Feminist Ca

Mothers of the Revolution \ 85
of the first regular fanzines to be written entirely by women, the Australian
Vertical Horizons, appeared in 1952 (and was defunct by 1955).
This was followed by the American Femzine, which was produced by
members of a female-only fan club, the Fanettes. 22 The last to appear
— and longest-lived of this group — was the British Femizine,
which ran from 1954 to 1956 (with a later revival in 1958-60). 23
“Viewing Horizontally”: women in Australian fandom 24
Few though they may have been, women were involved in US
fandom from the late 1930s, and at least a couple of women appeared
on the British scene in the 1940s. Australian fandom, always small
and isolated, maintained its adolescent male composition well into the
1950s. Vol Molesworth’s history of Australian fandom before the 1950s
mentions only one woman, his wife, Laura Molesworth, who was the
first female member of the Futurian Society of Sydney (FSS). 25 By
1953, there were still only three “lady members,” although many
more were attending the less formal Thursday night meetings. So it
is surprising to find appearing, almost immediately following the first
few women to appear on the Sydney fan scene in the early 1950s, a
fanzine produced for and by women. At the time of its first issue in
1952, only two women were members of the “official” fan group the
FSS. With an initial membership of six, Vertical Horizons was not just
a means of consolidating a small female presence in a male culture,
but became for some their initiation point into fandom. The original
members were editor Rosemary Simmons, Norma K. Hemming
(also a pro-writer who published in the magazines Thrills and New
22 I have also seen the fanzine referred to as Femizine. I continue to use Femzine for
the USA zine to avoid confusion with the UK zine of the same name.
23 I focus on the British and Australian zines, largely because I have been unable to
locate copies of the US Femzine. Vincent Clarke (a London fan since the 1940s)
kindly provided me with access to his extensive private collection of British fan
sources and a great deal of background information during an interview; I am also
indebted to fan Rob Hansen’s history of British fandom, Then, which covers this
period in detail. A member of the first Australian fan group, collector and bibliographer
Graham Stone also kindly provided me with copies of Vertical Horizons and
additional information during an interview.
24 “Viewing Horizontally” was the title of the news column in Vertical Horizons.
25 She is mentioned as attending an FSS meeting in 1947 (V. Molesworth 1994/
1995: 26).