History of the Inter-Cooperative Council of Ann Arbor

Title

Lavender Woman

Description

Lavender Woman began as a recurring column in the feminist publication, The Feminist Voice, written by members of the Women's Caucus of Chicago Gay Alliance. By November 1971, Lavender Woman became an independent publication. The first issues began with only a few hundred copies, which eventually increased to a press run of 2,000 copies that consistently sold out.

In the first issue of Lavender Woman, the founders expressed what they hoped the newspaper might contribute to the lesbian community in Chicago and beyond: "We, of the Lavender Woman, feel that this newspaper, written by and for Lesbians, is a powerful weapon against the society that tries, in vain, to keep us closeted and out of sight." They believed the newspaper would help to nurture the growth of the Lesbian community and increase its political consciousness, offering a space for lesbians to share their experiences, gifts, and knowledge with one another. Different women contributed to each issue, listing their names on the second page of each issue. This was an effort to include many different lesbian voices and lesbian works in the magazine. Lavender Woman referred to these submissions as "bits of themselves" affirming that the art, writing, photos, etc., being shared were personal to those who chose to share their experiences.

Unlike some lesbian and feminist publications that operated out of universities and larger organizations, Lavender Woman never had an official office. Women met at each other’s apartments, where layout and paste-up happened on the living room floor, the kitchen table, or any available surface. Any lesbian who showed up to a meeting was welcome to participate as much or as little as she wished.

In 1973, the Chicago Lesbian Liberation group split from Lavender Woman and began publishing its own newsletters, including two issues of The Original Lavender Woman in September and October 1974. This was one of the first significant divisions in the lesbian periodical publishing community.

References and Further Reading:

Lavender Woman: Organization, Inducted 2017. (2017). The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

Corrall, C. (2019, October 10). Remembering Forgotten Lesbian History. The Chicago Reader.

Wooten, A. (2009, June 4). Lakeview was almost Girlstown: Feminists and gays cope with the ‘70s. The Chicago Tribune, page TAB-12.

Zimmerman, B., and Haggerty, G.E. (2021). The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures. Routledge.

Format

Newspaper

Dates

1971-1976

Publisher

Lavender Woman Collective

Location of Publication

Chicago, Illinois

Number of Issues

26

License

Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial

Web Source

Lavender Woman on JSTOR