Urania

Title

Urania

Description

From the EUP Companion Appendix entry by Karen Steele:

Alluding to the late nineteenth-century coinage of “Uranian” to describe homosexuality as an “intermediate sex,” Urania advocated the idea that sex is neither essential nor a determiner of destiny. By 1919, its first number extent, Urania consistently expressed this argument through a pithy quote placed below its masthead:  “Sex is an Accident.” Urania conveyed this radical message through assiduously collecting the hidden history of lesbians, transsexuals, and intersexuality and advancing a transnational, cross-cultural critique of gender norms, gendered performances, and compulsory heterosexuality. Over its twenty-four year existence, a remarkable longevity for a radical periodical, Urania maintained a regular layout: an opening quote below the masthead, an editorial, letters from readers, reviews, progress reports on women’s status across the globe, and, often, a section labeled “Star Dust,” which tracked transnational news coverage of women’s progress and achievements in seven areas of interest, from military and business accomplishments to athletics, academics, dress, art, and music. 

Publisher

Privately printed. From 1916-1931, by Monoranjan Press, Bombay; thereafter, by Nitibei Printing, Tokyo; Kuroda Shoten, Tokyo; or the Women’s Printing Society, London.

Eva Gore-Booth, Esther Roper, Dorothy H. Cornish, Jessey Wade, and Thomas Baty. Baty seems to have been the most consistent contributor and editor.

Date

1916-1940

Language

English

Format

Bi-monthly for its first 24 numbers (from October 1916 - Dec 1920); from Jan-April 1921 number, three printings a year. Starting in 1921, then, Urania came out in “double numbers” (ie. 25/26) covering four months. As the editors explain, “for convenience of reference, each issue will be treated as a double number, comprising the two issues which would otherwise have appeared separately.” Note: first eleven issues, covering 1916-1918, are not extant. No. 3 never occurred, “owing to No. 2 being a double number.”

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