Sojourner: The Women's Forum was an American feminist periodical published in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1975 until 2002. Started by a women's group from MIT, the newspaper initially aimed to provide a space for just MIT women to communicate their "ideas, their art, talents, and skills, as well as their needs as women, to the rest of the community."[1]
| Frequency | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Format | Newspaper |
| Publisher | Sojourner, Inc. |
| First issue | September 1, 1975 |
| Final issue | 2002 |
| Based in | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| ISSN | 0191-8699 |
| OCLC | 4656277 |
As the publication expanded, so did its audience. Sojourner eventually grew to be one of the most prominent feminist news publications in the nation. It published news, articles, and reviews concerning the feminist movement.[2] The periodical published the works of many well known contemporary feminists including Audre Lorde, Barbara Smith, Margaret Robinson, Paula Gunn Allen, Joan Nestle, and Sonia Shah.[1] Feminist writer Jennifer Pozner began her career at Sojourner.[3]
After publishing over 185 issues, Sojourner gained similar prominence to contemporary popular publications such as HERESIES and Sinister Wisdom. Sojourner, like many other of its kind, struggled with finances and ultimately ceased publication due to lack of funding by 2002.[4]
Editorial Content
editPrinted in a newspaper format, the forum developed an extensive communications network between readers alike. Particularly in the Letters section of the paper, where philosophical arguments and critiques would often take place between women on topics and ideas pertaining to feminism, prejudice, homosexuality, patriarchy, and more. Often front pages would develop nuanced discourse about feminist and queer theory and strategy. [5]
Advertisements were situated at the ends of pages or sections, almost exclusively promoting services, events, products, etc. made by or for women.
Viewpoints was a section that published essays and opinion pieces about a wide range of topics generally aligned with social, political and cultural issues from a feminist perspective.
News Briefs provided short-form columns highlighting domestic and international affairs.
Interviews and longer format essays would cover subjects such as women living with AIDS, Palestine, prostitution, and more.
The Calendar would provide information on upcoming events in Boston and beyond.
Boston Briefs and Boston Women's Resources provided local news coverage and access to resources for women.
Fiction, Film, Poetry, Theater and Books by women would all be featured in the next sections just before Sojourner's Women-Owned Business Directory and Classifieds sections.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b Stroud, Irene Elizabeth (1996). Kahn, Karen (ed.). "Womanning the Barricades". The Women's Review of Books. 13 (9): 7–8. doi:10.2307/4022378. ISSN 0738-1433. JSTOR 4022378.
- ^ a b "Sojourner on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ^ Groetzinger, Kate. "How feminists took on the mainstream media and won". Quartz. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ^ "Sojourner (Cambridge, Mass.) - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ^ Frontline feminism 1975-1995: Essays from Sojourner's first 20 years. (1995). Westview Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/frontlinefeminis0000unse/page/n515/mode/2up
External links
edit- Sojourner Newspaper Archive on JSTOR
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