Liberating Histories

The internationalism of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) tends to be overlooked and underplayed. In our first episode, we bring together Sue O’Sullivan of Spare Rib (1972-1993) and Red Rag (1972-1980) and Shaila Shah of Outwrite (1982-1988) and WIRES (1975-1985) to discuss feminism’s ‘international turn’ in the early 1980s. With a focus on the feminist internationalist newspaper Outwrite and WLM’s magazine of record, Spare Rib, Sue and Shaila talk candidly about diversifying editorial collectives, plenty of mixed feelings, and burning the midnight oil to ‘get the mag out’. Finally, they reflect on the role of media activism during a time of real reconfiguration and change. Links: https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/podcast-series/episode-1/ https://banmarchive.org.uk/red-rag/   https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/periodicals-guide/red-rag/ https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/periodicals-guide/spare-rib/ https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/periodicals-guide/outwrite/

What happens when girls make magazines? In this episode Sally Orson-Jones of cult girls’ magazine Shocking Pink (1979-1982) and Ione Gamble of zine-zeitgeist Polyester (2015-) discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of creating magazines as young women. How does content created by girls reveal and interrogate the biases of mainstream media? What is the role of girls’ magazines in generating a sense of feminist community? And why is there a photograph of a vulva in the second issue of Shocking Pink? Links: https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/podcast-series/episode-2/ https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/periodicals-guide/shocking-pink/ https://www.grassrootsfeminism.net/cms/node/165 https://www.polyesterzine.com/

This episode brings together Stella Dadzie from the newsletter FOWAAD (1979-1980) with Kemi Alemoru of gal-dem magazine (2015-2023). In a wide-ranging and thoughtful discussion, Stella and Kemi trace the histories of black women’s activism in the UK, exploring the influence of anti-colonial and African liberation struggles on black feminism in the seventies as well as the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. Drawing on their experiences of frontline media activism, they also reflect on the pros and cons of visibility, the enabling and constraining effects of anger, and the joy of collective creativity. Links: https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/podcast-series/episode-3/ https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/periodicals-guide/shocking-pink/ https://gal-dem.com/ https://www.kemialemoru.com/ https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/civil-rights-movement/empowering-women-of-colour-the-legacy-of-the-organisation-of-women-of-african-and-asian-descent-owaad/ The question of purpose and profit in feminist publishing is a topic that has been explored in depth by one of our sister projects, The Business of Women's Words: Purpose and Profit in Feminist Publishing.

How do feminist magazines promote women’s activism? In this episode we talk campaigns, cartels, cartoons, and court cases with two periodical pioneers: Lesley Riddoch, a founding member of Scottish feminist magazine Harpies and Quines (1992-1994) and Gail Chester of Women’s Report (1972-1979), the UK’s first national news magazine ‘for women, by women, about women’. We begin, however, with a question about the fiendishness of feminist crossword puzzles… Links: https://liberatinghistories.org/resources/podcast-series/episode-4/ https://lesleyriddoch.com/about

In this episode, we bring DIVA’s founding editor Frances Williams into conversation with DIVA’s current editor Roxy Bourdillon to explore the continuities and differences between DIVA now (2024) and DIVA then (1994). The history of lesbian feminist print media in the UK stretches at least as far back as 1964, and DIVA continues this legacy right up into the current day. Spanning the pre- and post-internet eras, Frances and Roxy discuss the queer periodical scene of the 1990s, contemporary DIVA’s commitment to trans-inclusivity, and the pros and cons of lesbian visibility.  Links: https://diva-magazine.com/ https://diva-magazine.com/2021/03/30/l-with-the-t-then-and-now/amp/ https://www.polyesterzine.com/features/dressing-dykes-the-fashion-of-the-lesbian-sex-wars

How do magazines create vibes? How do they stimulate feelings of community and belonging? What is the role of the contemporary magazine in mobilising activism? In this final episode, Sharan Dhaliwal, editor of the South Asian lifestyle magazine, Burnt Roti (2015-), and Amy Mae Baxter, editor of Bad Form (2019-), a literary magazine by and for people of colour, take us behind the scenes of their respective publications, discussing the curatorial role of the editor, the challenges of being the ‘brand’ and the role of print media in the digital age.   Links: https://www.burntroti.com/ https://www.badformreview.com/ https://blogs.bl.uk/socialscience/2019/10/past-is-now.html

This bonus episode features an interview with Zoe Thompson, founding editor of sweet-thang (2017-), a zine for black women and girls and non-binary people of colour. sweet-thang zine mixes the punk aesthetic of the riot girrrl movement with the vibe of teen zines such as Shocking Pink and the more recent Rookie magazine to create alternative media spaces for black artists and writers. But as Zoe reminds us, sweet-thang zine is also connected to a long history of black print activism in the UK that reaches back to the work of theRace Today Collective as well as the black feminism of the 1970s and 1980s. The conversation explores a range of topics from the importance of representing uncensored bodies, to the value of the printed object in the digital age to creative intimacy, but we begin with the essential question: What is a zine? Links: https://www.sweetthangzine.com/ https://archive.leftove.rs/documents/grid/title/title=Race_Today https://www.rookiemag.com/