Best Fanzine: Music Men Ruined For Me

Has mansplaining ever ruined a song for you? An album, nay, the whole band? It’s a bitter experience that Alison Lang knows too well.

“This zine is simultaneously hilarious, heart-breaking and all too relatable,” says Zine Awards judge Jenn Woodall. “Hobbies that are thought to be the property of men have a long history of pushing out others.”

Former Broken Pencil editor Lang (we didn’t cheat! Take it up with the judges!) was way past the point of pissed-off when the idea came to her. If men were always going to sully her faves, she was gonna sully louder. So she called on her fellow women, femmes and non-binary folks to bewail and share their woes.

“This zine gives those stories a collective voice, which I found very comforting, as these experiences are, sadly, widely relatable,” says Woodall. “[It] also demonstrates the kind of amazing art that can spring up from pushing back against patriarchal gatekeeping.”

Required reading for every music dude. ‘Splain your way out of this one, bucko!