Liberating Histories

Women’s Movement Magazines, Media Activism & Periodical Pedagogies

Tell us YOUR story

An important aspect of this project is recording the experiences of actual readers of feminist magazines, people like you.

Artist Unknown, ‘Heteraecetera’ header graphic, Sappho 7 (1979), p. 9.

Our questions

We’d like you to answer the questions below and send us your answers.

  1. Introduce yourself. Tell us your name and which mainstream magazines (lifestyle, fashion, music, politics, etc.) you used to/still read.
  2. How/when did you first encounter a feminist magazine? How old were you, where were you living, who introduced you to the magazine/s?
  3. How did it feel, reading a feminist magazine for the first time? 
  4. Did you encounter feminist magazines through the women’s movement, or the other way round?
  5. What features or aspects of the magazine(s) stand out to you most vividly/are most memorable? Did you have favourites? Dislikes?
  6. How involved a reader were you? Were you a subscriber? Did you send in letters or listings?
  7. Did reading feminist magazines influence your politics or daily life? If so, how?
  8. As a reader of feminist magazines, did you feel part of a larger network or movement?
  9. Do you still read feminist magazines now? If so, are they print or digital? 
  10. Did your mother read feminist magazines?
  11.  Looking back, how much impact do you think feminist magazines had? 
You can download a these questions as a .pdf and print itDownload
Artist Unknown, ‘Illustration’, Red Rag 8 (1975), p. 31.

How to record your answers

There are lots of ways you can record your answers. You can:

Artist Unknown, ‘Letters page header graphic’, Spare Rib

When you’ve finished

When you have finished, here are some instructions how to send your story to us.

By the way, we use the phrase ‘feminist magazine’ to describe a range of activist magazines, made by and for women.

If this phrasing doesn’t fit with your experience, feel free to offer alternatives in your responses.