Information Center Incorporate: A Woman's Place | |
Formation | 1970 |
---|---|
Defunct | 1989 |
Headquarters | 5251 Broadway |
Location |
A Woman's Place (fully ICI, Information Center Incorporate: A Woman's Place) [1] [2] was a feminist bookstore in Oakland, California. Opened in 1970, it was one of the first two feminist bookstores in the United States.
A Woman's Place was founded in 1970 [1] [2] [3] by a collective of eight women [4] who had previously been selling feminist publications on the street. [5] An outgrowth of the Bay Area Gay Women's Liberation, it was one of the first two feminist bookstores in the United States. [1] Intended as a community space for women, A Woman's Place stocked nonfiction books by men, but only sold fiction and poetry if it was written by a woman. [6] Members of the collective also focused on providing books from the perspective of the Third World and the working class. [5] The Women's Press Collective moved there shortly after the store opened. [2]
The founders of Old Wives Tales, a feminist bookstore in San Francisco, were former members of the collective at A Woman's Place. [3] [5]
In 1982, the bookstore stocked 10,000 different books. [4]
In 1982, a disagreement within the collective involving racism as well as lesbianism versus feminism with acceptance of male allies [3] culminated in two [7] : 599 or three [2] [3] older and white members locking out the others from the bookstore, leading to arbitration. The four members who were locked out (Darlene Pagano, Elizabeth Summers, Jesse Meredith, and Keiko Kubo) described themselves as "one Italian, one Jewish, one Black, one Asian". [7] : 599 The store later reopened under new management, and in 1983 an arbitration agreement was reached in 1983 that involved the incorporation of the bookstore. [2]
A Woman's Place closed in 1989. [3]
Judy Grahn is an American poet and author.
Amazon Bookstore Cooperative was a feminist bookstore located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that operated from 1970 to 2012. It was the first lesbian/feminist bookstore in the U.S.at some point, but certainly not at its beginning. The shop was named after the Amazons, a mythological tribe of fierce and independent women. In 1994 Amazon.com was founded and within a year, problems started for Amazon Bookstore. Terms of a lawsuit by Amazon bookstore resulted in a small settlement, and a requirement that Amazon Bookstore go by the name 'Amazon Bookstore Collective' to reduce confusion with Amazon.com.
The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Differences of opinion on matters of sexuality deeply polarized the feminist movement, particularly leading feminist thinkers, in the late 1970s and early 1980s and continue to influence debate amongst feminists to this day.
Naiad Press (1973–2003) was an American publishing company, one of the first dedicated to lesbian literature. At its closing it was the oldest and largest lesbian/feminist publisher in the world.
Founded in Upstate New York in 1978 by Maureen Brady and Judith McDaniel, Spinsters Ink is one of the oldest lesbian feminist publishers in the world. It is currently owned by publisher Linda Hill, who purchased the Spinsters Ink in 2005. Hill also owns Bella Books and Beanpole Books.
Joan E. Biren or JEB is an American feminist photographer and film-maker, who dramatizes the lives of LGBT people in contexts that range from healthcare and hurricane relief to Womyn’s Music and anti-racism. For portraits, she encourages sitters to act as her “muse”, rather than her “subject”. Biren was a member of The Furies Collective, a short-lived but influential lesbian commune.
Cody's Books (1956–2008) was an independent bookstore based in Berkeley, California. It "was a pioneer in bookselling, bringing the paperback revolution to Berkeley, fighting censorship, and providing a safe harbor from tear gas directed at anti-Vietnam War protesters throughout the 1960s and 1970s."
Pat Parker was an American poet and activist. Both her poetry and her activism drew from her experiences as an African-American lesbian feminist. Her poetry spoke about her tough childhood growing up in poverty, dealing with sexual assault, and the murder of a sister. At eighteen, Parker was in an abusive relationship and had a miscarriage after being pushed down a flight of stairs. After two divorces she came out as lesbian "embracing her sexuality" and said she was liberated and "knew no limits when it came to expressing the innermost parts of herself".
Borderlands Books is a San Francisco independent bookstore specializing exclusively in science fiction, fantasy and horror.
New Words Bookstore was a feminist bookstore based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It opened in 1974, one of the first feminist bookstores in the United States, and moved to larger premises two years later. It gained an international reputation, and by 1989 was the largest feminist bookstore in the U.S. in terms of sales. After the bookstore closed in 2002, the Center for New Words (CNW) continued its legacy until this organization closed its doors in 2008 and some of its activities were undertaken by Women, Action & the Media (WAM!).
Feminist bookstores sell material relating to women's issues, gender, and sexuality. These stores served as some of the earliest open spaces for feminist community building and organizing.
Feminist businesses are companies established by activists involved in the feminist movement. Examples include feminist bookstores, feminist credit unions, feminist presses, feminist mail-order catalogs, and feminist restaurants. These businesses flourished as part of the second and third-waves of feminism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Feminist entrepreneurs established organizations such as the Feminist Economic Alliance to advance their cause. Feminist entrepreneurs sought three primary goals: to disseminate their ideology through their businesses, to create public spaces for women and feminists, and to create jobs for women so that they did not have to depend on men financially. While they still exist today, the number of some feminist businesses, particularly women's bookstores, has declined precipitously since 2000.
Librairie L'Androgyne was an gay, lesbian, feminist bookstore in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, active from 1973 to 2002.
Darlene Pagano is a feminist activist, radio producer, and editor. She is most famous for her conversational piece "Racism and Sadomasochism: A Conversation with Two Black Lesbians" published in collaboration with Karen Sims and Rose Mason in a radical feminist anthology entitled Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis, for which she is also credited as co-editor.
Willyce Kim is an American writer. She is generally recognized to be the first openly-lesbian, Asian American poet to be published in the United States. Kim published her first book of poetry in 1971 and continued to publish poetry and novels throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She also contributed to a number of lesbian literary reviews throughout this time period. Her work is characterized by its celebration of lesbianism, strong women, and queer kinship.
Feminist Bookstore News (FBN) was a trade publication for feminist bookstores. It was active from 1976 until 2000, and issues were published sometimes bimonthly and sometimes quarterly. The publication was described by Tee Corinne as "the glue that kept women booksellers around the world together", acting as a network for feminist booksellers and publishers across the United States and transnationally.
Carol Seajay is an American activist and former bookseller. She cofounded the Old Wives Tales bookstore in San Francisco as well as the Feminist Bookstore News, which she edited and published for more than 20 years before ceasing publication in 2000.
Womanbooks was a feminist bookstore in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by Eleanor Batchelder, Karyn London, and Fabi Romero-Oak in 1975 and provided a safe space for women to learn and gather until it closed in 1987. Womanbooks was the second feminist bookstore in New York City, and the first to be inclusive of all women.
Common Woman Books was a feminist bookstore based in Edmonton, Alberta from 1978-1992. It provided mail order sources for feminists in Edmonton. The store stocked feminist, gay, and lesbian literature, newspapers, music, and books for young adults. They hosted events such as book-readings, book nights, and reading series. They organized concerts and took their books to small towns and other feminist events. The bookstore was a hub of activity centered on the desire for social change, and they had a bulletin board full of information, readings and signings, concerts, guest speakers, film festivals, etc.
Lollipop Power, Inc. was a nonprofit American independent publisher of children's books. Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the group emerged from a culture of feminist organizing as an outgrowth of a discussion group in 1969 or 1970. Operating as a publishing collective of a rotating cohort of around 10 members, the press published non-sexist, non-racist picture books for children to counter depictions of gender-stereotyped roles in mainstream children's books.