Grow n' Pains (Sample)

GROW N' PAINS being careful / issue #1 A ZINE FILLED WITH RAD WOMEN WHO DO NEAT STUFF

grow n' pains

Welcome to the first issue of this zine that showcases rad women doing cool things so that maybe it makes you wanna go out into the world and do more cool things.

It's also gonna cover a lot of stuff we maybe don't address enough as females,feminists and nonbinaries.

This issue is all about the idea of BEING CAREFUL and what that means to everybody who submitted,was interviewed and is featured in the pages beyond.

There's some pretty great content so thanks to everybody who submitted cool stuff and thank you for choosing to read this and also just thanks for your attention and eyeballs. You're great and enjoy all these other great folks.

SARAH XX

C O N T E N T S Be Carefree, Lily Cross (4) Nope, Sarah Crossley (6) Dayna Griffiths (9, 23, 32,39) Full of Care, Dott Cross (10) Chloe Bren is Rad (12) Jupiter Resting, Shannon Macdonald (19) Being My Own Sunday, Luiise Sander (20) Take Care, Caitlin McKeon (5,22) Team Random Leg Bruises, Rachel Knorr (25) To Do List, Harriet Bradley (26) Annabel Randall is Gnarly (28) X, Anonymous (34) Go Slow,Anneda (36) Be Brave, Samantha Crossley (38) Patreon Details (40) Be Careful, Erin Barker (This page)

BEING CAREFUL can be interpreted in a whole plethora of ways Sarah Crossley January, 2018

From taking care of yourself, watching over your shoulder or simply staying within comfortable boundaries causing discomfort isn’t necessarily intended when someone says “be careful”, but it is internalized by the receiptient a lot of the time. It’s basically a lazy and discomfited way of making sure that someone you love is safe. As humans, we do everything we can to avoid being uncomfortable out of natural instinct, but that means that we grow complacent and stop testing our own boundaries. Parents try to save their offspring from pain of all different kinds and sit at home fretting as kids make their way through the world. But kids who are told to be careful perpetually by hovering parents grow up to be scared adults. How do you go about being sure of yourself when everyone is second guessing your abilities to be aware, be present and

thoughtful about your actions?

Teach independence, don’t tell them to be careful.

We tell girls to be careful when they climb on the playground, when they start playing sports, when they start learning something new, when they play with other kids. We tell girls to be careful when they go out with their friends, when they walk home alone, when they go out at night, when they get on a bus or a train, when they drink.

We tell girls to be careful when someone is “too nice”, when they are followed, when they are touched, when they have sex. We even tell girls to be careful when they get dressed.

I’m not saying boys are never told to be careful or their parents never worry about them but they are encouraged to be independent, to be strong, to be aware, to be confident. Boys are pushed to do the things they’re scared to try, to jump, to climb, to play fight, to skin their knees, to get dirty, to toughen up, to walk it off, to take care of themselves.

The defining abilities that help children learn new skills, push their comfort zone, become independent and face adversity are propagated to boys monu-

mentally more often than girls. We help little girls when they’re scared.

We encourage little boys to take risks. And then, little girls grow up into women who aren’t sure of themselves or confident in their abilities, no matter how amazing they are.

“Parents also differed in their suggestions for children to be more careful in the future, with parents being nearly four times more likely to convey this suggestion to daughters than to sons. Frequently encouraging girls to be careful in the future may contribute to lesser injury risk in females.

Conversely, the absence of this cautionary advice may contribute to increased injury risk in boys. The downside is that girls may be less likely than boys to try challenging physical activities, which are important for developing new skills (Jodie Plumert, 1995) (Parents Talk Differently to Boys and Girls After Accidents By Jesse Singal).”

Women are consistently questioned in both their professional fields and personal lives. Are you sure you know what you’re doing even though you have 3x the qualifications of your male co-worker? Are you sure you know the answer to my question after working here for only 5 years? Are you sure you’re not being oversensitive? Are you sure you’re happy with your body? Are you sure it’s a big enough deal to make a fuss about? Are you sure you are wearing something appropriate? It’s like a record on repeat for half of our

Chloe Bren is a rad female who rock climbs, cycles, kayaks, Sups and so much more..

In terms of the outdoors being my “thing”, and actually the process of realizing how important it was to me actually came quite late. I had been going to a water-sports summer camp every holiday since I was 8, and then went to their paddle-sports/outdoorsy youth club as of 12. I ended up leading it once I was 15/16, but at that time I was still pretty convinced that I wanted to study English Literature and Classical Civilizations. But then every time we went to visit unis, I just kept being super interested in their outdoor societies and where I could climb and stuff, and in the end my step mum was basically just like “you don’t actually want to do this, do you?” And so it wasn’t until she found the outdoors degrees instead that I really envisioned it as something that could not just be something I did for fun during the

holidays, but I could own it and make it my career and take it places.

It’s pretty cool that someone close to you would notice where your heart was before you had thought of it as a life-plan option. You’re in the 3rd year of the Outdoors Education degree now? What have been some of the toughest parts for you and what has surprised you the most about yourself?

The toughest part is definitely the pressure I put on myself. I did quite well in 2nd year just by trying a bit harder, and the grades paid off and I ended the year with a First, which I was happy with, but it’s almost set me up with the idea that I could get a first overall. Now I feel like because I know I can do it, if I get anything less than I’ve failed myself a bit. Which isn’t true and it’s pretty stupid to get wrapped up in your own expectations but I really value the academic side to the outdoors. I find research fascinating, so I’m pretty determined to get a foot in the door of that world and it drives me to cut myself off and sit in the library all day doing work.

Take Care

There is an irony in the phrase ‘Being Careful’ when it comes to being a woman, or femme, or trans, or non binary. The feminine are raised to be careful, to nurture, to provide, all the while those beautiful qualities we are expected to hold are squashed by a society that idiolises a toxic masculinity. Being careful can mean be cautious.

Look out for your friends, manage your mental health, have a non offensive weapon in your jacket pocket for the walk home, get angry when your employer makes you work until the early hours of the morning without providing a taxi fare. This cautiousness can mean you befriend only the right men and distrust parts of masculinity or traits in other feminine people that tear you down. Being cautious can mean remaining quiet when you’re affronted with casual internalised sexism for fear of being disliked, shunned, or fired. It can mean twisting your identity into a shell appropriate to your gender assigned at birth. Being careful or cautious can mean never questioning. This can mean not changing anything, however care is essential to challenging the patriarchy and it’s toxic parts.

When you do this, you become dangerous, you become a target, you are the voice that terrifies the privileged to their core because they know that they benefit from this arbitrarily assigned power and your voice may take that away. So you go from being cautious, to being dangerous, and this is when you must be your most careful.

- Caitlin McKeon, United Kingdom

HEY, THANKS!

A special thanks to all the rad women who helped make this zine possible! If you would like to submit for the next issue (spring), please check faceďż˝ book and patreon links: Facebook Patreon If you really dig some of the artwork in this zine, check out some of the contributing artists: @HarrytheGirl @ErinDoodles_ @SrhCrossley @R_Knorr Dayna B Griffiths (www.daynabgriffiths.com) Shannon Leigh MacDonald (www.shannonleighart.format.com) If you are motivated from this zine as a whole, and want to keep exploring the wonderful world of women who do cool stuff, check some of these extra resources out: The Guilty Feminist She Explores Ladies, We Need to Talk Times Up Now OMGYES

Just look at it,really

WWW.PATREON.COM/SARAHCROSSLEY /SRHCROSSLEY

@SRHCROSSLEY

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