God’s Vagina
Zine, Courtney Toderash, withholdingstore.bigcartel.com, 28 pgs, $15.00
God’s Vagina was the first zine that I took out of my surprise envelope of review zines, and damn! Feminism with some good ol’ weed influences, what else could you need? This zine is pretty cool start to finish. God’s Vagina allows the voices of women, LGBTQ+ folks, and people of colour to tell us how smoking pot and getting high influences them. It’s not just the boy’s club. It was refreshing to read through the zine, as hearing these voices on the topic of weed seems like a rarity. The photographs, taken by Chelsea Hirons, were simple but delightful to look t. The riso printing is perfectly suited. Colours seemed hyper-pigmented and altered with an interesting contrast, with pinks being almost neon and everything else muted. It bonded well with the “high” theme. The cover and back pages are images of flowers, as arranged by Gunnar Floral (out of Toronto). The arrangement seems like organized chaos, which is fitting.
God’s Vagina is made up of 11 interviews. The questions being asked were often repeated, and although most of the time the answers would be vaguely similar, each person had a unique experience. I would have preferred a bit more diversity in the questions, but that is my only critique. Some questions asked were, “Can you tell me a time you’ve received weed free because of your gender…” or “What relationship to you see do you see between weed and marginalized groups?” Lots of responses stated Rihanna and the Broad City gals as their weed influences, which made me reflect upon how invisible pot pop culture is for women and LGBTQ+ folks. It is a treasure having this zine, and with a title like that, just imagine the “niiccceeeee” emoji.