'What Did it Mean?' A Generational Conversation

This is an edited conversation between two generations of readers. Lynn Edmonds and Rosie White were reading Spare Rib at a time when they had little or no direct involvement with feminist activism or other self-identified feminists. Their discussion examined the role of Spare Rib as a form of outreach, information and textual solidarity for feminist women outside the major British cities. For both women, the material in Spare Rib was interesting and often contentious. It represented a feminism borne of the second wave – and was frequently parodied, as in The Viz’s Milly Tant.
The discussion begins with general questions about Spare Rib, after which Lynn and Rosie examine a selection of the digital material available via the British Library online in order to reflect upon how their memories of the time compare with the facsimiles in the archive. In this way the chapter examines feminist praxis (‘memory work’) as a means of reflecting upon the impact of this key British feminist periodical.