1970s Feminist Newspaper "Off Our Backs" Archive

Off Our Backs

Archive

[Feminism][Women's History] Off Our Backs. Washington, D.C.: Off Our Backs, 1977. Ten issues. Tabloid newspaper format. Unbroken 10 issue run of Off Our Backs, one of the most prominent and longest-running second-wave feminist publications in the United States. Founded in 1970 and published continuously through 2008 by an all-woman collective in Washington, D.C., Off Our Backs operated on non-hierarchical editorial principles and served as a vital platform for radical feminist, lesbian, anti-racist, and internationalist discourse. This ten-issue archive, covering the full year of 1977, captures the pulse of feminist organizing at a critical moment in U.S. history—post-Roe v. Wade, during the peak of ERA activism, and amid deepening coalitions among lesbian feminists, women of color, and anti-capitalist organizers. The issues document struggles in healthcare, prison reform, media criticism, lesbian liberation, and the global women’s movement, while also highlighting feminist creativity in art, poetry, and protest.

[1] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 1. February 1977. Includes special section on parthenogenesis as a feminist metaphor for autonomous female creativity. Regulars include media, health, and book reviews. Poetry by Adrienne Rich and tributes to Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.) engage the politics of feminist authorship and gender identity in literature

[2] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 2. March 1977. Features “Women on the Land,” a meditation on feminist land collectives and rural lesbian separatism. Also includes discussions of feminist educational initiatives, healthcare, and critiques of patriarchal science.

[3] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 3. April 1977. Includes essays on tolerance, bisexuality, and the illusion of legal neutrality in the law. Regular sections address love, death, parenting, and a humorous take on women’s relationships with houseplants.

[4] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 4. May 1977. Front page reproduces Bureau of Prisons censorship correspondence, revealing that Off Our Backs was banned from federal prisons for “detrimental content”. Content includes essays on Spanish feminism, critiques of militarism, and lesbian community building.

[5] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 5. June 1977. Special sections focus on anti-rape movement organizing, the politics of lesbian liberation, and reflections by Black lesbian feminist Rita Mae Brown. Also includes poetry and interviews with feminist laborers.

[6] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 6. July–August 1977. Themed around feminist spirituality and sexual autonomy, with essays on rape culture, consciousness raising, and critiques of patriarchal religion. Also includes features on lesbian separatist communes and political theater.

[7] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 7. September 1977. Articles on the Italian Women’s Conference, lesbian youth organizing, and critiques of consumer capitalism. Features include “The True Story of Ida Johnson,” a working-class Black lesbian woman, and commentary on the revolutionary potential of lesbian feminism.

[8] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 8. October 1977. Includes coverage of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, the Kitty Genovese Rape Project, and healthcare organizing. Articles critique U.S. militarism and highlight the voices of radical lesbians in cultural resistance.

[9] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 9. November 1977. Contents include feminist critiques of mass media and children’s education, reports on feminist fundraising strategies, and reviews of books and plays centering women’s experiences.

[10] Off Our Backs. Volume 7, Number 10. December 1977. Special focus on feminist prison abolition, critiques of religious fundamentalism, and educational reforms. Reviews include Outrageous Women and feminist film commentary.

Edges toned with light foxing and occasional edge tears, especially at spine folds. Overall good to very good condition for newsprint of this age. An outstanding near-complete 1977 run of Off Our Backs. This archive provides crucial documentation of lesbian-feminist resistance, grassroots organizing, and visionary critiques of state power.

Item #22531

Price: $380.00