Spare Rib

Infobox Magazine
title = Spare Rib


image_size = 200px
image_caption = (Spare Rib cover, December 1972)
publisher =
paid_circulation =
unpaid_circulation =
total_circulation =
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language = English
category = Feminist Magazine
frequency =
editor = Marsha Rowe 1972 - 1979? , Sue O'Sullivan 1979 - 1984
firstdate = 1972
country = United Kingdom
website =

"Spare Rib" was a second-wave feminist magazine in the United Kingdom that emerged out of the counter culture of the late 1960s as a consequence of meetings involving, amongst others, Rosie Boycott and Marsha Rowe.

Description

Its first edition was published in June 1972 and some newsagents, including W H Smith, refused to stock it at the time. It sold around 20,000 copies per month but was circulated more widely through women's groups and networks.

It avoided the glossy look of mainstream women's magazines in favour of a look that imitated the style of the newsletters of the 60s underground press.

Its purpose, as described in its editorial, was to investigate and present alternatives to the traditional gender roles for women of virgin, wife or mother.

Early articles were linked closely with left leaning political theories of the time, especially anti-capitalism and the exploitation of women as consumers through fashion. As the women's movement evolved during the 1970s the magazine became a focus for sometimes acrimonious debate between the many streams which emerged within the movement, such as socialist feminists, radical feminists, revolutionary feminists, lesbian feminists, liberal feminists and black feminists. [ [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/F/flourbombs/essay.html O'Sullivan] Losing sight of change]

It ceased publication during the 1990s.

Editors

* 1972 - 1979? : Marsha Rowe
* 1979 - 1984 : Sue O'Sullivan

Notes

References

* [http://www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/History/Sixties/Feminism/publications.htm Feminist Publications] Brief history of Spare Rib at Bristol University History Department. Accessed June 2008
* [http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2008/01/marsha_rowe Interview with Marsha Rowe] The first editor of feminist magazine Spare Rib interviewed by Claire Daly at The F-Word. 31 January 2008. Accessed June 2008.
*" [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/F/flourbombs/essay.html Feminists and Flourbombs - Passion, bitterness and feminism] " by Sue O'Sullivan, editor of Spare Rib magazine from 1979 to 1984. Accessed June 2008.
* [http://www.aidanbell.com/pdfs/sparerib.pdf Article on Spare Rib] by Hazel K. Bell from The National Housewives Register's Newsletter no. 19, Autumn 1975, pages10-11. Accessed June 2008
* [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=olAJxqGZ6VkC&pg=PT178&lpg=PT178&dq=Spare+Rib+feminist&source=web&ots=R09KJbXvGK&sig=zQXlpimClfSdxGuzmiuvdP69x3Q&hl=en#PPT178,M1 Women and Journalism] By Deborah Chambers, Linda Steiner, Carole Fleming Page 166. (2004) Routledge ISBN 0415274443

Bibliography

* Ed. Marsha Rowe, "Spare Rib Reader" , Penguin Books Ltd (1982), ISBN 014005250X

External links

* [http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&assetid=73951773&text=Spare+Rib+feminist Photo of Marsha Rowe and Rosie Boycott] Founders of 'Spare Rib', at the magazine's offices, 19th June 1972. At JAMD . Accessed June 2008