Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

STEVIE ZINE is an online culture magazine for and by women, featuring original reporting, memoir and satire. Publishing four times a year, each issue will be carefully crafted around a theme, using illustration and web design to create something that feels precious—even though it’s on the internet.

This is not your sterotypical women’s magazine; There will be no tips on how to hold onto a man. Our perspective is: Down with the aspirational brand. We think women want to read journalism that illuminates their unique struggles, instead of adding to them.

We gleaned inspiration from the fact that it’s harder for women to get published: 63.4 percent of media is produced by men. But the inequality doesn’t stop with the byline gender gap. In the New York Times during January and February 2013, men were quoted 3.4 times more often than women in Page 1 stories. And women make up only 23 percent of leadership and power positions in media at large.

STEVIE ZINE works against those figures in every way. We’re inspired by the unique perspective that women have to offer the media landscape. A story—a magazine—is different when it’s created by a woman. Different in a good way. Gender affects not just what story a journalist tells, but everything from who they interview to how they’re described.