Fan Club organises monthly events at Rough Trade (Nottingham), to promote and celebrate female-identifying artists, musicians, writers, illustrators, *whatever*. Fan Club parties happen on the first Saturday of every month at Rough Trade, Broad Street, Nottingham.
We want to make the night super inclusive, so if you feel you want to get involved with any aspect of the event or zine, just shout! Event: fanclubnotts@gmail.com Zine: fanclubzine@gmail.com Twitter: @fanclubnotts Instagram hashtag: #fanclubnotts Special thanks to: Rachel Nelson Francesca Vaney this hallowzine wouldn’t exist in your hands without them!
by Leesa-Marie Hunt @Leeeesa
Contributors: Laura Mould Chloe, Kelly, Kinga and Agnes of Reel Equality Film Club Elanor Parker Black Heart Creatives Leesa-Marie Hunt Lydia Ruth Fisher Kellie Huskisson Sally Evans Julie Gough Lee Nicholls Sally Jane Thompson Noel Pearce & Ganda Media for printing our zines (http://www.gandamediasolutions.com) & to everyone who dances on the tables xo
th Ru a i d Ly k y o.u her b c es h. fis tti ut th Ki diar iaru l y l yd @
er
sh
Fi
@FANCLUBNOTTS FACEBOOK.COM/FANCLUBNOTTS editor & designer : Kaylea Mitchem (@cyndilopear)
Find out more at www.facebook.com/reelequalitynotts
Horrors are often seen as one of the most sexist film genres, objectifying the female body and revelling in helpless women being victimized in severely violent ways. However, not all horror is like this. Want your horror more positively women-focused? You’re in luck! Nottingham’s anti-sexism ‘Reel Equality Film Club’ have picked their three favourite (although not perfect!) female-focused horror flicks for your enjoyment this Halloween.
Ginger
Written by Chloe, Kelly, Kinga and Agnes of Reel Equality Film Club. Reel Equality Film Club is a bold campaigns tool by local domestic abuse prevention and response charity, Equation, which invites film-loving audiences to notice and challenge sexism on screen. Recently crowned Best New Film Society at the 2015 national film society awards, the club provides a positive and equality-focused alternative to mainstream cinema. Every month, it shows really interesting and entertaining films that tell women’s stories and include fully realised female characters, who are not objectified or stereotyped.
Snaps
This coming-of-age Canadian horror has a great Halloween feeling to it. It tells a story of two sisters (Brigitte and Ginger), who are considered "weirdos" by their high school classmates due to their love of the darker things in life, including morbid photography and gore. One day, things take a drastic turn for the worse. Ginger gets her first period, and as if dealing with her looming womanhood was not confusing enough, she gets bitten by a werewolf. This story is about sisterhood and becoming a woman, with multidimensional characters and a whole load of goop and gore thrown in.
The t n e c s e D A group of old friends go on a cave expedition; after descending underground, the women find strange cave paintings and evidence of an earlier expedition. They learn they are not alone; underground predators inhabit the crevices, and they have a taste for human flesh. This is an all-woman cast and a very very scary film, which resists falling into the sexist tropes of so many horrors.
A GIRL W ALKS HOME AL ONE AT NIGH T This excellently creepy vampire film set in Iran has an amazing soundtrack and is beautifully shot in black and white. The hijab-wearing heroine happens to be a vampire with a passion for music and a need for a destruction of sexist, abusive men. Directed by a woman who clearly also has a passion for skateboarding!
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The opening line of Jane Austin’s Pride and Predjudice makes us chuckle because we all know that you can keep your werewolves, vampires and aliens, the scariest creature around is an unmarried woman. The right Halloween costume for women to give a fright has to be white. I was visiting Newstead Abbey on a clear autumn afternoon on the fringe of October, when I discovered that, amongst the antique chambers, there was - delight of delights! - a dressing up room. With excitement last seen unwrapping birthday presents, I pulled on a green Victorian-style ensemble and several hats in quick succession. Then one dress in particular caught my eye, sparkling on the edge of the rail. It was floor length, it was sequinned, it was glamorous. However, it was also white, and white meant that it was a Wedding Dress.
I managed to drag the full bodied skirt over the chunky soles of my Dr Martens and, although it wasn’t the perfect fit, I felt fantastic. I took some selfies, I added another hat, I complemented it with a dinner jacket. I was so comfortable, I began imagining dressing like this for always; stalking through the grounds of the Abbey with a renewed sense of purpose. But popular culture has made me think differently. You could claim that the ultimate bogeyman (bogeywoman?) in literature is Miss Havisham. After all, Charles Dickens allows her to haunt each page of Great Expectations with fearful vengeance. As protagonist Pip first surveys her room and her attire, he proclaims that, “waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I could.” Her dress forever marks her as a bride, even as her physical being diminishes into the eerie and monstrous form Pip describes. Being jilted made her undeserving of her finery, her bridal joy became petrified. Would Pip have needed to shriek at an old woman sitting quietly in a dark room? It’s her wearing the Wedding Dress still, when all have decided that she is not allowed, that marks her out as truly terrifying.
WHY I WEAR W
I CAN'T R WHITE
Wedding Dresses have meaning. They symbolise the deserving woman, a woman who has done well enough to secure a husband. When the second Mrs de Winter arrives at Manderley, in Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’, she soon begins doubting herself as both a woman, and a wife. When she questions her fiancé Maxim on his wedding plans, asking why “not in white, with bridesmaids, and bells, and choir boys?” he can only reply that “You forget...I had that sort of wedding before.” Over time, the second Mrs de Winter begins to suspect this decision. Her husband’s insistence of marrying abroad, of denying her the big white society wedding, makes her feel ashamed, and only serves to reinforce the idea that she can never match up to the woman who had been allowed that bridal show - his late first wife, Rebecca. “You’re terrible Muriel” In ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ (1994), the only way that Muriel can seem to transform herself into a desirable, worthwhile
person is by becoming a bride. She wishes to be married, she dreams of a wedding, but really, what makes her happy are the Wedding Dresses. Trying one on in a bridal boutique for the first time, she finally casts away dowdy, put-upon Muriel, and allows herself to feel special, and beautiful. But she can’t just dress up. To justify her being allowed this special moment, she is forced to fabricate a wedding date and a fiancé at every boutique she visits. Inconsistent with her groom’s names and wedding stories, she isn’t so interested in the marriage fantasy as the Wedding Dress. She keeps an ‘Our Wedding’ album, not to celebrate a coupling, but the confidence and beauty that she feels when wearing a Wedding Dress. Like Muriel, I know I would be caught out if I decided to adopt the Wedding Dress into my everyday attire. It might have been comfortable. It might have looked good, and made me feel good too. It might only have been dressing up. But faced with possible accusations of being a bridal imposter, of being thought of as a woman so desperate for marriage as to be mad, to be pointed out by others as frightful, fearsome and ghoulish, was enough for me to reluctantly return the dress to WORDS: ELANOR PARKER its hanger. @ELANORPARKER
thanks to everyone who sent a photo of their favourite cosTumEs!
stretching cat collar clips A firm favourite all year round but adds a certain touch of halloween glamour to any costume or outfit.
blackheartcreatives.com moon witch piece
Comes as either a brooch or necklace, cut on pearlised acrylic so the moon has that almost-iridescent glow!
Laser cut etched and inked Brain collar clips The perfect adornment to any scifi horror fan’s shirts and cardigans this halloween. It comes with either a silver or gold chain.
Dripping Blood necklace
A big statement piece measuring in at 13cm, it can be made in red glitter or red matte with a silver or gold chain .
Black Heart Creatives make bespoke and unique laser-cut acrylic statement jewellery in the beautiful Cotswolds. As well as this stunning Halloween collection, they feature ‘Live Fast Die Yum’, a collection of jewellry which features all your favourite fast food (meat and veggie options available!) as well as ‘Palm Bling’, everything kitsch and summer you could ever dream of.
BLACK WIDOW BROOCH
This is one spider you wont have to be scared of, a black widow nestled in her spooky web and pinned to you for some Halloween sparkle!
Witches finger brooch
Either a light or dark green acrylic with a choice of red, black and purple nails! Each brooch comes with two warty gems, hand-placed so no two will ever be the same!
illustration by Julie Gough (@apalelandscape)
I remember the first time a female other than my mum called me ‘beautiful’. It was at a difficult stage in my life when my self-esteem was rock bottom, I was sixteen and I had no dress sense whatsoever (I still don’t really). We were on a college trip to Berlin, in our dorm hostel room, and we were getting ready to go out for an evening meal. I think I was trying to subtly get her opinion on what I should wear and I must have proclaimed the usual ‘oh-butyou-guys-look-so-much-better’, because she replied, “No, you’re beautiful.” I was taken aback. Let’s process this information, someone who has no reason to pander to me or lie to me to make me feel better said, with utmost sincerity, that she thought I was beautiful. The most important thing to note is that she didn’t say “You look beautiful.” She went much deeper and commented on the whole of me. This made me think of myself in a way I never had before. I had never used that word to describe myself, and never thought it could be applied to me - to how I look or my personality. She didn’t know it then, and probably never will, but that lovely girl had a lasting impact on how I perceive
myself, and others. With catcalling and street harassment still prevalent as ever in modern society, it’s imperative that us ladies (and the wonderful feminist gents that are reading this too) stick up for each other; give each other a break. Sometimes the worst thing we can do as feminists is to judge each other based on what WE think a feminist should look like – she wears too much make up, why doesn’t she wear make-up, her skirt’s a bit short, how can she walk in those heels? All these things I admit I have said or thought to myself at one time or another. I’ve come to realise now that these are attitudes that turn women away from feminism, it shouldn’t be about exclusion or singling people out, it should be about inclusion and supporting women to make their own choices, particularly about what they want to wear. I know from my experience, that being someone who always felt judged and pressured to copy what others wore, having someone who was a totally different type of person support, compliment and reassure me, made such a difference. So I implore you, especially around times like Halloween where we may feel worried about what people will think of our costumes and such, be supportive, find something you genuinely like about someone and tell them. Whether they’re a stranger, colleague or friend.
It may be hard, maybe even a little awkward, but you can be safe in the knowledge that you made that person’s world a little brighter.
by Laura Mould Laura lives and works in Nottingham and is currently developing her own feminist blog called Athena Speaks - athenaspeaks.co.uk
Sall y
Sally Jane Thompson (@sallythompson) sallyjanethompson.co.uk
Evans (@
Fl epd
raws)
Kellie Huskisson (@k_doodles_art) etsy.com/uk/shop/kelliedoodles
Julie Gough (@apalelandscape) apalelandscape.co.uk illustratedwomeninhistory.tumblr.com