Students Start New Feminist Magazine

A group of Harvard women last week announced the founding of a new feminist magazine, the second women's publication to form in recent weeks.

The Rag, which will be published twice a year, will reflect a feminist slant, its organizers said.

"We felt it was important to have a strong feminist voice on campus," said Dulcy Anderson '92 of The Rag.

The Rag was originally planned as a supplement to The Lighthouse, the other women's publication started this term, according to Tess J. Schwarz '91, a coordinator of The Lighthouse. But The Rag decided to publish on its own in order to concentrate chiefly on feminist issues, Schwarz said.

"We found that we had agendas which were complementary but definitely different," said Schwarz.

The Lighthouse, Anderson said, is for writers who are "interested in creating a forum that was more open, less explicitly political and not labelled as feminist."

The constitution of The Rag permits men as well as women to join and contribute. And founders say the group may invite members of the Cambridge community to participate in workshops and submit their writing.

Women associated with The Rag say that the new women's publication will begin to fill the need for a forum in which women with strong convictions may conduct dialogues.

"One very important thing is that the two magazines will allow readers to recognize the pluralism within the women's movement--that women are different," said Rebecca Hellerstein '92, a member of The Rag.

The Rag will feature various genres of writing, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The only requirement is that submissions conform to each issue's specific theme, organizers said.

These themes will be presented to interested writers by the magazine's "elastic board," or active membership, in a series of workshops preceding publication of each issue. The workshops are designed to provide writers with a "creative, intellectual spark" said Hellerstein, who anticipates that participants attending the meetings will feel free to discuss, and then write about their ideas.

"We're hoping to have the magazine as a construction evolve out of the workshop," said Hellerstein.

The "elastic board," was designed by the group to convey a sense of openness and willingness to listen to different views. Only two official positions exist--archivist and treasurer--and all decisions are made collectively by members of the board, Anderson added.

The magazine's title was intended to generate discussion.

"We wanted a title that took a position in many ways, just as the women who will be writing for the magazine will," said Anderson.