{{Short description|Canadian transgender publication}} {{Lowercase title|italic=yes}} {{Infobox magazine | title = gendertrash from hell | editor = Mirha-Soleil Ross | editor2 = Xanthra Phillippa MacKay | category = Cultural | frequency = Irregular | founded = 1993 | firstdate = 1993 | finaldate = 1995 | company = genderpress | country = Canada | based = Toronto, Ontario | language = English | italic title = no }} '''''gendertrash from hell''''' was a zine published in four issues from 1993 to 1995 in Toronto, Canada.<ref name=":4" /> Mirha Soleil-Ross and her partner Xanthra Phillippa MacKay produced it from their own press in Toronto to address issues affecting trans people, focusing on intersectional, political art and writing.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Argyle |first=Sophie |date=November 12, 2024 |title=Gendertrash from Hell: Queer Connection and Exposure |url=https://arquives.ca/gendertrash-from-hell-queer-connection-and-exposure/,%20https://arquives.ca/gendertrash-from-hell-queer-connection-and-exposure/ |access-date=2026-01-21 |website=The ArQuives |language=en-CA}}</ref> The zine "[gave] a voice to gender queers, who've been discouraged from speaking out & communicating with each other".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Mackay |first1=Xanthra Phillippa |url=http://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/337 |title=Zine: Gender Trash #1 |last2=Ross |first2=Mirha-Soleil |date=1993 |publisher=genderpress |location=Toronto |via=QZAP - Queer Zine Archive}}</ref> ''Gendertrash'' was distributed via queer and feminist bookstores, then shared widely among trans people and the queer underground scene, helping form a collective trans culture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fellini |first=Dallas |date=December 2025 |title=Gendertrash From Hell |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2025/12/art_books/gendertrash-from-hell/ |access-date=2026-01-19 |website=The Brooklyn Rail |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Randle |first=Chris |date=June 30, 2020 |title=Queer People Have Always Found a Way to Tell Their Own Stories |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/history-of-queer-media/ |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Background == ''gendertrash from hell'' was founded by Mirha-Soleil Ross and Xanthra Phillippa MacKay in 1993, and published from their publishing company, genderpress.<ref name=":6" /> MacKay, a trans writer and activist, lived in Toronto and Ross, a trans artist and activist, moved there in 1992. The pair began a romantic relationship soon after, and also started to produce art together. In 1993, they created the film ''Gendertroublemakers'', which included interviews with each and footage of their embraces, with a focus on their experiences dating and socializing as trans women.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Cunningham |first=Sidney |date=2019 |title=Subscribing to gendertrash: The Radical Subcultural Transmissions of Toronto’s Original “TransZine” |url=https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/bsc/article/view/32785 |journal=Papers of The Bibliographical Society of Canada |language=en |volume=57 |pages=24 |doi=10.33137/pbsc.v57i0.32785 |issn=2562-8941 |via=Érudit|doi-access=free }}</ref>
Also in 1993, Ross and MacKay published the first two issues of ''gendertrash''.<ref name=":7" /> Their first issue began with the poem "welcome" by MacKay: "Welcome gender queers / to the world of gender trash / our gender world / where we can give voice / to our concerns in/around/about gender".<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Casalino |first=Rebecca |title=Proud Deviants and Queer Multiples |date=2021 |access-date=January 20, 2026 |degree=MFA |publisher=OCAD University |url=https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/3309/3/Casalino_Rebecca_2021_MFA_CCP_Thesis.pdf |page=9}}</ref> Ross and MacKay created most of the content themselves, hand-pasting a variety of art forms and writing styles atop a page layout digitally-designed by MacKay. Content was also added by their friends and acquaintances, and later, by readers.<ref name=":7" /> The zine's first issue stated that over half of its copies were distributed for free "in order to reach the transsexual community."<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Cunningham |first=Sidney |date=2019 |title=Subscribing to gendertrash: The Radical Subcultural Transmissions of Toronto’s Original “TransZine” |url=https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/bsc/article/view/32785 |journal=Papers of The Bibliographical Society of Canada |language=en |volume=57 |pages= |doi=10.33137/pbsc.v57i0.32785 |issn=2562-8941|doi-access=free }}</ref><sup>:16</sup> The zine was very popular for trans prisoners in Canada and the U.S. because of its politics and resources, and some articles were written by them as well.<ref name=":2" /> Ross and MacKay sent free copies of the zine to trans prisoners who requested it, and traded many letters with them.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Cat |date=November 5, 2025 |title=Unearthing The Hidden History Of A Singular Trans Punk Zine |url=https://defector.com/unearthing-the-hidden-history-of-a-singular-trans-punk-zine |access-date=2026-01-21 |website=Defector |language=en}}</ref>
Four issues of ''gendertrash'' were published, and its run ended in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mirha-Soleil Ross fonds (f0033) |url=https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/collections/show/16 |access-date=30 January 2025 |website=The ArQuives Digital Exhibitions}}</ref> Ross and MacKay planned to release a fifth issue in August 1995, but stopped when MacKay's health issues worsened. MacKay had previously written about her personal experiences with trans healthcare, epilepsy, and HIV in the poem “Don’t Touch Me—I’m Electric / TS Epileptic".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cunningham |first=Sidney |date=2019 |title=Subscribing to gendertrash: The Radical Subcultural Transmissions of Toronto’s Original “TransZine” |url=https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/bsc/article/view/32785 |journal=Papers of The Bibliographical Society of Canada |language=en |volume=57 |pages=35 |doi=10.33137/pbsc.v57i0.32785 |issn=2562-8941 |via=Érudit|doi-access=free }}</ref>
''gendertrash'' existed during the rise of third-wave feminism, when various other queer and trans zines began, like ''Homocore'', ''J.D.s, and Diseased Pariah News''. ''TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism'' and ''In Your Face!'' were two American trans zines that shared authors and advertisers with ''gendertrash''.<ref name=":2" /> ''gendertrash'' was one of the first punk trans zines, and bore stylistic resemblances to ''Diseased Pariah News'', ''Riot Grrrl'', and ''Fuzz Box.''<ref name=":8" /> ''gendertrash'' also used a similarly aggressive, confrontational tone and slurs such as "queer", "fag", "dyke", and "tranny" as punk zines like ''J.D.s'' and ''Queer Tapette/Queer Terrorist''.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:25</sup> While ''gendertrash'' was being published, MacKay cited ''TransSisters'' and ''Transsexual News Telegraph'' as the most similar trans zine contemporaries to her zine, because of their politics and recent origins.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:21-22</sup>
== Content == In standard zine format, ''gendertrash'' was a combination of art, poetry, resource lists, serialized fiction, calls to action, classified ads, illustrations, collages and movie reviews. By and for transsexual, transgender and transvestite people, it addressed gender experiences at the individual and societal level and prioritized sex workers, low-income queer people, trans people of colour and prisoners.<ref name=":0" /> The zine featured articles expressing trans rage, trans love, and resources by and for trans people. It criticized academia, the medical establishment, and gay and lesbian organizations' treatment and understanding of trans people. The zine also provided coverage and critique of the Camp Trans movement in response to transphobic exclusion at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bradley |first=H Felix Chau |date=November 4, 2025 |title=This trans zine from the '90s has never been more relevant |url=https://xtramagazine.com/culture/books/this-trans-zine-from-the-90s-has-never-been-more-relevant-277703 |access-date=2026-01-19 |website=Xtra Magazine |language=en-CA}}</ref>
Ross provided many interviews with sex workers for the zine, as well as writing articles from her own perspective under the pen name Jeanne B.<ref name=":2" /> Kiwi, Vivian Namaste, CaiRa, and Christine Tayleur were among the zine's contributors.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Marvin |first=Amy |date=October 16, 2024 |title=Philosophy Meets the Gendertrash from Hell |url=https://blog.apaonline.org/2024/10/16/philosophy-meets-the-gendertrash-from-hell/ |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=Blog of the APA |language=en-US}}</ref>
Articles frequently addressed the erasure of transsexuals from queer communities and the co-opting of trans identities and issues.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Namaste |first=Viviane K. |title=Sex change, social change: reflections on identity, institutions and imperialism |date=2011 |publisher=Women's Press |isbn=978-0-88961-483-3 |edition=2nd |location=Toronto |pages=121}}</ref> The zine and its authors often explained trans issues via linking trans identity and social class.<ref name=":3" /> Articles mostly used "gender described" and "gender queer" instead of "trans", due to the term's origins in medical jargon.<ref name=":2" /> The zine also made use of the term "queer" to identity trans people with gay and lesbian people. One piece stated, "We're just as queer as dykes and fags maybe even more so."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=du Plessis |first=Michael |last2=Chapman |first2=Kathleen |date=1997 |title=Queercore: The Distinct Identities of Subculture |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25099625 |journal=College Literature |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=55 |issn=0093-3139}}</ref>
== genderpress == Mirha-Soleil Ross and Xanthra Phillippa MacKay managed the zine's publisher, genderpress, which also distributed other trans pamphlets and literature, corresponded with local organizations and sold buttons.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Transsexual Sisterhood is Powerful": The Making of Gendertrash |url=https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/exhibits/show/gendertrash/exhibition-statement |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251104081034/https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/exhibits/show/gendertrash/exhibition-statement |archive-date=2025-11-04 |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=The ArQuives: Gendertrash: Transsexual Zine, 1993-1995 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Buttons as activism |url=https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/exhibits/show/gendertrash/buttons--buttons--buttons |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251221185123/https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/exhibits/show/gendertrash/buttons--buttons--buttons |archive-date=2025-12-21 |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=The ArQuives: Gendertrash: Transsexual Zine, 1993-1995 |language=en-US}}</ref> Button slogans included "Whining Works!!!", "our lives under our control now!", "Gender Outlaw", "Stone Butch", "Transgender Fury", "Self-Organize! Change your sex & your workplace", and "Closets are for Clothes".<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Many of the buttons address intersectional issues like disability rights activism, anti-racism solidarity, and vegan activism, and many gender identities and sexualities are represented.<ref name=":5" />
== Legacy == The Queer Zine Archive Project was the first institution to upload and share ''gendertrash''<nowiki/>'s first issue online.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:37</sup><ref>{{Citation |last=Phillippa B |first=Xanthra Jeanne |title=Gender Trash #1 |url=https://archive.qzap.org/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/337 |access-date=2026-01-22 |via=QZAP: Zine Archive}}</ref> Ross moved to Montreal in 2008 and donated many of her artistic, political, and personal materials to Toronto's ArQuives. These records were indexed by volunteers in 2015, and Ross helped organize and share further work, culminating in the 2017 digital rerelease of ''gendertrash''<nowiki/>'s four issues.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:37</sup>
The monikers "gender outlaw" and "gender queer" appeared in ''gendertrash'', and later became popularized, with Kate Bornstein long-credited for coining "gender outlaw", and Riki Wilchins for the single word "genderqueer". ''gendertrash'' used variations of both terms earlier but used "gender queer" in a slightly different form, and as an umbrella term for anyone who didn't conform to assigned binary gender roles.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:37</sup>
Susan Stryker and Talia M. Betcher labeled Sandy Stone's "The ''Empire'' Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto" as a seminal text in transfeminism. They identified ''gendertrash'' as one of the earliest followup works in the field of transfeminist literature, along with''TransSisters'', ''Rites of Passage'', and ''Transsexual News Telegraph''.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:30</sup> ''gendertrash'' may have also compiled the first list of gender resources and organizations in Canada, sharing verified organizational details in the zine's third issue, mostly focused on Quebec and Ontario, and expanding the list in the zine's fourth issue.<ref name=":9" /><sup>:34</sup>
Readers of ''gendertrash'' that went on to make their own trans zines included Sybil Lamb, with ''How To Kill Queer Scum'', and Anne Tagonist, with ''Unapologetic: The Journal of Irresponsible Gender''.<ref name=":8" />
== ''Gendertrash from Hell'' compilation == Ross compiled ''gendertrash'' materials into a 2025 book published by LittlePuss Press.<ref name=":2" /> The book is similarly titled ''Gendertrash from Hell''. Cat Fitzpatrick, co-founder of LittlePuss, helped edit the work, researching archival materials relating to ''gendertrash'' that had been stored in boxes in Toronto's ArQuives. She collected scans and various stages of each zine issue, letters and background items concerning the publication, and many draft materials for its unfinished fifth issue.<ref name=":8" />
All four published issues, a fifth unpublished issue, and archival materials were gathered into the book. It has a foreword by Trish Salah and afterword by Leah Tigers.<ref name=":2" /> ''Publishers Weekly'' labeled the anthology "a remarkable and inspiring record of community-building."<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 29, 2025 |title=Gendertrash from Hell: The First Print Collection of the Zine That Changed Everything |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781964322087 |access-date=2026-01-20 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>
The collection was shortlisted with distinction for ''The Transfeminine Review''<nowiki/>'s 2025 Reader's Choice Awards for the category of Best Transfeminine Nonfiction.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=TFR Reader’s Choice Awards |url=https://thetransfemininereview.com/tfr-readers-choice-awards/ |access-date=2026-03-16 |website=The Transfeminine Review |language=en}}</ref> It is also a finalist for the Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=March 16, 2026 |title=Finalists Announced for the 38th Annual Publishing Triangle Awards |url=https://publishingtriangle.org/2026/03/finalists-announced-for-the-38th-annual-publishing-triangle-awards/ |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=The Publishing Triangle |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == <references />
Category:1993 establishments in Canada Category:1993 in LGBTQ history Category:1995 disestablishments in Canada Category:LGBTQ history in Toronto Category:LGBTQ-related zines Category:Transgender-related magazines Category:Transgender topics in Canada Category:Zines published in Canada Category:Publications established in 1993 Category:Publications disestablished in 1995 Category:Defunct LGBTQ-related magazines published in Canada Category:LGBTQ-related magazines published in Toronto Category:1990s LGBTQ literature