Off Our Backs

Off Our Backs

Off Our Backs was an American feminist periodical founded in 1970 that became a prominent voice of the second-wave Feminism movement in the United States. Operating as a collective publication produced by activists and writers, it chronicled and debated issues ranging from reproductive rights to labor struggles, linking local campaigns to national debates involving figures such as Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Angela Davis, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and organizations like National Organization for Women, NOW Political Action Committee, and Ms. Magazine. The journal maintained ties to movements and events including the Women's Strike for Equality, the Roe v. Wade controversy, the Vietnam War protests, and international conferences such as the United Nations World Conference on Women.

History

The magazine was established in 1970 amid converging currents represented by activists associated with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC veterans, and campus movements at institutions like Howard University, Georgetown University, and University of Maryland. Early issues responded to high-profile legal and political moments including the Roe v. Wade litigation and legislative battles over the Equal Rights Amendment, engaging with campaigns led by groups such as National Organization for Women, Women's Equity Action League, and radical collectives aligned with Redstockings and WITCH (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell). In the 1970s and 1980s the paper reported on demonstrations at sites like the Pentagon and the Capitol Hill hearings on reproductive policy while documenting labor actions involving unions such as the United Auto Workers and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Over subsequent decades the publication covered international topics including the Nicaraguan Revolution, solidarity efforts with South African anti-apartheid activists, and debates at the Beijing Declaration-era forums. Financial constraints, shifts in media ecology exemplified by the rise of outlets like The New York Times' cultural pages and the expansion of Ms. Magazine distribution, and changing activist infrastructures contributed to its cessation in 2008.

Editorial and Organizational Structure

Off Our Backs operated as a feminist collective in the tradition of cooperative journals like Mother Jones and underground presses linked to Pacifica Radio networks. Editorial decisions were made by rotating groups of editors and contributors often drawn from activist circles in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, with collaborative workshops similar to practices in Jane (magazine) and anarchist collectives associated with The Black Mask. Contributors and staff included activists, journalists, and scholars who also appeared in venues such as The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and academic outlets at institutions like Rutgers University, Georgetown University, and Columbia University. The collective model emphasized consensus processes and shared responsibilities for layout, distribution, and fundraising, coordinating with distribution networks used by Alternative Press Syndicate and feminist bookstores like Catherine's Bookshop-style outlets and campus cooperatives at Barnard College and Smith College. Fundraising and fiscal management intersected with nonprofit frameworks similar to National Women's Health Network financing and grant strategies used by arts funders and foundations.

Content and Themes

The magazine combined reporting, analysis, poetry, visual art, and manifestos addressing reproductive rights debates tied to Roe v. Wade and advocacy by organizations such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America; critiques of mainstream feminist leadership including figures like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem; and coverage of sexual violence cases spotlighted in hearings convened by bodies like Congressional hearings on violence against women. It foregrounded intersectional questions antecedent to scholarship from scholars at Berkeley, UCLA, and Harvard University and dialogues involving activists such as bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, and Audre Lorde. International solidarity reporting connected readers to struggles in Chile under Augusto Pinochet, Central American conflicts involving the Sandinista National Liberation Front, anti-apartheid campaigns in South Africa, and women’s mobilizations in Poland and Iran. Cultural critiques engaged with literature and media produced by authors like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, and filmmakers featured at festivals such as Sundance Film Festival.

Influence and Reception

Scholars and activists cited the publication as influential in shaping grassroots feminist discourse alongside contemporaries like Ms. Magazine, The Feminist Press, and campus journals emerging from Barnard, Syracuse University, and New York University. It informed organizing around Title IX enforcement, reproductive justice coalitions connected to SisterSong, and anti-violence initiatives coordinated with groups such as RAINN and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Coverage in mainstream outlets including The Washington Post and The New York Times acknowledged its role as a barometer of more radical feminist currents, while academic histories of Second-wave feminism and anthologies published by presses like Routledge and Oxford University Press have used its reporting as primary-source material. Its archival holdings are preserved in special collections at repositories such as Library of Congress, Schlesinger Library, and university archives at Smith College and University of Maryland.

Controversies and Criticism

The collective faced internal disputes and external critiques reflecting broader tensions within feminism, including debates over lesbian separatism associated with activists like Andrea Dworkin and disputes about engagement with mainstream political actors including Hillary Rodham Clinton and Eleanor Smeal. Critics from organizations like National Organization for Women sometimes accused the paper of sectarianism, while other feminists challenged its stances on sex work, pornography, and transgender inclusion—paralleling controversies involving figures and groups such as Catharine MacKinnon, Susan Brownmiller, Janice Raymond, and Lesbian Avengers. Legal and financial challenges mirrored those experienced by other alternative presses and collectives, and debates over editorial transparency and governance echoed controversies in nonprofit media organizations and arts collectives across the 1970s–2000s.

Category:Feminist magazines Category:Publications established in 1970 Category:Publications disestablished in 2008