New Arrival: On Our Backs
This week, to continue our celebration of Women’s History Month, we would like to highlight a new acquisition here at Special Collections: On Our Backs. On Our Backs was founded in 1984 as the first magazine in the United States to feature lesbian erotica for a lesbian audience.
The title On Our Backs is a reference to a long running feminist newspaper called Off Our Backs, which was considered by some feminists to espouse prudish views of sexuality and pornography.
Off Our Backs, however, was often critical of On Our Backs, publishing a scathing review in July of 1985 and publishing the work of many anti-pornography feminists.
On Our Backs ran from 1984 to 2006. Throughout this time, its editors and creators worked hard to advocate for a new kind of sex-positive feminism that was instrumental in ushering in the third wave of feminist activism. In addition, On Our Backs came to be an important publication within the queer press, which has often focused on the issues and concerns of gay men while under-serving its female-identified members. Later issues eventually came to include a classifieds section, pictured below, which provided space for the ever-important personal ads.
Special Collections is lucky to have significant runs of both Off Our Backs and On Our Backs. Visitors can see how feminist thinking and activism has shifted over time and how disagreements within the movement have historically and presently moved women forward.
For more information about our underground press holdings, visit:
http://pitt.libguides.com/undergroundpress
-Zach Grewe, student employee
References
“Classifieds.” On Our Backs, Vol 6, No 1. September 1989. Print.
Kulp, Denise. “Cruising On Our Backs.” Off Our Backs, Vol XV, No 7. July 1985. Print.
MacKinnon, Catharine & Hunter, Nan. “Coming Apart: Feminists and the Conflict over Pornography.” Off Our Backs, Vol XV, No 6. June 1985. Print.
