The Ladder (magazine)

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The ladder / by the Daughters of Bilitis

description the first regularly published periodical lesbian publication in the USA
language English
publishing company Daughters of Bilitis (USA)
First edition 1956
attitude 1971/72
ISSN 0023-7108
ZDB 799448-5

The Ladder. A lesbian review (German about Die Leiter. Eine Lesbische Rundschau ) is the first regularly published periodical lesbian publication in the USA . It was one of the most important instruments in the "liberation struggle" of the lesbians in the USA.

history

The magazine was published monthly from October 1956 to 1972 as a kind of club magazine with soon greater importance. It was founded by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin , who also co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in 1955 . Lyon, the first editor , used a pseudonym for the first three editions before writing under her real name. Like the DOB, the magazine had a rather conservative view, shielded itself from openly political or militant texts and instead published prose , poetry , personal essays , research reports and psychological works on homosexuality . Furthermore, it advised behaving in accordance with the heterosexual mainstream , advised women against cross-dressing (e.g. wearing pants), taking on butch and femme identities or other activities that would make them too visible. In the early 1960s, The Ladder had a circulation of around 500, which was roughly five times the number of DOB members.

The women's movement in the mid-1960s changed the way the group and the magazine viewed it. In 1963 Barbara Gittings took over the editorial office for more than three years. Under their influence, The Ladder became more militant and rejected some assimilation positions of the DOB, for example by questioning the trust in medical authorities and the view that homosexuals are sick.

Barbara Grier already subscribed to the magazine in 1957 and shortly afterwards wrote her own articles, especially book reviews , under various pseudonyms. Her column Lesbiana , which was republished in book form in 1976, stands out. In 1968, Grier took over the editing and the magazine became a more polemical and lesbian-feminist magazine. Due to the tensions between “old moderate” and “new radical” lesbians, the women's clothing division split in 1970. Grier and Laporte seized the subscriber list and began to publish the magazine independently. The magazine could not maintain enough financial support to continue and was discontinued in 1972 with a circulation of almost 3,800 copies.

bibliography

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susan Stryker: The Ladder ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / netscape.planetout.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , planetout.com, viewed April 21, 2007
  2. ↑ Erwin J. Haeberle: III. Modern Sexual Research (1938 -) / 1955 , Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology, Humboldt University, as of April 21, 2007
  3. ↑ a b c Teresa Theophano: Daughters of Bilitis ( Memento of the original from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.glbtq.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , glbtq.com, accessed April 21, 2007
  4. ↑ planetout.com: Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / netscape.planetout.com archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , seen on April 21, 2007
  5. ↑ Linda Rapp: Gittings, Barbara (1932–2007) ( Memento of the original of July 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.glbtq.com archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , glbtq.com, accessed April 21, 2007
  6. ↑ Linda Rapp: Grier, Barbara (b. 1933) , glbtq.com, viewed April 21, 2007
  7. ↑ Kenneth Pobo: Journalism and Publishing - Ladder ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.glbtq.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , glbtq.com, accessed April 21, 2007