Cindy Crabb (born February 19, 1970) is an American author, musician, and
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
. Her
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...
, ''Doris,'' played a central role in the 1990s girl zine movement associated with
third wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-wav ...
. ''Doris'' drew attention for its frank, personal exploration of topics, such as
sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
,
consent, abortion, addiction,
queer identity,
intentional communities, death of family members, among other topics.
Crabb continues to publish and
self-publish while also running an on-line zine distro that highlights feminist and personal zines by various authors.
Early life
Crabb was born in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, Minnesota. She described her early home life as a difficult one, in which she experienced abuse and financial hardship. She first attended an alternative school, which she liked, but she later moved to a public school in the sixth grade, which was "...a huge, terrible change." When she was seventeen years old, Crabb enrolled in a
Women's studies
Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...
class. During this time, "...I started retreating from society and dealing with some abuse stuff." Some of her friends participated in heated protests against United States intervention in Central America. She did not attend the protests, but the brutal experiences of her friends left an impression on her. She then moved to
Plainfield, Vermont, where she worked at the
Institute for social ecology
The Institute for Social Ecology (ISE) is an educational institution in Plainfield, Vermont, Plainfield, Vermont dedicated to the study of Social ecology (Bookchin), social ecology, "an interdisciplinary field drawing on philosophy, political and ...
and lived for three years. During this period, she began to explore
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
in her personal studies.
Following her time in Vermont, Crabb moved
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
. She joined the local chapter of
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs (FNB) is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. The group believes that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance ...
, after seeing a listing in the local paper that stated some people were interested in starting a local chapter. She lived in a communal house during this period. However, she left the communal house after a falling out.
Doris zine
In 1993, Crabb moved to
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, and began creating her zine ‘Doris’ in this period.
She was inspired by
Miranda July
Miranda July (born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger; February 15, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, singer, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art.
She w ...
and
Johanna Fateman’s zine ''Snarla''.
She was particularly interested in
secrets
Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy is often controvers ...
, and her zine had a journal-like, confessional quality. As she explained in an interview,
"When I started ''Doris'', I was obsessed with secrets. I felt like everything was secret inside of me pretty much. I definitely had concrete secrets about abuse, about family, and about abusive situations I put myself in, and also feeling crazy. I was very afraid of going crazy. I also had secrets about how beautiful I thought things were. A lot of my friends were very tough and thought everything was disgusting capitalism. And I thought, 'But look at all this beautiful stuff just laying around in hidden places,' and that was secret too.
The main reason I started writing zines was because I was obsessed with how alienated people were. Why did we just talk about music and tattoos, or Foucault? I wanted to break the barriers of what you could talk about. In the beginning I wanted to learn to write about political stuff. And then I stopped caring as much about that."
Crabb became close friends with the
Cometbus zine editor,
Aaron Elliott, and was later to form the bands Astrid Oto and The Blank Fight with Elliott.
Her diaries, papers, and website are archived at the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...
at Harvard's
.
Bibliography
Books and articles
* "How Jane Helped 11,000 Women Get Abortions When the Procedure Was Outlawed." ''Teen Vogue'' (2017).
* Learning Good Consent: On Healthy Relationships and Survivor Support, (editor) AK Press (2016).
* "Feminism…Anarchism…Anarchafeminism" (comic) in ''Perspectives on Anarchist Theory'' No. 29 IAS Press (2016).
* "Healthy Relationships" (essay) in ''Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth'', AK Press (2013).
* ''Doris'' No. 6 (excerpt) in ''The Riot Grrrl Collection''. The Feminist Press (2013).
* ''Encyclopedia of Doris,'' Doris Press (2011).
* Piepmeier, Alison. ''Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism''. (Featured/Interviewed) NYU Press (2008).
* "The Chain Reaction of Unsilencing" (essay) in ''We Don't Need Another Wave''. Seal Press (2006).
* ''Doris: An Anthology'', Microcosm Press (2005).
* Kushner, Eve. ''Experiencing Abortion: A Weaving of Women’s Worlds''. (Interviewed). Routledge Press (1997).
* Green, Karen & Taormino, Tristan (eds.). ''Girls Guide to Taking Over the World''. (essay) St. Martins Press (1997).
Zines
* ''Doris'' (1993–present).
* ''Masculinities: Interviews'' (2016).
* ''Filling the Void: Interviews on Quitting Drinking and Using'' (2015).
* ''Learning Good Consent'' (2008).
* ''Support'' (2005).
Bands
* Snarlas
* The Blank Fight
* Astrid Oto
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crabb, Cindy
1970 births
Living people
American feminist writers
American anarchists
Anarcha-feminists
Punk zines