Urania (journal)

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]

Urania
Front page of the May–August 1936 edition
DisciplineFeminism
LanguageEnglish
Edited byEva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper, Irene Clyde, Dorothy Cornish and Jessey Wade
Publication details
History1916–1940
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Urania

Background

Many of the editors of the journal were connected through the Aëthnic Union, a short-lived feminist revolutionary group formed in 1911.[3]

History

Urania's intention was to challenge gender stereotypes and advance the abolishment of gender;[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]

Content

Amongst other content, the journal published articles about feminist movements around the world[11] and compiled information about successful gender-reassignment surgeries.[12]

See also

References
  1. O’Connor, Sarah; Shepard, Christopher C., eds. (2009). Women, Social and Cultural Change in Twentieth Century Ireland: Dissenting Voices?. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-4438-0693-0.
  2. Steele, Karen (2018). "Ireland and Sapphic Journalism between the Wars: A Case Study of Urania". In Clay, Catherine; DiCenzo, Maria; Green, Barbara; Hackney, Fiona (eds.). Women's Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1918–1939: The Interwar Period. The Edinburgh History of Women's Periodical Culture in Britain. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 388. doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474412537.001.0001. ISBN 978-1-4744-1254-4.
  3. Tiernan, Sonja (2011). "Challenging Presumptions of Heterosexuality: Eva Gore-Booth, A Biographical Case Study". Historical Reflections. 37 (2): 58–71. doi:10.3167/hrrh.2011.370205. JSTOR 41403720.
  4. Carey, Niamh. "The Politics of Urania". Glasgow Women's Library. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  5. Hamer, Emily (2016). Britannia's Glory: A History of Twentieth Century Lesbians. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-4742-9280-1.
  6. "Talking Back". Historic England. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  7. Smith, Judith Ann (2008). Genealogies of desire: "Uranianism", mysticism and science in Britain, 1889-1940 (Thesis). University of British Columbia. doi:10.14288/1.0066742.
  8. Succi, Giorgia (2017-03-14). "Urania: How to be a bad XXs feminist and a queer angel in the 20s". Glasgow Women's Library. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  9. Oram, Alison (2001-06-01). "Feminism, Androgyny and Love between Women in Urania, 1916-1940". Media History. 7 (1): 57–70. doi:10.1080/1368800120048245. ISSN 1368-8804. PMID 21046841. S2CID 36188888.
  10. Clay, Catherine, ed. (2018). Women's Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1918-1939: The Interwar Period. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-4744-1254-4.
  11. Steer, Emily (2016-09-12). "5 Questions with Olivia Plender". ELEPHANT.art. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  12. Tiernan, Sonja; McAuliffe, Mary, eds. (2009). Sapphists and Sexologists; Histories of Sexualities. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-4438-0838-5.

Further reading
  • Patai, Daphne; Ingram, Angela (1993). "Fantasy and Identity: The Double Life of a Victorian Sexual Radical". Rediscovering Forgotten Radicals: British Women Writers 1889-1939. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 265–302. ISBN 978-0-8078-4414-4.
  • White, Jenny (2021-05-18). "Jenny White reflects on the legacy of Urania". LSE Review of Books.
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