#onourbacks

[zweirdfemmez]

📸 phyllis christoper - on our backs 2006

[makadyke]

Female masculinity: Gender theory, history, and aesthetics in media and the visual arts

Bachelor's thesis, Sculpture course, Academy of Fine Arts of Florence

Maschilità Femminile: Teoria di Genere, Storia ed Estetica tra Media e Arti Visive

Tesi di diploma accademico di primo livello, corso di Scultura, Accademia delle Belle Arti di Firenze

[womanseeking]

Seeking Butch/Femme Dynamics

[butchaholic]

i'm not even all that interested in the contents of "on our backs" (this is a lie, but roll with me here)... but the search for more digital issues of it is almost addicting. it's a very scarce thing. half the results that show up when i search for it are articles about it being gone, and the other half are slander against looking for it, and then theres a sprinkle of braindead hotlinked 'archives' that were just indexes to other site's files that have long been removed. at least a dozen of these indexes were hotlinked to the same now-dead URLs... after that comes an even more maddening sprinkle of what appears to be unironic serious scholarly research about its apparently grand history, but paywalled so i can't even read those either! agh! to be denied something makes me want it more...

[robbialy]

From • @realleadelaria #FBF Me in an issue of #OnOurBacks, 1999 😂 https://www.instagram.com/p/CSMkbwmjMCW6fFlV-MWQI3tGNCkcI8wGi_NNrQ0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nitrosplicer]

On Our Backs, first women-run erotica magazine and the first magazine to feature lesbian erotica for a lesbian audience. Found in Frenchman Street Art and Books, oldest continuing gay bookstore in the US. What IS it with the queer/vampire connection, anyway?

[pittrarebooks]

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.

[dyke88]

I'll be at @kuntinuum tonight for @rebeldykes fundraiser, talking about creating #prosex #dyke #photography and editing at #onourbacks and #quim magazines in the 80s & 90s #lesbian #sexpositive with slides from @phyllischristopher & my own #archives #1990 #OnOurBacks cover photo by @jessica_tanzer