Many of the editors of the journal were connected through the Aëthnic Union, a short-lived radical feminist group formed in 1911. [3]
Urania's intention was to challenge gender stereotypes and advance the abolishment of the gender binary. [4] each issue was headed with the statement: "There are no 'men' or 'women' in Urania." [5] "Sex is an accident" was a term frequently used in the journal. [6]
It was privately published by D. R. Mitra, Manoranjan Press, Bombay. [7]
The journal remained private for its 24-year history; a distributors' note at the end of each edition stated "Urania is not published, nor offered to the public, but [...] can be had by friends." [8] Urania's editors deliberately fostered an informal network of supporters and sympathisers, encouraging readers to send in their names to a register. [9] The journal claimed to have a circulation of around 250 [10] and was distributed free of charge. [11] University college libraries in Oxford, Cambridge, and America stocked Urania, although some Oxford women’s colleges banned the publication. [11]
Amongst other content, the journal published articles about feminist movements around the world [12] and compiled information about successful gender-reassignment surgeries. [13]
The Women's Library at the London School of Economics digitised the run of Urania from 1919 to 1940 and published it online in 2023. [14]