Status | Defunct |
---|---|
Founded | 1974 |
Founders | Lilian Mohin, Sheila Shulman, and Deborah Hart |
Defunct | 2010 |
Country of origin | England |
Headquarters location | London |
Distribution | International |
Publication types | Books, pamphlets |
Nonfiction topics | Lesbian feminism and feminist literary criticism |
Fiction genres | Feminist science fiction, lesbian literature, feminist poetry |
Official website | www |
Onlywomen Press (briefly known as The Women's Press [1] [2] ) was a feminist press based in London. It was the only feminist press to be founded by out lesbians, Lilian Mohin, Sheila Shulman, and Deborah Hart. [1] It commenced publishing in 1974 and was one of five notably active feminist publishers in the 1990s. [3] [4] [5]
Onlywomen was unique from other British feminist presses because it both printed and published material. This allowed them to control all parts of the "chain of cultural production" [6] and to "subsidize publishing activity" [6] by printing books.
Between 1986 and 1988 it published the journal Gossip: A Journal of Lesbian Feminist Ethics. [7] [1]
Writers published in the press often read their work at Gay's the Word bookshop. [8]
A number of noted lesbian writers published by Onlywomen Press include Anna Livia, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Jay Taverner, Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson, Sylvia Martin and Sheila Jeffreys.
Its last book, a children's book, was published in 2010. [3]
Butch and femme are terms used in the lesbian subculture to ascribe or acknowledge a masculine (butch) or feminine (femme) identity with its associated traits, behaviors, styles, self-perception, and so on. The terms were founded in lesbian communities in the twentieth century. This concept has been called a "way to organize sexual relationships and gender and sexual identity". Butch–femme culture is not the sole form of a lesbian dyadic system, as there are many women in butch–butch and femme–femme relationships.
Biphobia is aversion toward bisexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being bisexual. Similarly to homophobia, it refers to hatred and prejudice specifically against those identified or perceived as being in the bisexual community. It can take the form of denial that bisexuality is a genuine sexual orientation, or of negative stereotypes about people who are bisexual. Other forms of biphobia include bisexual erasure.
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. Lesbian feminism was most influential in the 1970s and early 1980s, primarily in North America and Western Europe, but began in the late 1960s and arose out of dissatisfaction with the New Left, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, sexism within the gay liberation movement, and homophobia within popular women's movements at the time. Many of the supporters of Lesbianism were actually women involved in gay liberation who were tired of the sexism and centering of gay men within the community and lesbian women in the mainstream women's movement who were tired of the homophobia involved in it.
Antisexualism is opposition or hostility towards sexual behavior and sexuality.
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men. Much of the theorizing is based in lesbian feminism.
Mary Dorcey is an Irish writer and poet, winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Fiction, a feminist, LGBT+ activist, and elected member of the Aosdána.
Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson are a British lesbian couple who lobbied to have their relationship recognised as a marriage in England.
Political lesbianism is a phenomenon within feminism, primarily second-wave feminism and radical feminism; it includes, but is not limited to, lesbian separatism. Political lesbianism asserts that sexual orientation is a political and feminist choice, and advocates lesbianism as a positive alternative to heterosexuality for women as part of the struggle against sexism.
Sheila Jeffreys is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Elana Dykewomon was an American lesbian activist, author, editor, and teacher. She was a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.
Anna Livia was a lesbian feminist author and linguist, well known for her fiction and non-fiction regarding sexuality. From 1999 until shortly before the time of her death she was a member of staff at University of California, Berkeley.
Conditions was a lesbian feminist literary magazine that came out biannually from 1976 to 1980 and annually from 1980 until 1990, and included poetry, prose, essays, book reviews, and interviews. It was founded in Brooklyn, New York, by Elly Bulkin, Jan Clausen, Irena Klepfisz and Rima Shore.
Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz was an American essayist, poet, academic, and political activist against racism and for economic and social justice.
Irena Klepfisz is a Jewish lesbian author, academic and activist.
Queer heterosexuality is heterosexual practice or identity that is also controversially called queer. "Queer heterosexuality" is argued to consist of heterosexual, cisgender, and allosexual persons who show nontraditional gender expressions, or who adopt gender roles that differ from the hegemonic masculinity and femininity of their particular culture.
Feminist views on sexuality widely vary. Many feminists, particularly radical feminists, are highly critical of what they see as sexual objectification and sexual exploitation in the media and society. Radical feminists are often opposed to the sex industry, including opposition to prostitution and pornography. Other feminists define themselves as sex-positive feminists and believe that a wide variety of expressions of female sexuality can be empowering to women when they are freely chosen. Some feminists support efforts to reform the sex industry to become less sexist, such as the feminist pornography movement.
Gender roles in non-heterosexual communities are a topic of much debate; some people believe traditional, heterosexual gender roles are often erroneously enforced on non-heterosexual relationships by means of heteronormative culture and attitudes towards these non-conformative relationships.
The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group was a feminist organisation active in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. While there were a number of contemporary revolutionary feminist organisations in the UK, the Leeds group was 'internationally significant'. The group is remembered chiefly for two reasons. The first is organising the UK-wide ‘Reclaim the Night’ marches in November 1977. The second is the publication of the pamphlet Political Lesbianism: The Case Against Heterosexuality, which advocated political lesbianism. British activist Sheila Jeffreys was closely involved with the group, while UK feminist Julie Bindel has spoken of the group's influence on her, as have many others.
Lilian Mohin was a radical feminist, activist, poet, pioneer of feminist publishing, and co-founder of Onlywomen Press, a London-based publishing house primarily publishing feminist work. She remained the director of the company until 2015. She was a published author and activist who appeared on the cover of Life magazine with Ralph Nader.
Helen (charles) is a Black British lesbian feminist writer and activist, who has written on womanism and the concept of whiteness. (charles) writes the shape of her name to recall the history of imposition of "family" names on black slaves.