Off Our Backs

Off Our Backs (stylized in all lowercase; oob) was an American radical feminist periodical that ran from 1970 to 2008, making it one of the longest-running feminist periodicals in the United States. Marilyn Salzman-Webb and Marlene Wicks were among Off Our Backs original founders, creating the periodical in Washington, D.C. as a response to what many felt was an underrepresentation of the women’s liberation movement in mainstream media. It was a self-sustaining periodical edited and published by a collective of women consisting mainly of volunteers who practiced consensus decision-making. Reporting on feminism related topics, the periodical transitioned from a monthly to a bi-monthly newspaper, and ultimately to a quarterly magazine before financial difficulties led to its termination in 2008.

Off Our Backs faced conflict in 1984 during the creation of On Our Backs.

Archives of Off Our Backs are housed at Hornbake Library, University of Maryland.