ZINE: JUSTIFIED FURY23-24
ZINE: JUSTIFIED FURY23-24
What it's All About
This year, our main project focus was the continuation of last year's zine "Justified Fury" into this year as it was a big hit. We wanted to continue giving a platform for women to speak up on topics that need to be talked about. We released four new editions of the zine which included articles, comic strips, art, and a wide variety of topics spanning from personal issues at our school to global problems.
The zine was created to give a voice and space to all women alike, whether you are someone who loudly speaks up for themselves, or on the more quiet end of the spectrum. The creation of it was inspired by the inequality and double standards that female students at our schools would face, with no change to address these issues. These problems are not limited to our school environment but are apparent in places across the world as well. We hope with our zine that we truly instill a change within our school, a change that will then echo to other communities and create a lasting impact.
The zines were spread throughout the school during lunchtime, and we saw everyone read them and even had them placed in classrooms, with some teachers even having a permanent space for the zines in their room, because of how proud they are of our work. We were aware that our zines continue to be influential and effective because of the response from our school peers as well as conversations with the school administration regarding what they deemed controversial articles written by our members in the zine. With these conversations, we were able to come to an agreement and create change little by little.
Project Need
Why was this project selected? This project was selected because of its successful and influential impact in the previous school year, and we wanted to continue to make that impact as well as expand beyond our school walls.
What problem did your team solve/address? Our team aimed at addressing numerous problems within our school, ranging from dress code, a lack of inclusivity, etc. With the zines, we were able to effectively shine a light on these issues and inform our school's administration of the change we want to instill.
How is this need aligned with your impact area? Our impact area focused on our school community, therefore highlighting issues within our school.
What research did you do to find out what has come before or already exists? Much of the research we did for this project was researching on the zine articles we picked. For example, we had to research a guide to voting and simplify it to make it as understandable and straightforward as possible.
How did you identify the problem that you wanted to solve? The problem that had been prevalent within our school walls had been occurring for years, so we decided to point out all the inequality problems like dress code, etc., and continue to shed light on those issues. We also wanted to make note that these problems were not only within our school walls but within the broader world, therefore highlighting global events and issues as well.
What evidence (observational data, test scores, or research) did you use to identify this issue? Firstly, we talked to numerous female students in order to hear their thoughts on the issue. For example, with the dress code, many people were enraged at how the dress code is issued to different students based on their body types. For example, someone with a bigger chest wearing a tank top would get dress-coded as opposed to someone with a smaller chest wearing a tank top. Among this issue, we also surveyed students on other issues at our school, coming to a consensus on the major ones.
Civic Engagement Efforts
How did you expand your project beyond the walls of your school and connect to your larger community through Service, Representation, or Advocacy?
One way we expanded the "Justified Fury" zine beyond the walls of our school was by making an edition of the zine for the Girls Build Summit for the other Girls Build chapters to read, and even have Mayor Bass read it as well. This was a big step for us because in the previous year, we had our zines distributed to students only, but now we got a chance to have so many other people read about it and see all the hard work our club has done.
In Issue #4, we went over numerous topics including...
Mansplaining at school
Origin of derogatory language targeted towards women
Why we gossip
Beauty standards
A guide to voting for dummies
Student comic strips + artwork