Aysen Gerlach harnesses several levels of queer experience from her own and others’ lives in her Just Lookin’ publications. Strategically designed to celebrate alternative and queer-leaning subtexts in popular culture, Just Lookin’ humorously engages with media archetypes that are overlooked by some and heralded as icons by others.

The fifth and final issue of Just Lookin’ tackles the problematic standard that is homosexual representation in coming-of-age films. Highly popularized characters like Regina Girls of Mean Girls (2004) are often assigned in-house FOIL nemesis like Janis Ian to vamp up their intimidation factor and drive home the ‘cool girl’ persona that is so crucial to Mean Girls’ plot. Gerlach argues that the writers on this film and others will more than likely “hetero-up” femme leads with obvious tendencies towards queerness for the sake of convenience. After a few examples addressed thoroughly within a simple and satisfying design hierarchy, the reader will reassess these points of tension and reach newer, gayer conclusions.