, Cindy Crabb (Doris zine) brings us a document showing ways to prevent sexual violence and support survivors of sexual abuse. The zine helps to define consent, some letters that Cindy has received, listening, talking about sex, power dynamics, comics by Fly, and much more.

 

Let’s Talk: Feminist Communication for Radicalizing Sex, Consent & Interpersonal Dynamics

Cover of Let’s Talk: Feminist Communication for Radicalizing Sex, Consent & Interpersonal Dynamics

A helpful zine exploring the connections between feminist communication, consent, interpersonal dynamics, and healing from abuse. It’s focus on how we communicate with each other makes it worth reading, even for those already familiar with the concept of consent. It’s written in an engaging way and includes valuable information on gendered differences in communication, communicating boundaries and triggers, and consent. There’s also a number of activities aimed an encouraging further discussion and reflection.

 

Act Now!

Cover of Act Now!

A zine sponsored by the Simmons College Violence Prevention and Educational Outreach Program, this zine encourages dialogue around issues of gender-based violence. Full of online resources for learning better consent techniques and full-color pages of survivor stories and mottos.

 

In October, some zines on consent and survivor stories from abusive relationships will be available and free to pick up along with our CAVs (Creating Access for Violence Survivors) programs. If you would like some of these printed materials sooner, please email Annise Blanchard at ablancha [at] mcpl.info.

The Library’s zine collection covers a wide and diverse range of voices and topics from cooking and crafts, to psychology and politics. You can find it in The Commons on the second floor of the Downtown Library. Interested in having your zine added to the collection? Submit a copy for consideration at any information desk or email Annise Blanchard at ablancha [at] mcpl.info.