When people hear the term “hoochie,” they may think of trashy, skanky women wearing skin-tight dresses – but two Boston University seniors are using the word for lofty purposes.

A new campus feminist magazine, Hoochie Woman, launched online by the students last month, aims to bring new meaning to the word “hoochie” by placing feminism in a more positive light than stereotypes portray.

“We wanted to take back words or names that have hurt women,” said co-founder Gili Malinsky. “That’s why we named our magazine Hoochie Woman after much brainstorming.”

The online magazine began with co-founder Emily Calvin, who said no feminist magazine had existed on campus previously. She said she started talking to other women and friends about the possibility and found support.

“A place for women to express creativity, art, prose, poetry and articles about the world, or even just Boston, was what we wanted to create,” said Malinsky, a College of Communication senior.

Calvin, also a COM senior, said because the Student Activities Office does not fund publications of opinion, they run the magazine out of their apartments.

The audience mainly consists of BU students, but professors and family members also read it, the founders said.

The Programming Handbook on the SAO website states that it allows informational newsletters containing calendars, schedules and information or news to be published with funding. The Dean of Students Office and student organizations are responsible for making sure these informational newsletters are in accordance with university standards.

If student organizations gain approval, they may use university computing or communications facilities for publications and distribution, said SAO Director Mindy Stroh.

“Brownstone Journal, Burn Magazine and First Draft are the only ones I know are registered student organizations through SAO,” Stroh said.

First Draft Magazine, another magazine that began as an exclusively online publication, caters to BU students. The magazine’s founder, Jon Kim, said it is publishes miscellaneous material.

“We love gripes and cynicism just as much as we love praise and humanities pieces,” said Kim, a COM sophomore.

While the second issue of First Draft is still in production and should be published soon, Kim said the stifling part of publication is BU’s reluctance to pay for printing.

“One funny thing about BU is that it’ll pay for everything a publication needs except printing,” he said. “Because of this, we’ve created our own advertising department, run entirely by students, to fund our operation.”