Q4Q: Queer Personals Podcast

A Brief History of "On Our Backs"

June 03, 2021 Haley Steinhilber Season 1 Episode 3
Q4Q: Queer Personals Podcast
A Brief History of "On Our Backs"
Show Notes

Join Haley as they wander through the history of the lesbian erotica magazine On Our Backs, explore how the periodical inspired the dating app Lex, and flip through 2 issues that they purchased for research purposes. *I swear!!*


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Disclaimer: the views expressed in these personal ads are not my own. Some of the ads are from eras with very different ideas about race, bodies, and what it means to be part of the LGBTQ community. While I do not take these things lightly and will do my best to address them as I see them, I am also here to make fun of the thirsty, pining, and sometimes ridiculous queer lonely hearts sent out into the world. 

This podcast features the song “Endurance (Undertail Coverts Mix)” by duckett available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

What follows is the citations to ads in order of their appearance. Please enjoy and feel free to look them up yourself if you’re feeling lonely!

Primary Sources:
On Our Backs: Entertainment for the Adventurous Lesbian, Volume X, Issue 3, 1995. https://www.abebooks.com/magazines-periodicals/Backs-entertainment-adventurous-lesbian-vol-MarApr/30111996273/bd

On Our Backs: Entertainment for the Adventurous Lesbian, Volume X, Issue 2, January/February 1995.

Secondary Sources:
Martha Cornog, Timothy Perper, "For sex education, see librarian: a guide to issues and resources", Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, ISBN 0-313-29022-9, p.97

Off Our Backs Mission, https://offourbacks.org/mission/

Reveal Digital, https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=cl&cl=CL1&sp=BADICEB&ai=1&

On Our Backs, World Heritage Encyclopedia,  http://www.self.gutenberg.org/articles/On_Our_Backs

On Our Backs: An Archive exhibition, January 26-28, 2017, NewBridge Studios, Entertainment For The Adventurous Lesbian: Featuring Phyllis Christopher, https://thenewbridgeproject.com/past-event/on-our-backs-an-archive/

Lizzie Masterson, An Interview with the curators of ON OUR BACKS: AN ARCHIVE, 2017, https://cuntemporary.org/on-our-backs

Jordan Crook, "New lo-fi, text-based social app Lex, for queer women, raises $1.5 million," TechCrunch, July 16, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/16/new-lo-fi-text-based-social-app-lex-for-queer-women-raises-1-5-million/

Work at Lex, https://www.notion.so/Work-at-Lex-e80dc5c9af2c438aa48ecd7310e32283

Reveal Digital Statement on Off Our Backs, http://revealdigital.com/wp-

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