More about Rebel Girls’ Rag: A Forum of Women’s Resistance

From 1979 to 1986, IWDC produced four issues a year of the International Women’s Day Committee Newsletter.

Accompanying the organization’s name change to Toronto Socialist Feminist Action, in 1987 the newsletter became a broadsheet newspaper, Rebel Girls’ Rag. Rebel Girls’ Rag also published four times a year, until 1992 when TFSA dissolved.

Both publications maintained a regular subscriber list, and members sold issues at the many political events that were happening in Toronto during a time when activist organizations proliferated in the city. Members of IWDC/TSFA contributed to writing the content, Toronto Women’s Press allowed us free use of their facilities for the typesetting and layout, and the newspaper was, of course, printed in a union shop. Rebel Girls’ Rag was published in the pre-digital age. None of us were actually trained in typesetting, as the wonky hand-crafted final product suggests.

While the IWDC Newsletter and Rebel Girls Rag were produced in a particular period of political organizing and struggle, their content continues to be relevant. While contemporary political activism takes place under different banners and formations, an anti-racist socialist feminist politic still has something to contribute.

TSFA members who regularly contributed to Rebel Girls’ Rag included Mary Gellatly, Shelly Gordon, Carolyn Egan, Sheryl Boswell, Cynthia Wright, Julia Barnett, Nancy Farmer, Gillian Morton, Debi Brock, Miriam Jones, Mariana Valverde, Jennifer Stephen, Jocelyn Piercy, Sharmini Peres, Laurie Bell, and Susan Kazurak.

Debi Brock was a member of IWDC/TSFA from 1985 until 1992.

Issues of Rebel Girls’ Rag: A Forum of Women’s Resistance

thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 01-01 Mar-Apr 1987

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 1, Issue 1 – March/April 1987

  • Year created:

    1987
  • Author(s):

    Sheryl Boswell, Dorothy Doers, Mary Gellatly, Nancy Farmer
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 01-02 May-Jun 1987

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 1, Issue 2 – May/June 1987

  • Year created:

    1987
  • Author(s):

    Ellen Waxman, Ana Maria Santinoli, Sheryl Boswell, Debi Brock, Jannifer Stephen
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 01-03 Jul-Aug 1987

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 1, Issue 3 – July/August 1987

  • Year created:

    1987
  • Author(s):

    Sheryl Boswell, Linzi Manicom, Andrew Kolompar, Cynthia Egan, Mary Gellatly, Mariana Valverde, Dorothy Doers
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 02-01 Nov-Dec 1987

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 2, Issue 1 – November/December 1987

  • Year created:

    1987
  • Author(s):

    Sheryl Boswell, Nancy Farmer, Sharon Fernandez, Mary Gellatly, Betty Julian, Jude Johnston, Chris Lawrence, Beth McAuley , Marilyn McCallum, Stephanie Martin, Joanne Opperman, Mariana Valverde, Esther Vise, Wendy Wine
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 02-02 Jan-Feb 1988

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 2, Issue 2 – January/February 1988

  • Year created:

    1988
  • Author(s):

    Sheryl Boswell, Debi Brock, Carolyn Egan, Nancy Farmer, Shelly Gordon, Sandy, Sindee, Jennifer Stephen
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 02-03 May-Jun 1988

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 2, Issue 3 – May/June 1988

  • Year created:

    1988
  • Author(s):

    Sofia Montenegro, Mary Gellatly , Carolyn Egan, Gillian Morton, Sheryl Boswell
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 02-04 Jul-Aug 1988

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 2, Issue 4 – July/August 1988

  • Year created:

    1988
  • Author(s):

    B. Lee, Mariana Valverde, Miriam Jones, Jennifer Stephen, Nancy Farmer, Lotta Little
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 03-01 Nov 1988

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 3, Issue 1 – November 1988

  • Year created:

    1988
  • Author(s):

    Jennifer Stephen, Julia B., Laurie Bell, Akua Benjamin, Margaret Gittens, Carmencita R. Hernandez, Barbara Isaac, Winnie Ng, Maria Wallis, Carolyn Egan, Nancy Adamson, Linda Briskin, Margaret McPhail, Debi Brock, Cynthia Wright, B. Lee
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 03-02 Jan-Feb 1989

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 3, Issue 2 – January/February 1989

  • Year created:

    1989
  • Author(s):

    Nancy Farmer, Claire Culhane, Helen Armstrong, Debi Brock, Jennifer Stephen, Jennifer Egan, Cindee, Gillian Morton
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 03-03 Mar-Apr 1989

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 3, Issue 3 – March/April 1989

  • Year created:

    1989
  • Author(s):

    Judy Vashti Persad, Jennifer Stephen, Julia B., Gillian Morton, Bob Lee, Vicki Van Wagner, B. Lee, Carolyn Egan
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 03-04 May-Jun 1989

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 3, Issue 4 – May/June 1989

  • Year created:

    1989
  • Author(s):

    Joyce Nobel, Jennifer Stephen, Miriam Jones, Gillian Morton, Bob Lee, Vicki Van Wagner, Sue Genge
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 04-01 Sep-Oct 1989

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 4, Issue 1 – September/October 1989

  • Year created:

    1989
  • Author(s):

    Carolyn Egan, Nicole Hollander, B. Lee, L. Gardner, Jennifer Stephen, Teresa Healy, Nancy Farmer
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 04-02 Feb 1990

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 4, Issue 2 – February 1990

  • Year created:

    1990
  • Author(s):

    Carolyn Egan, Cindy Ripley, Bonnie Slad, Gillian Morton, Mary Gellatly, Gregor McNish
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 04-03 Mar-Apr 1990

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 4, Issue 3 – March/April 1990

  • Year created:

    1990
  • Author(s):

    Laurie Bell, Carolyn Egan, Sheryl Boswell, Gillian Morton, Sharmini Peries , B. Lee
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 04-04 Jul-Aug 1990

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 4, Issue 4 – July/August 1990

  • Year created:

    1990
  • Author(s):

    Carolyn Egan, Khristina M. Saier, Billye Aver, et al. , Miriam Jones, Jennifer Stephen, Laurie Bell, Gillian Morton, Maureen L. Phillips
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 05-01 Nov-Dec 1990

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 5, Issue 1 – November/December 1990

  • Year created:

    1990
  • Author(s):

    Carolyn Egan, Miriam Jones, Leanna McLennan, Doreen Falling Doll Silversmith, Alexander Highcrest, Mahmoud Said , Heloise C. Bland
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 05-02 Mar-Apr 1991

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 5, Issue 2 – March/April 1991

  • Year created:

    1991
  • Author(s):

    U. Hammer, Susan Beaver, Miriam Jones, Joe Galbo, Atif Kubursi
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 05-03 Jul-Aug 1991

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 5, Issue 3 – July/August 1991

  • Year created:

    1991
  • Author(s):

    Michelle Robideaux, Lesli Gaynor, Darien Taylor, Shelly Gordon, Laurie Bell, Debi Brock, Barry Weisleder
  • Region:

    Ontario
thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 06-02 May-Jun 1992

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 6, Issue 2 – May/June 1992

  • Year created:

    1992
  • Author(s):

    Jennifer Stephen, Judy Vashti Persad, Carolyn Egan, Donald Ainslie
  • Region:

thumbnail of Rebel Girls Rag 06-01 Nov-Dec 1991

Rebel Girls’ Rag – Vol. 6, Isuse 1 – November/December 1991

  • Year created:

    1991
  • Author(s):

    Shelly Gordon, Carolyn Egan, Mercedes Lopez, Elaine Burns, Nancy Farmer, Judy Koch
  • Region:

    Ontario