[Women's Reading]. Zhenskoe Chtenie. No 3, May-October. Typescript.

Cover design with illustration 'Motherhood' by Elena Nemzer.

Leningrad, 1988.
4to, [1], 130 l.

In rectos only. Unbound (possibly the cover was detached). Accompanied by the cover of Issue No. 5.
In good condition, wear to leaves, tears and small losses to edges, traces of staples on the left edges of the leaves, creased at some corners, with manuscript pagination, additions or emendations in black ink.

Extremely rare feminist samizdat magazine. Very rare as a typescript (typically presented in mimeographed form in trade).   

In the late USSR, feminism was associated with the dissident movement and considered dangerous, hence individuals interested in the topic could only engage through risky channels like samizdat (underground press). A significant moment occurred in 1979 with the emergence of the first feminist samizdat almanac, ‘Zhenschina i Rossiia’ (‘Woman and Russia’), featuring material about discrimination against women, reproductive rights, and domestic violence. Published in Leningrad, it caused a stir as it shattered the idealized image of the USSR. The almanac was even translated into multiple languages and published abroad. Meanwhile, the KGB began to target female editors of the almanac.
Despite this, some activists persisted, launching a new samizdat magazine called ‘Maria’ and forming the first Soviet feminist organization, also named ‘Maria’. However, in 1982, the women's movement faced repression, resulting in the imprisonment of female activists and the forced deportation of others. The situation began to change slightly during Gorbachev's tenure as head of the country.
This influential feminist magazine was crafted by Ol’ga Lipovskaia (1954-2021), a journalist, translator, and one of the foremost Russian feminist thinkers. Lipovskaia published this unique samizdat magazine on feminism, gender issues, lesbian love, and women's prose and poetry from 1987 to 1991, with reportedly only 30 copies per issue according to some sources. From 1992 onward, she led the Saint Petersburg Center for Gender Issues, one of the earliest feminist organizations in contemporary Russia, receiving financial backing from the German feminist Foundation ‘Frauenanstiftung’, which later merged into the Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung associated with the German Green Party.
The issue encompasses various works, including translations of ‘What Do Women Want?’ by Luise Einchenbaum and Susie Orbach (with the beginning featured in Nos 1 and 2), ‘Historical Notes on the Vocabulary of the Women’s Movement’ by Fred R. Shapiro (originally an article from ‘American Speech’, Spring 1985), ‘Everyday Depressions’ from Joanna Russ's 1984 collection of short fiction ‘Extra(ordinary) People’, and an essay titled ‘Feminism or the 'Costs of Emancipation'’ by Ol’ga Lipovskaia, discussing the position of women and the rejection of feminism in the USSR. Additionally, the issue showcases poems by art critic student Elena Romanova, poet, translator, and essayist Tatiana Scherbina (Chtcherbina; b. 1954), a debut publication from schoolgirl Yulia Lerman, and works by poet and writer Elena Filippova (b. 1954). Closing the issue is the ‘Documents’ section, featuring the Founding Declaration of the Independent Press Club (established in May 1988 by publishers of underground press to support each other amid the limited freedom of publishing during the glasnost period) and an open letter to the KGB and other institutions expressing concern about the activation of the ‘Lyubers’, an aggressive youth group whose aim was to ‘cleanse’ Soviet society of the influences of various Western subcultures, which they viewed as decadent.