![]() Front page of the May–August 1936 edition | |
Discipline | Feminism |
---|---|
Language | English |
Edited by | Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper, Irene Clyde, Dorothy Cornish and Jessey Wade |
Publication details | |
History | 1916–1940 |
Publisher | Private |
Frequency | Bimonthly, triannually |
Standard abbreviations | |
ISO 4 | Urania |
Urania was a privately circulated feminist gender studies journal, published between 1916 and 1940. Editors included Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper, Irene Clyde, Dorothy Cornish, and Jessey Wade. [1] It was published bimonthly from 1916 to 1920, then triannually due to high costs. [2]
Many of the editors of the journal were connected through the Aëthnic Union, a short-lived feminist revolutionary 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]
The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement, was an early British women's magazine published monthly from 1770 until 1847. Priced at sixpence per copy, it began publication in August 1770 by the London bookseller John Coote and the publisher John Wheble. It featured articles on fiction, poetry, fashion, music, and social gossip and was, according to the Victoria and Albert Museum, "the first woman's magazine to enjoy lasting success."
The history of feminism comprises the narratives of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending on time, culture, and country, most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not apply the term to themselves. Some other historians limit the term "feminist" to the modern feminist movement and its progeny, and use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements.
Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth was an Irish poet, theologian, and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour activist. She was born at Lissadell House, County Sligo, the younger sister of Constance Gore-Booth, later known as the Countess Markievicz.
Postgenderism is a social, political and cultural movement which arose from the eroding of the cultural, psychological, and social role of gender, and an argument for why the erosion of binary gender will be liberatory.
The English Woman's Journal was a periodical dealing primarily with female employment and equality issues. It was established in 1858 by Barbara Bodichon, Matilda Mary Hays and Bessie Rayner Parkes. Published monthly between March 1858 and August 1864, it cost 1 shilling. After 1860 the Journal was published by Victoria Press in London, which was run by Emily Faithfull (1835–1895). She employed women workers, contrary to current practice in that period.
Esther Roper was a suffragist and social justice campaigner who fought for equal employment and voting rights for working-class women.
Anne Phillips, is Emeritus Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics (LSE), where she was previously Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003.
The Six Point Group was a British feminist campaign group founded by Lady Rhondda in 1921 to press for changes in the law of the United Kingdom in six areas.
Thomas Baty, also known as Irene Clyde, was an English lawyer, writer and activist. They were a renowned legal scholar and international law expert, spending the majority of their career as a legal advisor to the Japanese Foreign Office and publishing several works on international law. Baty was also a notable advocate for radical feminism and against binary gender distinctions. Contemporary scholars have described them variously as non-binary, genderfluid, transgender, or a trans woman.
Feminism is one theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, even though many feminist movements and ideologies differ on exactly which claims and strategies are vital and justifiable to achieve equality.
Mary Charlotte Lloyd was a Welsh sculptor who studied with John Gibson in Rome and lived for decades with the well-known philosopher, animal welfare advocate, and feminist Frances Power Cobbe.
Vera Louise Holme, also known as Jack Holme, was a British actress and a suffragette. Born in Lancashire, she began working as a touring male impersonator when her parents could no longer support her. A talented violinist and singer, she also was a member of the chorus of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and later became a member of the Pioneer Players. After joining the Actresses' Franchise League, she became involved in the women's suffrage movement. She became the Pankhursts' chauffeur and the first professional woman driver in London.
Mary Susan McIntosh was a British sociologist, feminist, political activist and campaigner for lesbian and gay rights in the United Kingdom.
Home Chat was a British weekly women's magazine, published by Amalgamated Press.
Home Notes was a British monthly women's magazine.
Anna Jessey Wade was an English suffragette and campaigner for animal welfare. She was the founder of the Cats Protection League. Wade also co-founded a number of other animal welfare organisations and helped create and was editor of the feminist gender studies journal Urania.
Beatrice the Sixteenth: Being the Personal Narrative of Mary Hatherley, M.B., Explorer and Geographer is a 1909 feminist utopian novel by English lawyer, writer, and activist Irene Clyde. Clyde, remembered by some as non-binary, transgender, or a trans woman, tells the story of a time traveler who discovers a lost world featuring a postgender society.
Dorothy Helen Cornish was an English Montessori educator, suffragist, translator and writer. She was a co-creator and editor of the feminist gender studies journal Urania.
Sonja Tiernan is an Irish–New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in modern Irish history and gender politics.