#psych survivor zine

[trans-axolotl]

Image description: [ a photo of the Psych Survivor zine in a bush of ivy. The cover is a collage made out of medical records, vintage flower drawings, and magazine letters spelling “psych survivor zine".]

Hello everyone! I am so thrilled to announce the launch of the psych survivor zine, now available to download on www.psychsurvivorarchive.com.

A little bit about this project:

The Psych Survivor Archive is an abolitionist organization deeply invested in mad liberation and cross-movement organizing.

We host two projects: the Psych Survivor Zine and the Digital Story Archive. The Psych Survivor Zine celebrates Mad art in volumes released twice a year, with thematic prompts for each edition. The Digital Story Archive is a more informal forum for psych survivors to write about our lives and share as much as we want, when we want, how we want. 

Through this archive, I hope to create a platform where psych survivors are believed and the psych system is held accountable for the ways it has harmed us. Our pain, resistance, knowledge, and grief are worth listening to, and I offer up this archive as a communal method of bearing witness. 

This space is for the imperfect crazy person, the noncompliant patient, those of us who trash our rooms in the psych ward and yell to ourselves on the street. This space is for our comrades still incarcerated in all kinds of institutions and prisons. This space is for anyone who has been harmed by the psychiatric system and wants to rage about it–and this space is for anyone who doesn’t have the words to talk about it. 

This space is for you.

You can download a pdf and an image described pdf for free on the website, or order a physical copy! This zine is incredible-featuring artwork by 13 different Mad artists, the 55 page zine includes collages, poems, harm reduction toolkits, and more!!

Artists include @kihnindewa, @bioethicists, @gothhabiba and @librarycards, among many more!

This project has been really vulnerable and cathartic with me, and I am so excited to share it with you. Feel free to explore the website, submit your story, and check out our resource guide.

[all-i-am-is-pharmacy]

So happy to support this independent and very important publication! Can't wait to support future additions and maybe contribute. If you want to learn about being a psych survivor, this is the place to start.

@trans-axolotl

[bioethicists]

The only good therapist I ever had told me that it was my choice to commit suicide, and that he had no say in my decision. It was incredible. Anything else would have made me worse. But this made me feel so much safer, and I was actually able to keep working because I knew my rights were not going to be taken away from me. That's why I think therapy cannot exist in an ethical way within the psychiatric, institutional & carceral system, because I know this guy would have gotten into a thousand problems if this interaction had been recorded or heard by anyone else.

i agree completely! there is a tremendous peace in being trusted with that- being told "i love u + i'm glad that you're here + this is your decision to make". i rlly do have empathy for ppl who can't bring themselves to offer this to loved ones who are suicidal but this should be an expectation of providers!!! of course, a person skilled at emotional healing would be able to read whether someone needs to hear this or instead hear something like "i value u. i want u here. i would miss u greatly. u are loved." for ppl who feel disposable or unwanted, this may be the better approach- but i do believe most if not all suicidality can be addressed through consensual compassion.

i wrote in my piece for the psych survivor's zine "you are no longer permitted to be anything but safe". this is how i experienced psychiatry. "safety" was them using coercion + lies + threats to Make Me be safe. i was suicidal bcuz i felt trapped in my life, my body, my family. i wanted freedom. continuing to restrict that freedom only made me thrash more.

it's more helpful, i think, to look at suicide as a thing with many possible causes (feeling trapped, feeling afraid of your own mind, wanting to stop experiencing pain, feeling there is no path forward for u, anticipating a future devastating event, feeling overwhelmed) rather than a Symptom which must immediately be dealt with via incarceration + medication.

not to quote nietzsche on main but "The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one gets through many a dark night." has always hit a chord within me

[librarycards]

hello! i apologize in advance this is probably something that you get asked a lot. but do you have any recs on literary magazines to submit to? im a trans poet, ive been writing for over a decade but never shared anything and ive been wanting to try to send my stuff to get it published somewhere. obv ive been google searching but theres so many big and small publications and i was wondering if you have ones you like especially and/or tips on how to choose a magazine/journal to submit to. thanks a lot! <3

no worries, thank you for reaching out!! i've been publishing for like 8 years + an editor for almost 4, so i always appreciate the opportunity to help people new to the world find ethical publications that will treat their work with the care it deserves.

first and foremost: there are going to be pubs out there that are awesome and i don't know about. you may be the one to discover them for yourself! one aid in finding the best mag for your work is the wonderful, writer-created chillsubs. it's a fantastic platform that keeps a huge list of mags and presses and their relevant stats, and lets you create an account and bookmark those you're interested in. everyone i know uses them, and it's very worth it given the sheer volume of mags out there.

i also have some recs of my own, ofc. i'm going to list them below. if they pay (which i prioritize) I'll mark them with a $. some are trans/queer focused and some aren't, but all are pubs i've either edited and/or published with and can confirm their ethics + respect for writers.

manywor(l)ds - my mag! i'm co-founder and eic. break genre _ shapeshift with us. ($)

Sinister Wisdom - old, well-regarded lesbian+ lit mag, now open to everyone who is/loves a dyke. I'm guest-editing an issue on Madness with them, now open for submissions!

fifth wheel press - run by a beloved friend and comrade of mine. i've published here. excellent transparency, care, great for first-timers. ($).

kith books - headed by trans literary icon kat blair. a mag/press/community centered around bodymind non-conformity and noncompliance.

Honey Literary - QTPOC-centered, unabashedly pop-culture + social justice oriented. the vibes are simply immaculate.

Whale Road Review - not queer/trans focused, more oriented toward....'grown up' poetry/prose/pedagogy papers. Katie Manning (eic) is a fucking gem.

Graphic Violence Lit - just had my first experience publishing with them, and their care + consideration for the whole writer is amazing. they publish boundary-pushing work.

beestung - one of the brainchildren of Sarah Clark. nb/gq/2s SFF. I just edited a few guest issues w them and have published with them. amazing work. ($)

A Velvet Giant - genrequeer work. the editors are experienced, enthusiastic, and amazing at promoting writers long after publication. it's a family! ($)

Ethel Zine + Press - handmade with love by Sara Lefsyk (as you can see, trans/nonbinary/2s sarahs dominate indie publishing, as well we should :3). Sara is a sensitive and care-full editor and bookmaker whose every publication is a work of art.

Protean - pro- as in proletariat. awesome left mag with a mix of politics and culture and everything in between. they take reprints! ($)

Mudroom - publish your work along with a picture of your mudroom/shoe rack. very responsive editors who will hype you tf up. ($)

The Institutionalized Review - for psych survivors. the editors concreteness of vision and dedication to their community know no bounds.

Just Femme + Dandy - queer and fashion-focused! led by the inimitable Addie Tsai. They pay *handsomely*. ($)

In addition, there are also some "big" mags I have had excellent experiences publishing with and wanted to shout out. These are harder for a beginner to break into, but worth keeping on your radar + have been fantastic to me as a writer.

Electric Lit

Split Lip Magazine

The Offing

Nat. Brut

Santa Fe Writers' Project

Bodega

New Orleans Review

Augur Magazine

I hope this is helpful to you + others! the literary world is ever-changing and this is just a snapshot. Hopefully you find some that you like!

[positivelyqueer]

the zine you reblogged "helping your friends who sometimes wanna die maybe not die" has changed my life, seriously, i'd compare reading it to learning that queer people exist. thank you!

I’m really really glad. Thank you for sharing this with me.

I’m not the most well read on this topic (it’s one part former med student, one part psych patient, one part zines from psych survivors and others.) But harm reduction, anti-carceral crisis support and community supports are very dear and important to me.

we’re all here to look out for each other and form community.

[emohorseboy]

I'm so interested in all of your posts about mad liberation. I've never seen anything that puts my thoughts on the whole psych complex into words. I'm really curious to learn more about this. No pressure if not, but do you happen to know of any more comprehensive resources on this? Like books maybe?

Hi, I can definitely give you some recs! My list is a little bit UK centric because that's where I'm based but hopefully it's useful:

In terms of books:

I read 'Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health' by Micha Frazer-Carroll this summer and I can't recommend it enough.

I'm also making my way through 'Call Me Crazy: Stories from the Mad Movement' by Irit Shimrat, which I think is out of print but can be read as a PDF here (hopefully)

I've only dipped in and out of his books for my dissertation but Andrew Scull has written several well regarded books about the history of psychiatry ('Museums of Madness' is the one I've read bits of, 'Desperate Remedies' is on my TBR)

Some books on my TBR: 'The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease' by Johnathan Metzl, 'Drop the Disorder!', 'Searching for a Rose Garden: Challenging Psychiatry, Fostering Mad Studies', 'Anatomy of an Epidemic' by Robert Whitaker

Some really good articles:

'Abolition Must Include Psychiatry' by Stella Akua Mensah

'Mad Activists: The Language We Use Reflects Our Desire for Change' by Lisa Archibold

'Not a naughty child: people’s experiences of service responses to self-injury' by Alison Faulkner and Rachel Rowan Olive

More resources!

The Campaign for Psychiatric Abolition - UK based, they have a lot of really great resources including an extensive recommended reading list, a Psych Abolition 101 Zine, and a resource for making a crisis support plan.

Asylum Magazine - again UK based, radical mental health magazine. To read full issues you need to subscribe (I recently paid for a subscription for a year of digital editions for £10, physical copies are a bit more) but the website has plenty of articles that you can read for free so well worth exploring.

Psych Survivor Archive - US based this time, there is so much on here, the Psych Survivor Zine is the main event but they also have a really great resource list (some of the links are dead though).

Mad in America - publish a lot of really interesting and impactful stuff on their website, I also really like their podcast (particularly recommend this episode about ECT, this one about esketamine, and this one about 'prolonged grief disorder'). There is also Mad in the UK and a number of other country specific sites that exist as part of their Mad in the World Network.

Folks to follow:

Dolly Sen - UK based artist who does and is doing a lot of cool stuff, notably at the moment they are the lead artist for the Birdsong From Inobservable Worlds project. This podcast episode they did is also great.

Nicole / lacey_art_ - another UK based artist, she wrote a poem about a bird recently that I can't stop thinking about (she does a lot of other cool things too).

Rachel Rowan Olive - brilliant and funny artist, she is also on instagram and etsy.

Luna Tic - artist and activist who has been involved with a lot of really brilliant stuff, including the successful StopSIM Coalition here in the UK which managed to bring an end to SIM.

There are so many more I could name and so many more things I could recommend but this post is already so long! I really hope it was helpful. I started trying to be brief and then gave up but I did cut out a fiction and literature recs section because I thought that was overkill lmao. Thank you for giving me an excuse to make this list I had a great time.

Learning about the Mad and psych survivor movements has been so transformative and empowering for me and I could honestly talk about it all day. Please do feel free to send me a message if you want to chat about it more!

[the-alarm-system]

tw for psych abuse and wards.

do you have any advice for coping with trauma from psych wards? we got out today and we’re really tired and scared and dont know what to do anymore

-Hiki

Hey! You saying we implies that you guys are plural so I recommend fronting with others and being there for another, you can also always talk it out with a friend or headmate who may understand. There are also a lot of psych survivor resources that may align with your feelings about the stuff you went through, you're allowed to be sad and upset and angry, you're in a position where others may not like that or argue that what happened to you was a good thing but know that it wasn't if you don't feel like it was. You're not "crazy" for feeling upset about being involuntary held, your body autonomy was violated you have every right to be upset no matter the reason you were held.

Here is a wonderful source made for and by psych survivors!

Here is a very cool zine too!

If you don't wanna look into this stuff and prefer to find distractions from it, maybe do some stuff with your headmates such as art or video games or reading,

this website has a ton of random free games you can play if you just filter it for the free ones!

[gothhabiba]

Lord Najia! You have a poetry book? (collection?) 😭

Notes from a Sick Room was pretty incredible (I wanna share More Thoughts about it, but don't have the energy rn :((), and so I would honestly love to read more of your work~

wanderers, witch-talkers is available for purchase in print and free to stream in audiobook form (the audiobook has some layered sounds and cool effects—start with "poison of kings" or "sonnet to sertraline" if you just want to listen to a couple, and I do recommend headphones)

keep in mind that I wrote this stuff when I was 15-19 and put it out when I was 19-21 and am frankly embarassed by parts of it now 😅 I do think that what I'm working on now (NfaSR) is my best work to date.

[a few poems from NfaSR, a found poetry project assembled from medical documents, can be read in volume 1 of the Psych Survivor Zine.]

[trans-axolotl2]

met with my advisor for my antipsych research project for the first time, went in and told her my plans and she was very supportive and excited!!!! part of the project involves making a zine and im going to be putting a call out for participants (it will be paid <3) so if you're a psych survivor who does any kind of writing, essays, poetry, drawing, photography, art of any form...keep an eye on my tumblr! in the next month or so i'll probably be putting the call for submissions out and explaining the prompt + what this project is. so :) just letting everyone who follows this blog know early LMAO

[valravn72]

Finally going to make one of these because I have been pushing this back for too long, sorry about the shit formatting

You can call me Crow or Val (/vɑl/). My pronouns are they/it and wire/wires/wired/wiredself as well as wyre/wyres/wyred/wyredself.

I’m a White nonreligious Jew tme nonbinary transwhatever and an autistic spoonie with primarily obsessive compulsive disorder, hEDS, POTS, adhd, dpdr and an essential tremor.

I’m also a digital artist and I’m into coding but I am self conscious so posts of my work might be rare/nonexistent.

I am currently a minor (though not for long) SFW INTERACTION ONLY PLEASEEE THANK YOU!!

Main interests and post subjects:

MY BRAIN JUST INSTALLED THE YUGIOH AUTISM UPDATE LETS GO

Disability rights

Vocaloid/V Synth/UTAU music (pafl, thab, tptm, Endless Empty Dream, etc.)

Splatoon

Kingdom Hearts (be patient I have this autism so ancient in me /ref)

YNFGs (shout out to ynoproject.net)

Ludonarratives and games in general

Magical girls

Sparklecare

The Magnus Archives

Digital art

Web nostalgia, old new media, indie webdev stuff

Sonic / Sonic idw

Houseki No Kuni

Black Dresses

Digital music composition

Rpgmaker Horror (OFF, Hello Charlotte, ynfgs, Oneshot, etc.)

Webcomics and zines

Free online educational resources etc.

DNI

DNI means you are not welcome here, screw off, and don’t be confused when you get blocked.

I don’t want to hear any whining about people wanting the internet to be a safe space and how [insert ableist word here] they are. I think it’s more embarrassing how upset you are over people setting boundaries.

Zionists, MAPs and proMAPs, transmeds, fakeclaimers, terfs, swerfs, transracials, institutionalization supporters, anti psych critical/anti anti psych, believe microlabels are biphobic (pan, queer, etc), biphobes, xenogenderphobic, colorist, ethnocentrist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, antisemetic, think disabled/neurodivergent/mad people should not have a shared community/culture, acephobic/exclusionary/infantilizing, support ethnostates, aba supporters, think hijabs are oppressive, believe in any sort of eugenics (curing disabled people, racist shit, anything that would happen in the movie Gattaca which you all definitely misinterpreted), use slurs you cannot reclaim, “narcissistic abuse” survivors and other cluster b bigots, saneist/psychophobic/madphobic assholes, meritocracy believers, transmisogynists and chasers, fatphobes/fat fetishists. Also guro blogs? That fetishize self harm? Why is this something I need to say why has this been an issue.

Fandom DNIs (These are subject to expansion in the future):

Noncritical DNI

Def: You can interact as long as you understand that your media is problematic/harmful and you can reclaim it or at least don’t endorse it. If you’re an apologist or are in any way complicit in the harm caused by the content (monetary support, spread of its message, downplaying its victims) I don’t want to hear from you.

Danganronpa, dbh, bna, Homestuck, mcu, Omori, FLCL, probably more I just can’t think of stuff

DNI NO MATTER WHAT

South park, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Hetalia, Countryhumans, Harry Potter, Supernatural, ANYONE WHO THINKS CHAR AZNABLE IS A LIKEABLE CHARACTER YES THIS HAS COME UP NUMEROUS TIMES, Axel and Roxas shippers (seems like a stupid thing to include but this has also come up multiple times! I hate it here!), dsmp, killing stalking, probably more I just haven’t thought of it yet

PLEASE INTERACT WITH ME :3 (silly non serious section)

Other queer and disabled people, Kingdom Hearts fans (who aren’t creeps), self diagnosed autistics, mad pride folks, anyone with a neocities site, zine contributors, vocal synth fans, people who make stimboards, fellow filehoarders, have a kitty that you are willing to send pictures of, Temnova simps (I think you’re funny), geology special interest havers, blinkie hoarders, people with acceptable opinions on cereal <- (certified milk first asshole), Teto lovers, Azumanga fans who post funny pictures of Osaka, genuine Ao Oni fans (I need to study you), 999 + SEQUELS FANS, people who post their daw stuff online you guys are so cooolllll

I am bad at being active and am working on tagging things well!! (and also actually. posting stuff.) If you need any tags pleaseeee ask it is no problem. I’ll probably make this intro cooler soon as well I am just soooo sleepy and I get frustrated with Tumblr lol

RECOMMEND ME FREEWARE BOSS!!!!!!

[trans-axolotl]

Image description: [ A digital poster with a beige background and a small graphic of a book that has yellow flowers growing out of it. Text says: Psych survivor Zine. Open call for submissions from Mad Artists. Looking for pieces that explore how psych survivors resist psychiatric violence, with a special focus on transforming our medical records. Pieces exploring topics in mad studies, antipsychiatry, and peer support are likely to be a good fit. $100 Stipend. Deadline for proposals: March 31st. For more information and next steps to submit artwork, please go to https://tinyurl.com/psychsurvivorzine. For any questions, email Elliott at psychsurvivorzine@gmail.com]

Hello everyone! I am thrilled to announce that I'm searching for collaborators for the first edition of a Psych Survivor zine!! I've been working on this project for a while, and there are several other components that will be rolled out throughout this spring (if you aren't an artist/writer but still want to be involved, keep an eye out on my blog.) This zine is going to be physically published and hosted on a website created specifically for this project.

This zine is open to anyone who identifies as mad/mentally ill/neurodivergent/psych survivor/ex patient, and any form of art is welcome, whether that's poetry, critical essays, digital art, photography, or anything else. Due to funding constraints, I will likely only be selecting 10-13 people to add to this edition. This edition is focused specifically on abolishing and transforming our medical records, and click on the link above to read the full prompt.

Please feel free to email me or message me on tumblr with any further questions, and I'm so excited to hopefully work with some of you on this project!

[sweetreleaseofsurvival]

Seeking submissions for a zine on trauma and crisis intervention from queer, trans & two spirit people - honoraria provided

CW: mentions of suicide, mental health crisis, medical and state violence.

I am putting together a zine featuring writing by queer, trans & two spirit people who are directly affected by our broken systems of crisis intervention.

Why

This zine will share the stories of those directly affected by psychiatric and medical models of crisis intervention, which too often replicate carceral systems of control and domination (and in which many queer, trans & two spirit ppl cannot find healing).

This zine offers a platform for those directly affected to imagine peer-based mental health first aid which trusts us and believes we are experts on our lived experiences, rather than defaulting to interventions created by institutions which believe that, as mentally ill folks, we don’t have the capacity to make decisions about our care. Institutions whose mandates say that our lives must be “saved” at any cost, no matter how violent, up to and including intervention from law enforcement, regardless of the longer-term outcomes.

This zine will also make space for those living with ongoing trauma and chronic suicidality to highlight misunderstandings and missteps made by peer supporters who, in attempts to intervene in crisis situations, increase suffering rather than alleviate it.

Who

Seeking contribitors who are queer, trans & two spirit people who live with on-going expriences of trauma, chronic suicidality and/or c-ptsd.

The project particularly seeks to uplift the voices of those who identify as: transfeminine, racialized, Black, indigenous, psych survivors, psychotic, mad, crazy, disabled, neurodivergent, and/or autistic.

What

Personal essays or other writings which explore

• Envisioning what positive peer mental health first aid in LGBTQ2S+ community might look like

• Shedding light upon the problems of psychiatric models of intervention, through personal stories

• How loved ones and community members can better love and hold our peers, especially those who experience traumatic stress which may never see a “post”  

Seeking pieces between 750 - 2000 words, (though longer or shorter pieces will be considered as well). Those who are selected as contributors will receive an honorarium for their writing. I am able to help you edit your work if needed.

You can submit writing or a proposal for a piece to sweetreleaseofsurvival@gmail.com. Please contact me if you have questions, requests or accessibility concerns around submitting a piece.

When

Deadline for proposals/submissions is August 7th 2019. (EXTENDED, PLEASE SUBMIT IF YOU ARE INTERESTED)

For those whose pieces are chosen, final versions of work must be submitted by September 30th, 2019, honoraria will be paid in the beginning of October upon receipt of the final draft of the work.

The zine will be printed in November 2019.

If you are interested in submitting work but need support discerning if this is the right time for you, please reach out and we can discuss it, if that feels helpful. Please think about how participating may affect you and consider making a care plan for yourself if you believe it may be challenging.

More Info

The zine’s first run printing is entirely covered by a grant. If copies are sold anywhere, 100% of the proceeds will go to Trans Lifeline. Should a second printing occur, all proceeds after printing costs will go to Trans Lifeline, or another trans or two spirit organization that works with issues of mental health which does not call the police on people who are in crisis, or to raise funds for BIPOC trans/two spirit individual's health care costs. A digital copy will be made available for free online in perpetuity.

Who is making this zine?

I am a white settler, disabled, trans, single parent living in poverty with serious mental illness and trauma. I have lived experience both as someone receiving crisis care and as a peer support person. I reside in so-called Canada, on the stolen, unceded, ancestral and traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ nations.

I am doing this project with support and mentorship from the Undivided Leadership Program. I can speak with you in detail about my experience in the program if you are interested, or have any questions about this work.

In the interest of full transparency, I want to be up front with the fact that the grant money for this project ultimately comes from the United Church of Canada via the Contemplative Justice Network. The United Church of Canada will have no editorial authority or creative input on the project.

[bioethicists]

the fourth psych abolition chat has concluded! our next chat will be on monday, july 29th at 9pm est | 1am utc. the link is here + the password, if it asks for one, is “frogs” (i think the link is autofilling the password).

here are some things we chatted about:

"trauma-informed care", its being co-opted, whether an institution can be "trauma-informed" when it continues to utilize threats of incarceration

the victim/perpetrator dichotomy + how that is weaponized against psychiatric survivors

strip searches as a 'permissible' form of SA within institutions

nursing homes as other sites of abuse + the idea of "deserving" vs "undeserving" victims of institutional abuse

"unchilding" through early incarceration, suggested work: Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding by Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

long COVID, ME/CFS, ableism/saneism within the medical system in dismissing chronic illness as indicative of emotional instability

"person-first" language + objectification, denial of autonomy or reinforcing stigma through attempts to make language more 'progressive'

the importance of looking at palestine + gaza + the role that psychiatry plays in legitimizing the genocide

here are some works/resources we brainstormed creating:

continuing to work on ideas for the survival guide for institutionalization, as well as potentially a pamphlet on how to talk to mandated reporters

a book chat about Campaign for Psych Abolition's zine Psychiatry's Role in the Occupation of Palestine

theme for August meetings (dates coming soon): collaborative work on creating the guide for surviving institutionalization

possible themes for upcoming Zooms: harm reduction for ED/self harm, alternatives to psychiatry (futures, structures that have already been created), creating content for people who have just left institutions, encouraging liberation frameworks in psychiatric abolition/harm reduction spaces

as a reminder, ppl can also join the madness + liberation forum to discuss these things by filling out the google form here. all forum applications i’ve received should have been pushed through, so if you filled it out + didn’t receive a response, that means i missed you somehow + you should dm me or fill it out again.

img source

[librarycards]

just came across your post about how the rhetoric of trans 'social contagion' links with other social contagion rhetoric e.g. around anorexia or self-injury. this is something I think about a lot + would love to write more on, as a trans person with a history of self-harm who also wants one of the surgeries which is commonly constructed by transphobes as self-harm. is this something you've written about more extensively elsewhere, or are you aware of anyone else who has?

hi anon, sorry for the delay here! i wanted to wait to answer this until a couple more of my pieces were out in the world. now, that has happened!

a few places where i speak about pathologization, "contagion," and trans///Mad subjectivity:

Embodying Otherwise: Nonhuman Criptopias in 'Salt Fish Girl' (2023) looks at hegemonic memory/knowledge of oppression as contagion, queercrip intimacies as generative vectors - all in the context of speculative fiction

Refuse! (2023) critical ED, Mad, and fat liberationist perspective on solidarity across bodymind difference for disorderly eaters with thin privilege. Considers the weaponization of "contagion" as a way to discourage solidarity among Mad/disorderly eaters. Published in @trans-axolotl's amazing Psych Survivor Zine!

Loving trans into possible: t4t as transpollinatory praxis (2023) traces the history of t4t via the villification of craigslist + trans(/)sexual connection, argues for a framing of trans becoming that embraces contagion as an erotics of "pollination"

All of these are linked to my academia.edu account, where you can find them for free! If you come across a paywalled source in any of my bibliographies that is of interest and need me to liberate it, feel free to send me a message (this goes for every paper, always).

I'm also working with a colleague on a longer academic article about disorderly eating, indigestion, and "contagion," but that's still a WIP. you'll all be the first to know if & when it's picked up!!

[tbtntrauma2550]

Engaging with Trauma Individually and Through Art from the 1960’s - Early 2000’s

By Bianca Barton

Consciousness-raising Groups

In the 1960’s, conceptions of feminist-informed trauma recovery was built on the idea that personal is political (Evans 269). TBTN not only exposed sexual violence to the public realm, but reshaped what could or could not be considered trauma - previously of which was understood to be war-related or “outside the range of human experience,” thus disregarding sexual, physical, or emotional abuse (Mohamed 2). Additionally, the theory of feminst therapy emerged from the heightened awareness of the violence patriarchy perpetuated, as well as the discussions between women in consciousness-raising groups, where “the energy and emotional fuel for the movement came out of women’s personal experiences'' (Evans 273). Consciousness-raising groups were key in coalescing the connection between individual progress and the social change that was pushed by the large scale TBTN movement, and consequently, encouraging feminists to articulate their understandings of their trauma in a setting that was free from the brutally stereotyped psychological methods used in therapy from the 1960’s. Furthermore, while TBTN contributed to perpetuating racial stereotypes, consciousness-raising meetings sought to include the consciousness of Black women in feminism as they were excluded from the “second wave.” Considering the intersection of race with gender became an essential part to the “core of feminist therapy, with its emphasis on the vision of therapy as an act of political resistance” (Evans 275) that later started to unfold at the end of the 20th century.

Art Making: Zines as Sites of Healing and Information

In order to perform the individual side of healing, many feminists turned to art and writing to “exemplify the connections between personal narratives and political action” (Davidson 97) and heal themselves on an individual level to in turn contribute to social change. For example, consistent marches and political activity on behalf of TBTN organizations occured in the 1980’s alongside the explosion of “zine culture”, that allowed marginalized female creators the liberty to control their own commodities and expressions without the restraint of mainstream censoring or publishing difficulties. In a curation and analysis of over seventy zines, feminist sociologist Dr. Tonya Davidson compiled accounts of violence and individual perspectives young women had on their traumas in relation to TBTN. In a zine titled Can u See Yrself? from the turn of the twenty-first century, anonymous zine contributor referred to as “Allyson” writes about a TBTN protest that occurred on the campus of York University, like many zine artists who mapped the events of TBTN marches;

“So this party of 11 marches around campus, and I’m shouting and carrying on. Hoping that someone I know sees me…we took over parkdale, we took back the streets-for one night. One street, for an hour- but that’s something. If all it did was fill hundreds of wimyn with pride and a feeling of sisterhood that was enough” (Davidson 98).

Red Alert was a zine released in the mid-1990’s that centered on women’s reproductive and sexual experiences. Davidson found a list of question accompanied with an anonymous confession from the writer, “I’m a girl and I’m a sexual abuse survivor. I came up with these questions as part of a healing process for me dealing with being abused by boys, but also cuz I really think a helluva lot more boys need to be thinking more about their sexual relationships with women'' (Davidson 97). The author displays deep awareness of the dissonance between her identity as a sexual abuse survivor, alternatively a trauma victim, and the lack of accountability society had and continues to have towards perpetuators. She takes ownership of her healing process as well as directing her qualms with patriarchy into public question.

Additionally, zines served as sources of information, such as instructions for recognizing abuse, reporting rape, resources to contact, or transition housing. Not only were they mediums of self expressions, but zines were utilized as forms to organize and compile trauma histories in multifaceted manners.

Art Making: Poetry and Literature at the Intersection of Rape and Trauma

Aside from zines, poetry and literature surged as another form of weaving trauma into conceptions of patriarchy and rape victim criminalization, such as Adrienne Rich’s “Rape” from Diving into the Wreck, Poems from 1971-1972. Rich’s poem speaker details an intense and horrific scene between a rape victim and a police officer she is reporting to, knowing that rape was rarely recognized as a crime in the 1970’s. The articulation of the survivor’s story and interiority was one way rape was reconfigured as a horrific act and one that could be damaging to life and one’s psyche that placed in closer to the realm of unimaginable human horror that is trauma.

It is essential to acknowledge that prior to and during the decade of the 1970’s, the National Center for PTSD claimed that “rape was thought of as a rare event, incest as a culturally universal taboo” (Harvey and Herman 1). However, a series of studies at the The Cambridge Hospital Victims of Violence Program that surveyed community and individual samples of adult women concluded that “the data suggest that rape is a familiar experience in the lives of women and girls” (Harvey and Herman 2). Thus, “feminist authors have interpreted rape and incest not as rare and isolated events, but as com­monplace risks in a culture conducive to sexual violence” (Harvey and Herman 2). Establishing statistics and conclusions about the prevalence of rape aided trauma studies in forming an understanding of rape as a factor that was intrinsically weaved through the experiences of women, and even more disturbingly, the juxtaposition of women of color that were susceptible to further violence that remained unseen during their exclusion from second wave feminism.

Before Rich’s publication of Diving into the Wreck, Poems, prolific author Toni Morrison published her first novel The Bluest Eye. It tells the story of Pecola as she struggles with her position as a young Black girl and with rape and incest from the perspective of her foster sister through flashback. The novel focuses on “transforming traumatic memories in narrative ones” which Morrison shows how “this therapeutic process becomes also a movement of resistance, as it rescues erased histories and brings [voices] to public consciousness” (Gomes 108). This piece of literature is an intersecting point of race, voice preservation, rape, and ultimately grappling with trauma on individual level for the greater purpose of public conception.

Conclusion

Art creation is a personal method of coping and the aforementioned examples engage with trauma on a smaller scale, though still within the context of the relationship between trauma and feminism. Consciousness-raising groups were grassroot and investigated trauma in various ways outside of the typical hierarchy traditional mental treatments instilled between patient and client. Art was and continues to be a window into “viewing clients in the context of their lived experience” that remains “consistent with the practice of” (Evans 270) what has been defined as feminist-inflenced therapy. Furthermore, feminists developing space within art directly combats the unspeakable trauma trope as well as the cultural silencing that feminists have historically navigated.

[trans-axolotl]

ID: a stack of zines balanced on my lap. The cover has flowers, medical records and magazine letters spelling out “psych survivor zine”]

LOOK WHAT JUST GOT HERE!!!!!! I’m actually holding it in my hands I’m so so so excited it turned out so good :) aaaaaaaaaaa