women in print

The women in print movement (WIP) was an international effort by second-wave feminists to establish autonomous communications networks created by and for women. The movement encouraged women to write and publish their works in feminist periodicals which were edited by women, printed by feminist presses, and distributed by informal networks and feminist bookstores. WIP emerged in the 1960s out of the women's liberation movement, a branch of radical feminism that viewed patriarchy as a hierarchical, systemic issue that could not be reformed. Many radical feminists were also feminist separatists and lesbian feminists who used the WIP movement to create women-centered economies and cultures. The movement was decentralized and diverse, with hundreds of feminist periodicals and presses operating at the local and regional levels. Between 1968 and 1973, over 560 feminist periodicals were established. Although most English language scholarship focuses on WIP in the United States and United Kingdom, there were also feminist publications and women's presses in Australia, France, Canada, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, and India. Women in the WIP movement used their publications for consciousness raising, reclaiming and reprinting earlier women's writings, self-expression, education, and movement coordination. Feminist presses provided an outlet for women's writings without the censorship and gatekeeping of traditional publishers. WIP presses and printers also gave women practical and professional skills in writing, editing, typesetting, and binding. Feminist bookstores were spaces where feminists could meet, host events, and find publications that were difficult or impossible to find in mainstream bookstores. Many WIP periodicals, presses, and bookstores operated as non-hierarchical collectives that relied on amateur and volunteer labor. Most WIP presses and periodicals were short-lived due to many factors, notably the challenges of sustaining anti-capitalist enterprises that required significant resources such as equipment, supplies, and labor. However, WIP proved influential in the women's liberation movement and popular understandings of women, patriarchy, and feminism. Literary and communications scholar Simone Murray has called the mainstream success of feminist publishing enterprises the “most significant development in late twentieth-century book publishing." Publishers that survived into the 21st century include Feminist Press, Virago Press, and Naiad Press. Extant WIP periodicals include Sinister Wisdom and 13th Moon.