Students launch new feminist publication called Catharine
Tuesday 3 January 2023
A team of undergraduates are celebrating the successful launch of Catharine, a new feminist zine (a small-circulation, self-published print publication) based at St Catharine’s. The first issue of Catharine was released at the end of last term, with 50 pages of content dedicated to the theme of ‘might’ and featuring contributions by students and alumni of the College.
Meet the editorial team
Sasha Brealey, a second-year English undergraduate, is the founder and editor-in-chief; Annie Lomax, a second-year Law undergraduate, is the treasurer; June Rippon, a second-year Music undergraduate, and Alys Mortimer, a second-year History & Modern Languages undergraduate, are the editors.
Speaking after the launch, Sasha remembered how the rest of the team got involved:
“It can be understandably dispiriting when you hear about or experience sexism as a young person, Feeling at a loss about what I might do in response, I spent time over the summer thinking about how feminism could have more of a voice and be more prominent, both within Catz and the wider Cambridge community. I was inspired by Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine of the 1970s, which played a crucial role in supporting the second-wave feminist movement in the USA, and I figured we could try to emulate this and create a magazine at Catz!
“Alys, June, Annie and I had already had many conversations about the state of feminism and our feelings of frustration or powerlessness, so when I suggested the idea they all immediately wanted to get involved. It has been great collaborating with them to bring Catharine to life, and we’ve shared so much of the workload, from event planning to social media!”
Alys added, “I loved the idea of a new zine when Sasha first suggested it – it complements existing groups like the Catz Feminist Society and offers a creative route into the feminist scene at Catz and Cambridge more broadly."
Creating Catharine
With enthusiasm for the concept of a new publication, the team soon turned their attention to coming up with a name and theme so they could begin inviting content submissions.
Sasha explained, “Picking the name for the zine was honestly one of the easiest parts of the process! After all, we want to explore the place of women at Catz and our patron saint remains an important part of the College’s identity. We then homed in on ‘might’ as the theme for our first issue because it perfectly encapsulates both the power and possibility of feminism, and leaves plenty of room for creative interpretation.”
Annie said, “Immediately after Freshers’ Week, we organised events that we called Candlelit Creatives in the Rushmore Room at Catz, to bring people together and help them develop ideas that they might want to submit for publication. We were honestly relieved when so many students turned out for these events – our first indication that our purpose and theme was resonating with others.”
Objects and quotes relevant to the theme of ‘might’ were passed around groups at the Candlelit Creative sessions to generate ideas for the first issue. One of the quotes that particularly resonated was taken from Steinem’s 2015 autobiography My Life on the Road:
‘I myself cried when I got angry, then became unable to explain why I was angry in the first place. Later I would discover this was an endemic among female human beings. Anger is supposed to be “unfeminine”, so we suppress it - until it overflows.’
Candlelit Creative session organised by the Catharine editorial team
Support snowballed during Michaelmas Term, which meant the team had only a few weeks to edit and collate 32 submissions ready for printing, as June recalled:
“There were a few sleepless nights when we reviewed content and set out pages, but it was so rewarding seeing everyone’s creative efforts coming together. We were bowled over when we received a beautiful piece from alumna Phoebe Luckhurst (2008, English). I particularly enjoyed the design elements, but the whole process was a fun excuse to take a break from our academic studies.”
Launching Catharine
The first copies of Catharine were officially unveiled at a launch event on 29 November in the Bar at St Catharine’s.
Sasha commented, “Thank you to everyone who came along to our launch event, which was a huge success. The Bar was packed with supporters from across Cambridge, and we sold almost all of our first print run. I know the team were particularly pleased to see men picking up copies and engaging with the content.”
The Catharine team is already looking forward to their next issue, which will focus on the theme of ‘reflections’. Submissions are open to all students and alumni from the University of Cambridge, and can take any form: poetry, short prose (up to 800 words), articles (up to 800 words), art, photography, painting and music are all welcome. Visit the zine’s Instagram to find out how to submit contributions by 12 February.
