Core 2 – Project 1 – Zine
For my first Core 2 assignment, I am tackling the discourse of touch isolation as caused by homophobia and heterosexism. Straight male culture in America largely consists of proving masculinity by rejecting any potential for homosexuality, which is seen as unmasculine. As a result, men deprive themselves and each other of gentle platonic touch between same sex friends. The term touch isolation describes the resulting lack of touch that many men experience. Touch isolation is bad for the emotional health of individual men, but also for society as a whole, as it can contribute to feelings that cause violent behaviors, alcoholism, and sexual violence. The phrase “no homo” is common in “bro” culture to reject any possibility of gayness in a moment of affection between male friends.
I have created a zine that would be distributed to straight guys in hopes of making them confront their internalized homophobia and perhaps change their interactions with their friends. The zine addresses touch isolation by twisting the phrase “no homo” and creating slogans like “no homo(phobia)” and “hugging isn’t homo.” While I use these phrases in an ironic way, I worry that the phrase “hugging isn’t homo” may contribute to the idea of needing to reject gayness. My intention in using the phrase is instead to say that people have sexual orientations, but gestures do not. Affection is not reserved for one type of person and off limits for another.
The zine also includes drawings based on actual photographs I found online of platonic male friends showing physical affection. The color pallette is very bright and could be read as feminine. That is because I want the zine to be accessible to straight heterosexist men, but more visually confrontational. When confronted with topics of homophobia and patriarchy, the instinct on the part of uninformed men is to get defensive. I hope to create a zine that will not illicit this response and instead may grab this audience’s attention.
Below is a copy of the zine which folds out into the poster.
Adobe Photoshop PDF