Zine Review: How to Mosh Without Being an Asshole

Zine, Emilia Baeza Martinez, with the help of Regina & Sky, [email protected], no price listed

Geezuss Qryste, there is an urgent need for this type of information to be shared. For this reason alone Emilia deserves props. Sticking your neck out in defense of respectful punkness is often a lonely and dangerous pursuit. This has to be acknowledged!

This zine reads like it was slapped together over the course of a fun and chill evening with friends, some stickers and crayons, maybe beers or something. The writing is all done by hand, and the drawings alternate and interact with it with seemingly little regard for placement on the page. This is all very cool and hilarious.

It therefore sucks to be the one to say that this zine fails to live up to the promise of its name in a few respects. The first alarm bell was the line “Take into consideration other sexes that aren’t built the same way you are,” placed next to a drawing of a naked [woman] striking a pose you might expect in a greek statue or something. In my opinion, there are a few problems with this, namely: essentializing sex and gender and tying it physical strength and stature. I would add that the sentence structure implies a male reader, which is fair enough as 99.9% of the time they are the only people moshing in violent or disrespectful ways. I just think there’s a better way to address this gender dynamic.

I think the writers would agree that challenging gender essentialism is a part of struggling against shitty behaviours in moshpits. It’s worth mentioning that the facing page challenges sexual assault in the pit. This is important stuff! I think this is a cool primer that could use a little tweaking. I would like to see this spread and read at shows. Respect! (Stéphane Doucet)