Cut and paste culture
March 11, 2026 3:51 PM
We’ve all read blogs and zines, updated our statuses on Facebook or Twitter, used Wikipedia, or listened to a podcast – so we’ve all participated, in some way, in what’s known as DIY or self-made media. The term is used to describe any media form that is produced, published, and distributed by their creator. As Brandi Leigh-Ann Bell states in “Riding the Third Wave: Women-Produced Zines and Feminisms,” they are most often non-commercialized and nonprofessional. DIY media is often described as a democratized media form as it allows for the perspectives of ordinary people to spread and be heard.
DIY media has been an important factor in all feminist movements throughout history. As Rachel Hurst, professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department here at StFX, says, much of the feminist theory we read today was initially read as pamphlets or articles in newsletters. The Riot Grrrl Movement of the 1990s, which is often credited as the start of Third Wave Feminism, saw an explosion of self-made media, most importantly through many women’s utilization of music and zines to spread their experiences with sexism. To this day, DIY media is instrumental within feminism. Zines, blogs, podcasts, and websites all help to engage women across the globe in discussions surrounding race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability, many of the key analyses within feminism.
In the foreword to Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism, Andi Zeisler discusses how zines, and arguably all forms of DIY media, are an important tool for women today because they bridge the gap between academic feminist theory, that is often overwhelmingly dense and abstract, and “the weird, should-I-say-something? moments of sexism that pock-mark our lives.” By reading or listening to other people’s perspectives on experiences that we’ve likely had ourselves, it makes the world seem a little smaller.
DIY media also functions to interrupt problematic cultural ideas that we often take for granted. Within most mainstream media there is questionable, if not downright offensive, content. By creating our own media, we can challenge these negative notions and as, Alison Piepmeier, argues we can “construct identities, communities, and… narratives.”
Activism doesn’t always mean protesting in physical spaces to get your voice heard. Instead, written and verbal discussions, both online and off, can serve to spread revolutionary ideas, small and large. The internet allows information to travel quickly and easily to reach a vast number of people in a short amount of time. This is why DIY media is so important within feminism today. And currently, there are thousands of feminist online resources encompassing all different genres and themes, so there is something for everyone. To the right are a few of my favourites for news, body politics, fashion, and popular culture.
