ABSTRACT
Persecuted social minorities create positive identities for themselves by recognizing and transforming their oppression and by giving affirmative interpretation to negative social valuations. Organized minority movements for social liberation strive for public and personal goals: freedom from social discrimination and harassment and the inner dissolution of that form of self-hatred which results from social rejection. Newsletters, magazines, and newspapers play an integral role in the early development of liberation organizations, for such publications help to objectify oppression and transform it into positive identity. They provide a forum for discussion and a means of communication among minority members who are growing into new identities. They also help to educate the encompassing majority about the emergence and nature of the new minority sub-groups. In later phases of a movement, publications diversify in order to fill the needs of an expanding membership.
