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=Off Our Backs= Off our backs (oob) is an American radical non-profit feminist periodical. The off our backs publication started off as a newspaper but later became a magazine. It started in the United States during a time where the press did not represent women's voices. It started off as a biweekly publication, but after pressing consideration by its members got changed to bi-monthly in 2002. Off our backs started off as a coffee house to convince men not to enlist in the Vietnam War but the founders decided to make it a feminist periodical instead. Off our backs was aimed at discussing issues concerning women on both a national and international scale. The off our backs contributors reviewed feminist books and conducted interviews with well-known feminists. Off our backs made use of volunteers to publish its articles which reduced the costs of production. Off our backs made use of consensus decision-making where all members were responsible for every decision made concerning the publication. The magazine eventually had to shut down in 2008. Off our backs was one of the only feminist magazines published during its time that was able to merge second and third-wave feminism. Second-wave feminism is said to have begun in the United States and spread all over the world. Second- wave feminists were not only interested in continuing to fight for gender equality but were also fighting for issues like sexuality, workplace, and reproductive rights. Third- wave feminists, on the other hand, were more interested in issues of individuality and diversity. There is evidence that feminist media has had a significant impact on the feminist movement through the years. Different forms of media over the years have been used to distribute information about issues faced by women. Although hard copy newspapers do not have the same amount of readership they had in the past, newspapers played a massive role in circulating feminist ideas and news within the western world. The Off our backs magazine influenced the creation of the song “off our backs.” This song was in support of the radical news periodical off our backs. Off our backs also influenced the creation of “on our backs.” "on our backs" was a satirical reference to the magazine "off our backs" which spanned from 1970 to 2008.

History
As mentioned earlier, Off Our Backs (oob) is an American radical non-profit feminist periodical. Off our backs started off as a newspaper publication which was later turned to a magazine. It was published in Washington, DC and ran from the year 1970 till its demise in 2008. Off our backs addressed controversial issues both on a national and international scale. It was also a non-profit organization with collective decision making and written almost entirely by female non-professionals from all works of life. The magazine's mission statement was to "provide news and information about women’s lives and feminist activism". The magazine also "educated the public about the status of women all over the world." . The magazine also got used as a forum for "the discussion of feminist ideas and theory on issues like women’s and lesbian culture". It also aimed to seek social justice and equality for women worldwide. Off our backs was formed by "Marilyn Salzman Webb, Norma Lesser, Marlene Wicks, Nancy Ferro Heidi and Nan Steffens". The off our backs founders collected $400 to start an anti-war coffee house to try to persuade men not to enlist in the army during the Vietnam war. Instead of creating the coffeehouse, they decided to use the money to start a feminist periodical they called off our backs .Off our backs was created around the time that second-wave feminism was in effect .The second-wave feminists were concerned with fighting for "women’s rights dealing with issues of family, sexuality, workplace equality and reproductive rights." . Marilyn Webb and her associates decided to create the radical feminist periodical to discuss issues concerning women worldwide since the press was neglecting to cover these issues that were important for the new women's liberation movement. The off our backs publication used a consensus model for all their decision making to ensure that there was a variety of voices present. . Also, this method of sharing power among staff members and readers helped include an alternative feminist message of empowerment in the media. Off our backs was made for and by women as men were seldom allowed to partake in its production. . Off our backs had a lot of influence as it was the first magazine to appear on the east coast during the period of the Vietnam War. The magazine's name "off our backs" was selected because of its ability to indicate the end of sexual passivity by women and its willingness to announce the importance of ending the unjust social systems seen worldwide by forcing oppressors off the backs of those oppressed. The name "off our backs" was also used to mean "the opposition and destruction of patriarchy while exploiting the masses for the profit of a few". The magazine's first edition’s introduction pointed out "the discrimination endured by women in the establishment news media where competent female journalists could be assigned trivial assignments based on their gender". The first issue of the off our backs periodical was a 12- page tabloid published on February 27, 1970. . The issue discussed "abortions at a Washington DC hospital, medical problems with the pill, how to use a diaphragm, and an editorial which urged women to join in a celebration of International Women’s Day scheduled on March 8th", 1970. Off our backs published various articles that discussed issues concerning women which were not covered by the press. Off our backs was "the first feminist newspaper to report the torture of women prisoners of War in South Vietnam". "Off our backs" was also the first feminist magazine to" publish Jane Alpert’s manifesto, “mother right” where Jane Alpert] who had gone underground to escape bombing charges surprised her former comrades by denouncing "male left" and committing herself to feminism" . Trying times came in the [[1980s when Off our backs faced money issues due to a collective member embezzling the funds meant for the publication . As a result, the other collective members had to lend money to the magazine for it to continue publishing . The off our backs periodical faced a significant change when Marylyn Webb, one of the founders was asked to leave the paper .After Webb's expulsion, five out of the twelve members of "off our backs" left the publication because they decided to set up a different media enterprise focused on exploring lesbian experiences. . During the 1990’s second-wave feminism had grown weak but off our backs was able to stay afloat with the new members that had joined them. . "Off our backs" was one of the few publications that were able to successfully merge second–wave to third-wave feminism . In its special issues, the publication in the early twentieth century issued "a quarterly that offered news, essays and creative expression on everything from alternatives to patriarchy to military power, from censorship to body image, from the media to money and class; each story told from a radical point of view" . In 2002, the off our backs editors decided to change the periodical from a biweekly to a bimonthly journal . Off our backs ceased publishing articles in 2008 . Off our backs had a problem when women of color insisted that they let them control issues directly affecting women of color. This led to the creation of the "women of color issue".

Marilyn Salzman Webb
Marilyn Webb was "an American activist, author, journalist, and professor". Marilyn Web was part of the student democratic society and was one of the founders of the off our backs collective which was a feminist periodical founded in 1970. Marilyn Webb also established the first women’s groups in Chicago and Washington DC. Marylyn Webb also wrote, "the book, The Good Death: The New American Search to Reshape the End of Life (1997) and was later nominated for the Pulitzer Prize". She taught at Columbia University and Knox College. .She was also "the founder of the new journalism program at Knox College". She created "a women’s studies program at Goddard College". She also "got interviewed as part of the documentary Rebels with a cause". She got featured in the feminist history film, "She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry".

Carol Anne Douglas
Carol Anne Douglas was one of the contributors for the off our backs publication and a radical feminist writer. Carol was part of the editorial staff who created the magazine from its beginning in 1970 till its demise in 2008. During her time writing for the journal, she "successfully wrote over 200 reviews on feminist books like Gyn/ Ecology by Mary Daly; Are women human by Catherine. A. Mackinno. Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel and women’s liberation by Andrea Dworkin; The politics of reality by Marilyn Frge and Susan. B. Anthony, Biography of a singular feminist by Katherine Barry and lesbian ethics: towards new values by Sarah Hoagland". Carol was also known to have interviewed many feminist workers and activists, for example, Pauline Bart (a feminist sociologist who was concerned with research that supported a feminist analysis of issues affecting women). In her interview with Pauline Bart in 1998, Dart discussed on what her most important work at that time was. Bart said her most important work was on research supporting feminist analysis of issues affecting women. She continued to say that" the only time she deliberately avoided directly addressing women’s issues was, when, after writing about depression in middle-aged women, better known as “Portnoy's Mother’s complaint,” she couldn’t get a job". Caroline wrote a theory book “Love and Politics: Radical and Lesbian Feminist Theory, which got published in 1990. She also wrote the following articles": I’ll Take the Low Road: a Look at Contemporary Feminist Theory and A world Where Justice Brings Peace" .” Carol Anne also belongs to the Old Lesbians Organization for Change (OLOC). She is a founding member of "the Washington Metropolitan Area chapter of OLOC". Carol Douglas received the award for "the National OLOC 2017 Del Martin award for lifetime service to lesbians".

The History Of feminism
First-wave feminism was in existence between the 19th and 20th century throughout the world. First- wave feminism was a period were feminist focused on gaining women’s suffrage which is the right to vote. This type of feminism was born out of the struggles over equality and gender differences under the patriarchal system present in various parts of the world. The political origins of the first-wave feminism rose from the French Revolution in 1789, which was a period that dealt with issues concerning legal equality, freedoms and political rights. For example, "Rousseau’s political theory excluded women from property and rights but in the French revolution; the voices of women began to express themselves collectively". The term first- wave was first introduced by Martha Learin in 1986 when she used it in her writing in the New York Times" . Some of the early Feminist activists include "Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Blackwell, Jane Addams and Dorothy Day" . Although, white women in the middle-class were at the forefront of first- wave feminism; voices of women of color got excluded until second-wave feminism came along . The first-wave feminism had many victories including women the right to vote, own property and their right to an education. . Second-wave feminism like first-wave feminism began in the United States and eventually spread to other parts of the world . First-wave feminism "focused on suffrage and Gender equality, second-wave feminism, on the other hand, continued to fight for gender equality but added a wide range of other issues like family, the workplace, sexuality and reproductive rights". Second- wave feminism was also known for drawing attention to issues of domestic violence, marital rape, creating shelters for women, and changes in laws dealing with custody and divorce. . The second- wave feminism in America is perceived to have "risen from the delayed reaction to the domesticity of women after world war 11 due to economic growth, Baby boom and the ideal of compassionate marriage". At this point, women were the inferior gender in the patriarchal and male-dominated society. In 1963, "Betty Friedan wrote the best selling book, The Feminine Mystique discusses the media's depiction of white women as home-makers and how this depiction limits the possibilities of what women could become .The Second Sex influenced this book . A lot of people would suggest that second-wave feminism ended in the 1980s and the third-wave feminism sprung up in the early 1990s. . The exact period that second- wave feminism began is difficult to pinpoint and are often disputed . The second- wave feminism was included in the Civil Rights Movement and the student’s right movement because the women engaged in these movements also sought to gain equality within them . The movement kept on growing and won legal victories like "the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling of 1965" . President Kennedy's administration took women's issues seriously and ensured that more women got high-ranking posts in his government which was a win for women". However, the change in the social attitudes concerning women was the most significant success of the second-wave movement. By the early 1980s, people believed that women had gotten what they wanted and succeeded in changing the social attitudes towards their gender. However, the equal rights amendment in the United States could not successfully passed in 1978 because three out of 38 states did not ratify it. As of 2011, "more women earn bachelor’s degrees than men, half of the Ivy League presidents are women, the number of women in government and traditional male-dominated fields has increased, and in 2009 the percentage of women in the American workforce temporarily surpassed that of men". A win of this movement was when the salary of the average American woman increased. Although the salary for women increased, "it was still only 77% of the average salary of men, a phenomenon known as wage gap". Third- wave feminism begun sometime in the early 1990s and continued until the fourth-wave began around 2012. With the success of the second-wave feminists, third- wave feminists "fought for individualism and diversity and tried to change what it means to be a feminist." . The third-wave movement is said to have started off from the punk subculture called theRiot grrrl in the early 1990s".

Feminism Media
The feminist movement started during the 19th century and continued till present day. Feminism can be broken down into four different categories; first-wave, second-wave, third-wave and fourth-wave feminism. During first and second wave feminism, feminist news spread through print media; mainly newspapers, bulletins, and pamphlets .Although "newspapers are not as well read as they were in the past, newspapers played historical importance in circulating feminist ideas in the western world". Newspapers were used as the major source of news during the 1800s and 1900s, although it was later taken over by radio and television news. Although the readership of feminists newspapers is not what it used to be, we should not forget some newspapers because of their contribution to the cause of feminism. An example is La Voix Des Femmes (the first French feminist daily newspaper). Also, La Fronde (newspaper) (a French daily newspaper which was run and written solely by women and had a readership of 50,000). Media Directory of Women Experts. Courage (a 1979 German feminist newspaper published by a group of women located in a Kreuzberg women's shelter ) and The Revolution. In recent years, "social media has been at the forefront of discussions about women's issues and rights." .Feminist news media was important for the movement because it helped women voice out their opinions to a wider audience than they would have been able to get through word of mouth " . Feminist media, in turn, helped lay the groundwork for successful organized movements ". The rights gained from the second-wave served as a foundation for the third-wave.

On Our Backs
The magazine, on our backs, got produced to ridicule the radical feminist periodical (on our backs) created between 1970 to 2008. On our backs got established by Debi Sundahl and Myrna Elana in 1984. The founders of On Our Backs was of the opinion that off our backs was too strict in the way it discussed issues of sexuality . The members of off our backs felt insulted by the contents of the on our backs magazine and threatened legal action over the logo OOB. Unlike off our backs which stayed away from the highly sexual material, on our backs was the first erotica magazine run solely by women. On our backs got created for the lesbian audience in the United States. It was written by "Susie Bright, Nan Kinney, Leon Mostovoy, Honey Lee Cottrell, Dawn Lewis, Happy Hyder, Tee Corinne, Jewelle Gomez, Judith Stein, Joan Nestle, Patrick Califia, Morgan Gwenwald, Katie Niles, Noreen Scully, Sarita Johnson, and many others". On our backs created a new look of lesbian culture during the 80s by creating a sex-positive type of feminism. . In the 80s, Susan Bright and Jill Posener created and edited a picture book for on our backs."

Off Our Backs (song)
Off Our Backs (song) was "the second pre-album- single which later appeared on Talk About Body which was the Men's debut album". It was released on November 9, 2010, and is available on 7” Vinyl and CD single/EP. The track "got previously released on June 25, 2009, by ‘men make music'" ."It was "self-released on a digital EP called “Limited Edition Demo” which included four tracks: the main single, two more tracks- Credit Card Babies and Simultaneously- that would later appear on talk about body, and the Jeppe’s money is a major issue Remix" . The song title “off our backs” supported the off our backs magazine . The song’s video features a "tug-o-war occurring between men and women and includes close-ups of erotic interactions between people of the same sex ".