Feminist
Publications
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In the late 1960s and early 70s, the Women’s Liberation Movement
reached out to ordinary women, whether politically conscious or not, through the
form of publicised material.
Magazines such as ‘Spare Rib’ and the Bristol-based newsletter ‘Shrew’
were both a way of spreading feminist ideas and a protest in themselves
against the typical women’s magazine of the time such as ‘Nova’, with its
emphasis on beauty, romance and domestic life. These feminist publications identified with the ‘Second Wave’
of feminism that emerged in the USA in the mid-60s and spread to Britain and
other Western European countries. For
many women, imprisoned in their domestic life and unable or unwilling to
engage in the political fight for women’s rights, these magazines provided a
lifeline and an arena for discussion of issues such as female sexuality that
had been considered taboo for so long.
A witness at a meeting of women previously involved in the underground
press that ‘Spare Rib’ was born out of commented on how when, ‘ women [voiced] the other side of sexual
permissiveness...the room seemed to swirl with emotion so long suppressed’[1].
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SPARE RIB ‘Spare Rib’, one of the most prominent feminist magazines that
emerged at the time was launched in June 1972 in Britain. It was not received well by all and WH
Smith was only one of newsagents who refused to stock the magazine on its
shelves. Despite such obstacles the
first issue of ‘Spare Rib’ sold out and after this a small but respectable
circulation of around 20,000 copies per month was maintained[2]. However, such magazines were often passed around
at feminist meetings or in one of the ‘floating library’ systems of
exchanging literature that was established in cities such as Bristol. This was partially due to the fear of some
women of the reaction of their husbands if such a magazine was delivered to
or found in the home. In addition,
many women did not have the financial independence to purchase such a
magazine. One reader’s letter to
Spare Rib comments, ‘Could I
afford to buy your magazine I would support it wholeheartedly financially as
I do otherwise. I think it serves a
definite purpose amongst the ‘men’s’ magazines on the one level and the
‘knitting’ etc. mags on the other – lying on the shelf at the newsagents.’ The
actual readership of such a magazine may then have
been much wider. |
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Many of the founders of ‘Spare Rib’ such as Marsha Rowe and
Rosie Boycott were formerly involved in the underground press of the 60s that
had experienced great success with the advent of liberal movements. This was reflected in the look and style
of the magazine which shunned the glossy style of women’s publications such
as ‘Cosmopolitan’ in favour of a look that imitated the bold, simple style of
the newsletters of the 60s underground press. Its purpose, as set out in its editorial was to investigate and
present alternatives to the traditional gender roles for women of virgin,
wife or mother. Its early
publications were linked closely with political theories of the time. In particular anti-capitalism was linked
to women’s issues via the cosmetic industry’s exploitation of women’s
insecurities and the pressure on them to be beauty-conscious. It also carried articles criticising the
advertising industry and its encouragement of a materialistic consumer-culture. An early issue of the magazine for example
contains an article criticising the attempts of kitchen firms to persuade
women to perpetually update their homes.
It states, ‘There is no such thing as an innocent design. In the drive to sell, design is used to
convince consumers that products are continually new and improved.[3]’ |
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However, feminists have in hindsight commented on the reluctance
of the magazine to deal with one of the fundamental issues of Second Wave feminism;
that of the personal being political. Two of the founders of ‘Spare Rib’, Marsha Rowe and Rose Ades,
commented on such problems in a talk given at the ‘Women and the Media’
conference in Bristol in July1974, saying, ‘It was rushed into, so we were not at all sure what we
were communicating, and produced a self-conscious, still underground,
political hotch potch.[4]’ Despite such problems though, ‘Spare Rib’ provided a lifeline
for many women for whom it was sometimes the only means of contact with the
Women’s Liberation Movement and emerging feminist thought. |
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SHREW Local feminist publications also sprang up in areas in Britain
in an attempt to unify the female population of certain localities and combat
the sense of isolation felt by many women.
These often emerged out of local women’s centres that were set up to
offer advice and services such as pregnancy tests to local women. This was the case with the ‘York Feminist
News’ written, typed, duplicated and distributed by women involved in York’s
Women’s Centre and the ‘Sheffield Women’s Newsletter’ which covered events
such as the Socialist Feminist Conference in Manchester. A local example of this was the feminist newsletter ‘Shrew’ that
was set up in Bristol in connection with small groups of women meeting in the
area. It covered various issues and
its philosophy was encapsulated in the comments of one contributor, ‘I think we should work with women in any action
which is relevant to them as women, not necessarily as socialists’. However, the socialist ethic was evident in the magazine and in
particular in the way responsibility for its production was shared. An early issue sets out how this worked,
stating, ‘we decided
that responsibility for producing the monthly newsletter should circulate
among the groups, and that the chairman and agenda for the general meeting,
and the month’s correspondence, should be provided by the group responsible
for that month’s newsletter.[5]’ The local nature of the newsletter made it possible for it to
take a more practical approach to issues and attempt to change the lives of
local women. A more general magazine
such as Spare Rib would have found this more difficult. An example of this practical approach was
the campaign set up by ‘Shrew’ to investigate and improve the availability of
contraception and abortion in the local area. The research carried out revealed that contraception in the
area was difficult to obtain due to the restricted hours at the few clinics
in the area. For the majority of
women contraception had to be paid for and the consent of a women’s husband
had to be granted before an IUD could be fitted[6]. The raising of awareness of such issues
was one of the major functions performed by such publications but the ability
of a small locally run newsletter to change conditions for women was in fact
small. The magazine also made an active effort to change conditions for
local working women as is shown in their campaign to unionise night-cleaners
who endured sub-standard conditions at work and wages of as little as £12 for
a night’s work despite the unsocial nature of their hours. It also made a statement in its price
which was stated on the front cover as 6d for women and 9d for men, until
equal pay was achieved. |
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Letters written to magazines such as ‘Spare Rib’ and ‘Shrew’
indicate that they provided a life line for many women, ‘How happy I was to find from Spare Rib letters
that I am not alone in my struggle…’ However, the extent to which these publications influenced those
women who were not already interested in feminism is doubtful. The June 1971 issue of ‘Shrew’ published
interviews with a sample of housewives that suggested many women were
unaffected by feminist literature and indeed by the Women’s Liberation
Movement as a whole. One housewife,
on being asked what she thought of women meeting in groups answered, ‘I don’t
think it does a lot of good. I think
it’s a lot of lesbians getting together for a giggle…I can’t see any good in
Women’s Liberation. I mean you run your own home and if you are anyone you
run it the way you want it run…[7]’ |
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It is perhaps fair to say then that such literature did little
to convert those women who were not interested in feminism in the late 1960’s
and 1970’s. However for those who did
take an interest, especially those unable to take a more active role in the Liberation
Movement due to family restrictions or a remote location, magazines such as
‘Shrew’ were invaluable. Local
publications particularly played a role in bringing women with the same views
into contact with each other, helping to combat the sense of isolation felt
by many women at the time. The influence of ‘Spare Rib’ was more to do with its attempt to
provide an alternative to the glossy, ‘feminine’ magazines that were
available for women at the time such as ‘Elle’. The readership maintained by
the magazine and the lifetime of its publication (it was still available well
into the 1990s) shows the extent to which such an alternative had a place on
the shelves of Britain’s newsagents. |