The New Culture Today's Feminist Presses Embody Activism and Critical Thinking

Feminism is no longer what it used to be, and therefore, feminist presses are not what they used to be,? says Claire Kirch, publicist of Edgework Books. Once upon a time, privileged middle-class white women had a hold on the movement, defining the reality, shaping the ideas, founding the presses. No more. The best books in the year 2002 are written in the spirit of resistance and by women outside of the mainstream.
?To fight any kind of way, the biggest single requirement is a fighting spirit. I thought much of this as I read Colonize This: Young Woman of Color on Today?s Feminism,? Cherrie Moraga writes in the foreword, published by Seal Press (1-646-375-2570). The new feminism grapples for a wider audience, contains a diverse group of voices, and espouses a socialist and egalitarian grassroots philosophy reflective of larger structural patterns: the globalization of the economy combined with declining real incomes and escalating unemployment in the midst of corporate scandals. The new feminism is about resistance, social protest, critical thinking, and activism. For example, in the afterword of Policing the National Body: Race, Gender and Criminalization, published by South End Press (0-89608-660-7), Angela Davis remarks, ?In the aftermath of Sept. 11, social movements have an even greater responsibility to propose radical critiques of the government.? The year 2002 has brought on an entourage of books that critique the wider social structures, outside of gender.
?Feminism today is about social justice,? Kirch says. ?Not justice just for women, but for all people. It is about the eradication of classism, racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and inequalities on all levels.? It is many voices saying one thing: peace on earth, economic justice now, and social justice for all. It is about a living wage, national health care, the love of oneself as a political act, and the promotion of ecological justice. (See The Winona LaDuke Reader, Voyageur Press, 0-89658-573-5.) Finally, 2002 brings out a recent and updated version of This Bridge Called My Back, (Third Woman Press, 0-943219-22-1) which is a well-known classic for women?s studies activists, readers, and scholars concerned with social justice.
As the economy continues to decline, books continue to sell, and the number of feminist bookstores shrink, women readers are bombarded with new-age self-help books geared for women. Their mantra is: Do what you love, be who you are, express how you feel, and the money will follow. Juxtaposed with these books are the more ?political books.? Despite the powerful messages the feminist writers convey, feminist books are typically not defined as ?self-help? books. Feminist books address the ways in which women are exploited, overworked, underpaid, and oppressed in a global economy rampant with inequality; the typical self-help book ignores the larger economic reality. The contradiction between the ideas contained in the new age women?s books with the feminist books creates a schizophrenia in consciousness.
In the meantime, feminists publishing the written word of marginalized voices are real heroines, for they do so in increasingly harder economic times and rampant corporatization of the publishing industry. They might be doing what they love, writing their political visions into the creation of a better world, but they certainly do not receive economic compensation for their efforts. Instead, they go against the individualist and ideological tide of ?self-help? books that currently dominate the market. Sharon Silvas, of Spinsters Ink, is aware of the economic reality of publishing feminist books. She says that feminist publishers do not get into the book publishing industry for the love of money. They do so ?for the love of books.? They do so for the love of ideas and because they are committed to giving voice to the silenced. Olivia Dresher of Impassio Press confirms this: ?The economic barriers are tremendous. I think a lot of small presses are labors of love. Impassio Press definitely is. Currently, my savings, and my mother?s savings, are funding the press. We hope, eventually, to break even.? Tamara Martinez, publicity coordinator of Aunt Lute Books, remarks that the co-founder of Aunt Lute books, Joan Pinkvoss, has managed to survive the many changes in the publishing industry while producing good books for over twenty years. Martinez says they are able to do this because, according to their mission statement, ?We are committed to making accessible voices that are under represented, or not represented at all in mainstream publishing.?
Kirch and Silvas report that in 1995 there were 135 women?s bookstores. In 2002, the number has dwindled drastically. There are fewer women presses. Silvas says, ?The book publishing industry is a conundrum. It is a world where the biggest book publishers are actually owned by entities that need a tax write-off, and so they are more than willing to write off losses year after year. It is an industry where small booksellers are being squeezed out by the big chains, again owned by big corporations that don?t mind, and in fact, want to lose money year after year.? This is political, as corporate conglomerates continue to dominate both the publishing industry and the voices and realities distributed and dispersed to the population.
With the avalanche of women?s self-help books, one who is critically minded cannot help but wonder who it is that these self help books are geared for specifically and what world the authors reside within. The Female Power Within (Life Works Books, 0-9718548-2-3) explores the reality of privileged women in search of an authentic self and power in the midst of existential crisis. Self-help books rarely confront larger structural and systemic issues. The authors presume that all women are free to be who and what they want, without taking into account the class realities that exist for poor and working-class women. For example, Monster Lies: a Woman?s Guide to Controlling her Destiny (Beagle Bay Books, 0-9679591-6-0) asserts that a woman has complete control over her destiny, including economic reality.
A few self-help books, however, do tackle women?s issues with a more politicized lens and increased sensitivity. Love?s Learning Place: Truth as Aphrodisiac (Edgework Books, I-931223-04-1) examines women?s long-term relationships, and asserts that truth telling as political act can create a deeper love and is the healthiest, ?least costly,? and most effective strategy available.
Diaries, memoirs, and published journals are another trend in 2002. Impassio?s Dresher explains the trend as one that especially appeals to women writers and readers. She argues that the literary world needs to expand the definition of literary art: ?Those writings that don?t fall into a distinct category can be some of the most interesting and original writings. Within the fragmentary form, writers are free to express their lives directly and spontaneously, hence capturing personal truths and revelations that other forms of writing might inhibit. Sandi Sonnenfeld?s book This is How I Speak (Impassio Press, 0-9711583-1-2) would have lost a lot of its vitality if the author had taken the advice of other publishers and turned her diary into a traditional memoir.?
The trend of published diaries, journals, and memoirs written by women is widespread: It Could Happen To You, Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond, (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 0-7407-2685-4) is a published journal of a woman?s pregnancy. Seduction: A Portrait Of Anaÿs Nin (Edgework Books, 1-931223-02-5) is a psychological exploration into the inner life of Nin?s diary with a feminist analysis. Notes from a Welfare Queen in the Ivory Tower (Face to Face Press, 1-929712-04-9) is a book written by a woman who has managed?despite the odds, draconian welfare reform policies, and lack of jobs within academia, particularly for African American women?to create a voice, by publishing and politicizing her personal diaries while on welfare and in the ivory tower. Sugar?s Life in the Hood (University of Texas, 0-292-72102-1) is a qualitative examination of the struggles of a woman on welfare and includes an ethnographic analysis of Sugar?s diaries and letters and the larger structural barriers that shape her reality.
The Akhmatova Journals (Northwestern University Press, 0-8101-1940-0) chronicles the last three decades of the writer?s life in the midst of political turmoil, and The Chelsea Whistle (Seal Press, 1-58005-073-5) is a working class memoir. Voices of a Soft-Bellied Warrior (0-292-72102-1), published by Spinsters Ink, examines a writer?s loss of voice, search for place, and love of self despite the homophobic culture. Finally, a combination of poetry and spiritual autobiography has hit the stands: Moon of the Swaying Buds (Edgework Books, 1-931223-03-3). Perhaps published diaries, memoirs, and journals, all of which involve a focus on oneself, is not only a new form but also a cultural shift within feminist movements exemplifying the personal as political.
Is there a need for women?s presses, given the cultural shifts? Edgework?s Kirch says that there is. The women?s presses that emerge from hard times transform into a different kind of press. Case in point: Edgework Books, a decentralized feminist press in California. Their most recent accomplishment: Sing, Whisper, Shout, Pray! Feminist Visions for a Just World (Edgework Books, 1-931223-07-6) is a 600-page anthology demonstrating the diversity within the feminist movement and its larger socialist orientation and commitment to social change. Edgework offers a variety of services for women artists and is in the process of creating both culture and community online, which clearly moves beyond the norms of the traditional press. They also practice their politics by providing economic support for poor women writers unable to afford their services, which is quite exceptional in an increasingly for-profit-only world.
Kirch says that while it appears that feminist publishers are losing ground, there is hope. ?It is an exciting time, despite the crisis. Those who survive will be stronger. Women will go beyond. They will be forced to create intensely quality products and they will be forced to move in non-traditional directions, like Edgework.?