Resist, Organize, Build: Feminist and Queer Activism in Britain and the United States during the Long 1980s (SUNY in Queer Politics and Cultures)

Juxtaposes feminist and queer activism in Britain and the United States in the face of resurgent conservatism during the 1980s. The 1980s was a period of political and social tumult in Britain and the United States. Facing resurgent conservative forces, feminist and queer activists organized in ways that not only resisted conservative hegemony but also helped to forge new communities, communications, and futures. Resist, Organize, Build casts new light on grassroots campaigns in Britain and the US, looking at feminist and queer work on university campuses, within anti-racist and anti-imperialist movements, in reframing the family, reproduction, and health, and in the establishment of new magazines, book series, and publishing houses. The collection brings together emerging and established scholars to position historical work on the two national contexts side by side, drawing out similarities and differences. Taking care to center historically marginalized voices, the collection gives students and scholars insight into and examples of the work of activist groups in a time that has many resonances with our own. "This book presents new, original scholarship based on extensive archival research and oral history. Most of the individuals, groups, and publications that are its focus have not been previously studied. By comparing the US and Britain and examining both feminist and queer activism, which often developed in tandem, the volume contributes a great deal to historical knowledge of social movements in this time period." Tamar W. Carroll, author of Mobilizing New York: AIDS, Antipoverty, and Feminist Activism Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Thinking through and beyond the 1980s History and Contexts Frameworks and Historiographical Context Arguments, Terminology, and Structure of this Volume Notes Works Cited Part I: Student Politics and the Body Politic “Aggies are Not Queers” A History of Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University, 1975–1985 Threatened into Suing, Threatening to Sue Early Trials The Second Appeal GSS, Texas A&M, and the US Supreme Court An Enduring Legacy Notes Works Cited Archival Sources and Interviews Newspapers Secondary Sources “Specialty” Listening: Creating Space for Queer Programming on American College Radio in the Long 1980s WGTB Gaybreak for WRSU Conclusion Notes Works Cited Archival Sources and Interviews Newspapers Secondary Sources Part II: Anti-Racist, Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Borders Action “We were fire-fighting against Thatcher and the system she was putting forward”: The Black Women’s Movement and the Boundaries of Nationhood in Thatcher’s Britain Introduction Pushed to the Margins: The Origins of Black Feminist Organizing in Britain Brixton Black Women’s Group, OWAAD and the Genesis of Black Socialist Feminism The Rise of the Right: Thatcher and Black Socialist Feminist Resistance Black Socialist Feminists in Britain and the Development of Intersectionality The Personal is Political: Challenging White Bourgeois Feminism Emerging Divisions: Afro-Asian Unity and the Struggle for Black Liberation Sexuality and the Politics of Identity: Confronting Lesbophobia within the BWM On Black Women Organizing: Black Lesbians Speak Out The Advent of the Greater London Council: The BWM and State Funding A Site of Contention: Black Socialist Feminist Pushbacks against State Funding The End of a Movement: The BWM and Thatcherite Neoliberalism The Legacy of the BWM Notes Works Cited Primary Sources Oral History Interviews Articles Oral Histories from the Black Cultural Archives Periodicals Secondary Sources Books Article “Spiritualists, ideologues, pragmatists, feminists, and women of all descriptions”: The British Women’s Liberation Movement, the UN Decade for Women, and Feminist Transnationalism in Spare Rib You May Have Made Up The Name Yourself: Spare Rib at the United Nations Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: The UN Decade for Women “A Soap Opera in the Sun”: The IWY Conferences and Spare Rib United Nations Notices Women: Spare Rib and the Wider World Development: A Man’s World? Conclusions Notes Works Cited Articles Chapters in Edited Collections Books Websites Part III: Families, Reproduction, and Health Making Queer Families: Foster Family Activism in Los Angeles, 1977–1985 The Rise of Youth Homelessness A Queer Approach to Youth Homelessness Breaking the Rules Changing Foster Policy in Los Angeles County The Aftermath Conclusion Notes Works Cited Archival Collections Published Primary Sources Secondary Thatcherism, the Black Women’s Movement, and the Politics of Motherhood in Britain Victorian Values: The Thatcherite Politics of Motherhood Communalist Matriarchy: The BWM’s Politics of Motherhood “That Margaret Thatcher Phase”: The BWM, Victorian Values, and Memories of the Long 1980s Conclusion Notes Works Cited A Framework for Choice: The Lasting Influence of 1980s Advocacy on Reproductive Rights in the United States The Traditional Narrative: Creation of the Right to Abortion Demonstrating Burden: Akron and Thornburgh Path to Today Notes Works Cited Opening DOORWAYS and Closing Others: Tactical Deployments of Respectability, Religion, and Race in the St. Louis Early-AIDS Response Religion and the St. Louis Response Bridging Some Divides and Expanding Others Notes Works Cited Archives Books and Book Chapters Dissertations Interviews Journal Articles Magazine and Newspaper Articles Websites Part IV: Grassroots Images, Speech, and Power Polareyes: A Magazine by and for Black British Women Photographers as a Site of Resistance in London, 1987 Introduction Polareyes’ Inception Polareyes: A Site of Resistance Conclusion Notes Works Cited The Business of Feminism Endures: Four Decades of Spinsters Ink and Aunt Lute Books Publishing Lesbian-Feminist Books in the United States Spinster: A Woman Who Whirls, Twirls, and Turns Everything Upside Down Spinning a Successful Business: Alone, Then Together Dear Auntie: A Publishing Company in the Middle of the United States A Feminist Union Marked with a Slash Aunt Lute: A Life of Her Own Prize-Winning Books Readers Gobble Up A Difficult New Millenium Though Still Fires Burn Feminist Publishing Embraces and Resists Capitalism Notes Works Cited Lesbians Talk: British Lesbian Politics and the Sex Wars Feminism at War Lesbians, Talking Conclusion Notes Works Cited Epilogues Looking Back, Thinking Forward: Grassroots Activism and Modern Histories Critically Reflecting (on) the 1980s Notes Works Cited Contributors Index