From the Editor: On girls and boards, by Nikko Snyder

(Editorial, originally published in good girl magazine No. 3, Summer 2002)

I can't tell you exactly when the idea to bring together a good girl editorial board first hit me. It may have been when a critic compared me to an abuser for using what she deemed were "oppressive" images in good girl. That was a key moment in my life - in fact, it nearly pushed me over the brink. It was the first time I was held personally accountable for a reader's negative interpretation of the magazine, and over the last number of months I've realized that this is a burden I neither want nor need.

The point of bringing together a board has been to transform good girl's accountability into a collective process. Over the past number of months I've become hyper-aware that I'm not equipped to speak for or represent anyone other than myself, and most of what I was sure I knew has dissolved into sweet, scary uncertainty. As an Aries, realizing that I don't know everything (and that I can never hope to) almost killed me. Accepting that I can't really know the experience of anyone else (whether it be another person's experience of racism, sexism, classism, ablism, ageism, or anything else) has been incredibly hard and liberating, all at once.

It's challenged me to think in new ways, to learn to move forward without knowing - through myriad contradictions - and to envision a new framework for good girl that's made it possible to rise from the ashes of criticism and stoically trudge forward on my journey. My new-found hope is that it's possible to let go of the idea that good girl needs to represent women - I want to work instead to create a space where women and men can come (whether as readers, writers, artists or editors) and take responsibility for representing their own experience, and listening (really listening) to the experiences of others. It's this new philosophy on magazine publishing (and life) that's made this third, cooperatively constructed issue of good girl possible.

After realizing that a collectively accountable decision-making process would make for a stronger, more ethical and all-around BETTER good girl, I put the word out for applications to sit on good girl's first ever editorial board.The incredible response was both a blessing and a curse! Imagine hanging out with 30 of the smartest and coolest women (and man - see page 3) and having to turn 20 of them away. I almost gave up before I got started!

I managed to narrow it down (it felt like picking names from a hat by the end), and then the real action started. From our first chaotic online board meeting (a bizarre slumber-party-meets-super-heroine-adventure cyberspace hybrid: "I'm going out to look for Jess!" "No,don't leave me in this chat room by myself!" "I promise I'll come back for you!") to our experimental collaborative editing process, to the raging online debate that continues as I sit here typing this, it's been an incredible process that just wants to keep growing.

This humble bunch of stapled paper is what we have to show for our labours, and I have no doubt that it's just the beginning. Above all,we need to hear from you to help us know what's working, what isn't, and how to make good girl better! From Mariko Tamaki's art and activism to shoes to handiness to TV fitness, we all (board and contributors included) want to get real discussions going, where we (you and us!) challenge, question, and evolve as individuals and as a growing community.This dialogue is where the real potential strength of this project lies.

One example of this potential has lodged itself in my mind: “Journal of a Rape Survivor” strapped us into a roller coaster that hasn't begun to slow down.How do you publish a first-hand account of rape? None of us could claim to know. As a board, we came at it from all angles - some as self-identified sexual assault survivors, some who, after reading Siobhan's piece, considered for the first time that they may in fact be survivors themselves,and some who do not count themselves as one of the 1 in 4 Canadian women who are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Talking about rape from these multiple perspectives in a manner that made it OK to share experiences, acknowledge limitations, make mistakes and ask ourselves questions that we didn't know needed asking, has been an extraordinary experience. I want to invite you to join us in this continuing discussion over the coming months and into future issues of good girl.

I hope this gives you a taste of what's gone into getting this brand spanking new issue of good girl into your hands. Without your continued support (keep telling your friends!) good girl wouldn't be moving towards where we know she can be. Last but not least, this issue wouldn't be complete without extending many huge, exuberant, sincere hugs and kisses to the women who made it possible: my (and your) new board. So to Candis, Elena, Jenn, Jess, Karin, Kate, Leah, Nermeen, Sharon, and Stacey: may this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

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