W TCH
BODIES
EDITOR’S
NOTE
‘24% of the people interviewed, heard, seen or read about in mainstream broadcast and print news are female; only 16% of all stories focus specifically on women; and 48% of all news stories reinforce gender stereotypes.’ (Global Media Monitoring Project, 2010) After a long and patient wait, the first issue of WITCH has been published. This zine grew out of a collective frustration with the lack of women’s stories being told in mainstream media. We converted this frustration into something productive – creating a platform where women could share their experiences without drastic restriction. WITCH is flexible and will be subject to change over time. At this point it is somewhat of an experiment with a loose concept; our key aim is to create a space where women can come together and express their views and share their journeys. Each issue will have a theme that will be relatively broad, allowing each of our contributors to draw from their own experiences and interests. This month’s theme is BODIES. In her philosophical work, The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir suggested that women look at themselves as Other. ‘Man’ is the norm, and ‘Woman’ is defined relationally to the central concept of masculinity. Sixty-seven years later, de Beauvoir’s words provided me with a significant understanding of how I viewed my own body as a teenager and, even as a hairy feminist, I still sometimes can’t help but view my body as somehow disconnected from myself. I sometimes look at myself from outside perspectives. I see myself and my body from the perspective of the patriarchal society that surrounds me – I view myself from the outside looking in, rather from the inside looking out on the world. I think this warped perspective of one’s own body is something that many people experience within the current political conjuncture. For this reason, to take control of our own bodies and to see them as subjects, rather than objects, is something that continues to be a radical act. This issue is about reclaiming our bodies, about seeing ourselves not from the third person, but from our own perspective, and about encouraging others who may struggle with this to do the same, and to know that it is possible. I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Lucy Sky
ONE
CONTENTS (IN)DIFFERENCE / HERMIONE FLYNN
THREE
SMALL TITS MAKE ANGRY OWNERS / NATALIE GRAYSON
SEVEN
UNTITLED / JOBI STRIKE SHHH / MILLIE SMITH PERFECT / CHANELLE DYLAN BODY BROKEN BY BRAIN / KATE SCHAUER THIS IS ME 1, THIS IS ME 2 / MEAGAN HEPP
LUCY SKY FENSOM ANNA LONDON & SHANNAH KINGSTON & MILLIE SMITH
NINE ELEVEN THIRTEEN SEVENTEEN NINETEEN
EDITOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER SPECIAL THANKS
The theme for the next issue is ‘BLUE’. Submissions can range from an essay about a time when you were feeling blue, to photographic collage showcasing a blue umbrella you are particularly fond of. ANYTHING you are interested in regarding to this topic. The last day for submissions is the 16th of May. Message us at infowitchzine@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Proposed Contribution’ and we will give you more information about how to get involved.
TWO
The exploration of what defines gender, and how those differences inform gender inequality is at the heart of HERMIONE FLYNN’S new work - (IN) DIFFERENCE.
Motivated and perpetually shocked by both historical and current gender inequality, FLYNN began considering the biological and socially constructed differences between men and women, and how these inform our behaviours today. It is through analysing, dissecting and reversing some of these typically male female visual symbols that FLYNN challenges our history of gender determinacy that has
THREE
left an unnecessary residue on the current social environment, even in apparently liberal societies. From the smallest of details to our innate biological differences, (IN) DIFFERENCE presents a multi-layered visual experience which incorporates a subtle nod, as well as an almighty shout, to the very things that define woman and man.
FOUR
Photography: Evelyn Bencicova, Fredrik Altinell Models: Nathalie Falk
FIVE
SIX
SMALL TITS MAKE ANGRY OWNERS Whenever my sister and I go out together, we always get the same comment: “Oh don’t you look alike?” Well yes we do. Genes tend to do that. But looks are about as far as it goes in the similarity stakes. Throughout our sisterhood we have always been close. It was always us against everyone else. I taught her how to stick up for herself and she taught me how to put my war paint on. However, we are polar opposites in the way we see the world and our places in
SEVEN
it, which is why when my sister made the decision to get a boob job the reaction she received from me was a mixture of fury and upset, understanding but incomprehension. We inherited small boobs and both of us felt the pressure that every woman is subjected to. The pressure of ‘Your body is just not good enough’. Right the way up to the age of 23, I was always longing for more fatty bits on my chest.
But something clicked in me when I turned 23, I literally stopped caring. They are small but they are freaking great and there is no point in longing for something which isn’t going to happen. That is, until I went shopping for my wedding underwear.
wrong with her body and that she could hold her head high and shout “FUCK YOUR STANDARDS MY TITS ARE AWESOME!” I tried to convince her to wait until she was 25 and see how she feel then, but to no avail, and she went ahead with the procedure.
I was standing in the changing room with the assistant (looking very sorry and embarrassed for me) who presented me with the only 2 bras they had in my size. Both were plain white – ugly as sin training bras; the same type I used when I was 13 years old. I came out of the cubicle in near tears. I was so angry and ashamed that this store did not think my size worthy of grown up lingerie. I am still guilty today of wearing padded bras. It’s quite difficult to get bras in my size which aren’t padded, so due to the clothing industry I’m either faking it with a 3 cup size boost (which is ridiculous because I don’t even have enough fat to fill the top and get a cleavage) or going braless (a definite no no for work), and I know that my frustration will continue for the rest of my adult life.
She’s had them for a few years now. As far as fake boobs go they look quite natural, and for now she is happy with them. But I’m still worried for her, because I know that the body image monster will reel its ugly, overly made up face again sometime in the future, so I’m preparing for that battle. As she got fakes so young, she will continuously have to have operations every ten years or so to replace them, and I see that she has convicted herself to a life of continuous nipping, tucking, pain and financial struggle, only cosmetically fixing her problems and not digging out the root.
At around the same time as the wedding bra incident, when my sister was 23, she called a family meeting and declared “I’m having a boob job!” with a huge smile on her face. My heart hit the floor and I cried. I cried because my beautiful, confident little sister felt that she didn’t look good enough. I cried because I knew her pain and frustration. I cried because she said she wanted them to be ready for my wedding. I cried because her boyfriend was paying for them. But most of all, I cried because I felt that I had let her down; I hadn’t managed to crack the shell and make her believe that there was nothing
Her decision came out of the blue for me. If I had known how she felt when we were younger I would have worked harder to empower her and helped her to not buy into the hype. I can see my failings now and I will ensure not to allow this to happen again. One day I or my sister will have a daughter, and there is a good chance that they will also inherit the small boob gene and know the frustration that their mother and aunt have endured. Next time I will be better prepared, and she will know from a very young age that tits don’t make a woman, fatty bits don’t matter, and to not be angry with herself, but to be angry at the body image beast and the industries which feed it. Image: Anna London Article: Natalie Grayson
EIGHT
NINE
Untitled, Jobi Strike, 2015
TEN
ELEVEN
Shhh, Mille Smith, 2015
TWELVE
FOR PERFECT FEET Allow them to carry you through love, loss, adventure, triumphs, dreams, and all that is the magic in this world. FOR PERFECT LEGS Bruise them. Break them. Run with them. Dance with them. Cover them in mud, hair, scars, fat, birthmarks, sunkisses. They can take on almost anything. FOR PERFECT BOTTOMS Basically, it’s an accessorised pillow of perfection that can turn almost any object into a comfortable resting place. FOR PERFECT TUMMYS A lot of action takes place in here. It turns our food into energy, excretes the nasties, carries our babies and gives us butterflies when we are falling in love.
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
FOR PERFECT BREASTS Let them jiggle about, feed life into our children, understand sensitivity, and just generally feel nice. FOR PERFECT ARMS & HANDS Let them create. Let them feel beauty. Let them hold another. Let them build. Let them express. FOR PERFECT HAIR Leave it wild. FOR PERFECT PETALS Take pleasure from her. Give life through her. Wee when you need to. Understand her power. And embrace Aunt Flo once a month! THE PERFECT FACE Make sure you have skin with pores, skin that bleeds, skin that sweats & cracks, skin that gets kissed by the sun. Make sure you have lips that understand the power of a smile. Make sure you have a nose that breathes life and smells memories. Make sure you have eyes that seek colour, and beauty, and windows to souls.
But most importantly; make sure behind it all you have a mind that is open, that imagines, that gives, that believes, that learns. Make sure you have a mind that is brave, that stands up for the passion of individuality, that loves fiercely. Make sure you have a mind that accepts the perfection that you are. Artist and model: Chanelle Dylan, 2015
SIXTEEN
[BODY BROKEN BY BRAIN]
At the deepest level I take my body for granted. My body is whole and it is strong. But, imagine: eyes uneven and displaced, vision through pinholes, muscles forever flexed with tone. To the unseen body, other assaults: derailed thoughts, shrouded memories, emotions primal, basic, childlike. Brain injury is to go back to an age you never were or will be and start life again from there in a new place that looks different, you think. And with different parts and new shoes that don’t fit anymore and made of plastic and other hands on you like a layer that you didn’t want to wear and wish to shed and cannot. But to see recovery is to see someone back – back to the path they chose before. The power I see grow in these bodies is in finding the old grooves of that path in new ways, and with new shoes on that you love again.
Kate Schauer, April 2015
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
Meagan Hepp / Above: This is Me 1, acrylic on skin, mono print 2015 Right: This is Me 2, acrylic on skin, mono print, 2015
NINETEEN
TWENTY