Susan Hemmings
Spare Rib magazines were designed and produced from a small office in central London. All the articles were commissioned and brought to publication by the whole collective. But we also had separate jobs to do. This varied from wrapping parcels, to taking designs and photos to be prepared for the print, to dealing with enquiries, getting advertising revenue, and dealing with classified ads, my job. The most popular small ads were for consciousness raising groups, a couple of columns each month from all areas of the UK.
Women were setting up these groups in their own homes, and sometimes they would ask if someone from Spare Rib could visit. We shared that out. My own visits were very interesting and nearly always the main issue they wanted to explore was the difficulty in getting their male partners to take a proper share in childcare and household tasks. During the meetings the man /men in question would either be banned outright or would be lurking upstairs or down the garden. This caused a lot of hilarity. I remember many women would say they had to hide their copies of the magazine or face a tirade about women libbers. Or threats to set up men’s groups.
One summer 1982 I went with my then partner, Norma, and two or three of my Spare Rib co-workers, to Plakias in Crete. Against my instinct I agreed to swim naked as was the practice there. Going out wading into the sea was not too excruciating, but I was dreading having to turn round and wade back. As I began that challenge two women were wading towards me with a determination I had experienced at recent conferences or Spare Rib discos, so I sort of knew this would be trouble, and longed for a towel or two.
Are you Susan Hemming? Well yes. Why haven’t you put our ad in for our group? You socialist feminist! And so on.
Golly, I am so very pleased there was no social media in those days. That experience came a close second to the jelly fish bites, and I have never repeated any kind of open air naturism, remaining fully clothed and dry even at the Women’s Pond on Hampstead Heath.