The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(April 2021) |
This is a list of feminist bookstores .
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf, first published in September 1929. The work is based on two lectures Woolf delivered in October 1928 at Newnham College and Girton College, women's constituent colleges at the University of Cambridge.
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. 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.
Anti-abortion feminism or pro-life feminism is the opposition to abortion by some feminists. Anti-abortion feminists may believe that the principles behind women's rights also call them to oppose abortion on right to life grounds and that abortion hurts women more than it benefits them.
Bluestockings is a radical bookstore, fair-trade café, and activist center located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It is volunteer-supported and collectively owned. The store started in 1999 as a feminist bookstore and was named for a group of Enlightenment intellectual women, the Bluestockings.
The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and art historian Arlene Raven. The center was open from 1973 until 1991. During its existence, the Los Angeles Times called the Woman's Building a "feminist mecca."
In Other Words Feminist Community Center was an independent non-profit feminist bookstore, community center and events space in Portland, Oregon. Its mission statement read: "In Other Words inspires and cultivates feminist community, nurturing social justice." Founded in 1993, it closed in 2018.
Lucy Frey was an American feminist and gay rights activist and educator. She has been called "a founder of Alaska's lesbian community." On March 6, 2009, she was inaugurated into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame for her work as a feminist and an educator. Frey was also a businesswoman and a social studies teacher at Clark Junior High School, where she also developed the curriculum for the students.
New Words Bookstore was a feminist bookstore based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It opened in 1974 and closed in 2002.
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.
WomanSpirit was a lesbian feminist quarterly founded by Ruth and Jean Mountaingrove and produced collectively near Wolf Creek, Oregon. It was the first American lesbian/feminist periodical to be dedicated to both feminism and spirituality. Many of the contributors to WomanSpirit were, or became, well known within the women's spirituality movement. It had 40 publications, covering topics such as ecology, goddess myths and rituals, feminist theory, and divination. Its submissions included articles, photos, letters, book reviews, artwork, and songs.
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.
Women & Children First is an independent bookstore located at 5233 North Clark Street in the Andersonville neighborhood in Chicago. The store was founded in 1979 by Ann Christophersen and Linda Bubon as a feminist bookstore and place to celebrate and support women authors and members of the Chicago community. Women & Children First specializes in books by and about women, children's books, and LGBT literature.
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.
A Woman's Place was a feminist bookstore in Oakland, California. It was founded on January 18, 1972 by a collective of eight women who had previously been selling feminist publications on the street. 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. Members of the collective also focused on providing books from the perspective of the Third World and the working class.
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.