This zine is so funny and smart and sad and sassy that it's hard to write about without JULIA'S SIGNATURE ALL CAPS. They explore their no-gender identity and frustrations with other people feeling entitled to understanding an identity Julie doesn't even fully grok themself.
Since I read Every Thug in prep for a panel I was moderating, I wrote down a bunch of observations as if I was one day going to write an academic paper on it. As it turned out there wasn't nearly enough time to discuss with Julia and the other panelists any of the fancy discussion points I had from their zines. OH WELL.
One thing that appeals to me about Julia's zines is how many seeming contradictions they serve up. Julia is super into letter-writing, but doesn't include their postal address. They don't want people assuming they have the right to ask them questions about their gender nonconformity, yet their zine provides a lot of information about their body parts and psychological history. They advise you to drink a bunch to get out of the house in the morning, even though they're straightedge. Yeah, it's a joke, but still!
I appreciate their candor about depression and discomfort. I like how serious topics are mixed in with pop culture/music references. The handwriting, art, and collages all work together to tell the story in more than just a textual narrative. I could really relate to statements like this one:
Probably my #1 source of anxiety in life is the thought of inconveniencing other people with my existence, thus compounding the problem. ... I might as well just die at that point because of how inconvenient I'm being. They don't care. They just want to get me to sign up for a monthly coupon book. They're making minimum wage. They don't want to deal with my confusing, made-up-sounding gender identity issue..."
I relate to the not wanting to inconvenience anyone part, and simultaneous awareness people are generally way less sensitive to my taking up space than I am.
Julia provides step-by-step instructions for hacking your gender on Facebook, which I think is no longer necessary, but still cool that they helped you be a "they" before Facebook allowed it.