Blog 4 - Alternative Media - Gertrude Press

It goes without saying that the media is consistently bombarding women with images of what they should look like, how they should act, how they should feel, and most importantly in capitalist society, what they should buy. Mainstream media has found spaces for women to operate within easily placed constraints, such as the news outlets which are notorious for not allowing women to anchor certain shows due to lack of “gravitas.” Pay inequity is a given.

In creative media, women are systematically discriminated against both behind the scenes and in the limelight. While certain authors like Suzanne Collins and J.K Rowling have had great success that contradicts long established discriminatory trends in publishing there are still vast inequities. One of the biggest is seen in the LGTBQA community.

The creation of alternative media to uplift the voices of marginalized people is a crucial part of community building, education, and a staging ground for practicing craft. And an organization that I recently learned of does just that for creatively inclined LGTBQA peoples. Gertrude Press is a non-profit organization established to showcase and developing the creative talents of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer-identified, and allied individuals. The organization publishes a journal twice a year called the Gertrude Journal, in addition to annual fiction and poetry chapbooks that allow LGBTQA people to share stories, poetry, and art "without limitation on subject matter or background."

Taken from their press kit: The journal maintains a contemporary focus that is encompasses all areas of life—from the mundane to the exotic.

Named after the prolific writer Gertrude Stein, the press was created in 1998 by writer Eric Deheloy to fill the void in providing publishing opportunities for queer writers and artists. Apparently, it's also one of the only journals to feature all identities and genders in the same issue. Activism is at the core of it's identity and it is actually been used as required reading in some college curriculum.

As a collector of chapbooks (another form of alternative media akin to zines), I had learned about the Press at the CUNY Chapbook Festival and it instantly became enamored by the books they put out.

I highly recommend that anyone interested in art and writing support this organization by buying something from them.


Works Cited:
"Connie on Katie and 'Gravitas': 'It's a Chauvinistic Word'" New York Observer. N.p., 02 Apr. 2006. Web. 20 Dec. 2014. Crum, Maddie.
"Are Book Publishers To Blame For Gender Discrimination?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2014.
"The Status of Women in the U. S. Media 2014." Women's Media Center. Women's Media Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. . Perry, Melissa V. "Crooked Room." Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America. New Haven: Yale UP, 2011. Print. Hooks, Bell. Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies. New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. Print.