I finally made it to Junky Comics on Sunday last weekend! I'd been planning on going for months, since before it even opened. Things, life, etc, managed to get in the way, as they always do. First, of course, my partner and I went to Blackstar Coffee to grab a cold pressed coffee (yum!), then I went and entered the store.
It's filled with a huge variety of comics - sure there's not the sheer volume of comics as at Comics Etc, but there are a lot more quirky, hard to find, political, LGBTIQAP+, feminist, etc ones. They also have a section for zines! Local (and not so local) artists and writers are able to bring in some zines/comics that they have made and sell them in the store (the owner takes a commission of course). I subscribed about two years ago to the One Woman Project, with every intention of going to their meetings about feminism, gender, sexuality, human rights, etc. But then I was working so much and I was dealing with a chronic illness so it all just fell to the side. Luckily, there's a Feminist Fortnight coming up soon, a fortnight of workshops, Q&As and documentary screenings put together by the UQU Women's Collective and One Woman Project. To find a full schedule of events, head here. I'll be attending some of these events with a pen and paper, and writing up what happens, what we discuss and what interesting/new ideas I've gotten from the experience. I'm really excited that I can go to these and I hope to see some of you there! For many people, gender and sexual identities may not seem important or worth talking about; these people have most likely always known 'what' they are. For me, I have struggled with not fitting into boxes from a young age. While Australia is pretty open about the idea of 'gender equality', there are many who enforce strict binary gender roles. Our PM is one of them: In Australia, we tend to be all about the 'blokey bloke' men who are 'mates' and drink beer, eat meat, watch sports, etc. Women are housewives still, destined to have children, do most of the cleaning and childcare, and dress 'nicely'. I'm not saying that these roles are all that exist (nor that they are bad), but I have grown up having them enforced in one way or another my whole life, be it through media representations, family comments, or comments by complete strangers. When I was much younger, in primary school, I enjoyed running about, playing in the dirt, getting into scraps and more. If I had been AMAB (Assigned Male At Birth) this would have been seen as 'normal' and 'healthy'. Because I was AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth), I was labelled a 'tomboy' - a girl who acted like a boy. This label is based on rigid ideas about how boys and girls are meant to behave and what they are meant to like. |
Keira's Blog
This blog contains posts about my personal life, as well as feminism, gender, comics, eco-friendly products and other things I find interesting. My fiction/poetry works can be found here. All posts are written by Keira Edwards-Huolohan and belong to me. Please credit me if you share them. My pronouns are they/them. Archives
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© Keira Edwards-Huolohan 2013 - 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Keira Edwards-Huolohan with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. |