Ms. Magazine

Ms. Magazine

Ms. Magazine is an American feminist periodical founded in the early 1970s that became a prominent platform for second-wave feminism, social justice debates, and cultural criticism. The magazine launched amid activism around the National Organization for Women, the Women's Liberation Movement, and high-profile events such as the Roe v. Wade litigation and the Equal Rights Amendment campaign. Over decades it has featured coverage intersecting with figures like Gloria Steinem, organizations like the Ms. Foundation for Women, and movements including Take Back the Night and Women's Strike for Equality.

History

Ms. Magazine emerged from collaborations among activists, journalists, and organizations associated with National Organization for Women, the New York Radical Feminists, and feminist media projects of the early 1970s. The pilot issue coincided with the 1971 Ms. pilot initiative led by Gloria Steinem, with editorial input from figures connected to Shulamith Firestone, Betty Friedan, and Pauli Murray. Early issues engaged controversies around Roe v. Wade, the Equal Rights Amendment, and debates within the Feminist Movement about class and race, involving activists from Combahee River Collective, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and Audre Lorde. Through the 1970s and 1980s the magazine negotiated editorial independence, funding relationships with the Ms. Foundation for Women and later ties to the Feminist Majority Foundation; it also weathered legal and market pressures faced by periodicals such as the Village Voice and The New Republic. Later decades saw shifts paralleling the rise of third-wave feminism, debates around Reproductive rights litigation, and coverage of international conferences like the UN World Conference on Women.

Editorial Direction and Content

Editorial leadership emphasized intersectional reporting before that term entered mainstream discourse, bringing together writers and activists associated with Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Patricia Hill Collins. Content combined investigative journalism akin to work published in The New York Times Magazine and cultural commentary similar to pieces in The Atlantic, while maintaining advocacy connections to groups such as NOW and campaigns like Take Back the Night. Regular sections covered politics, law, culture, and arts with bylines from journalists who also wrote for outlets including The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. The magazine published pieces on landmark legal cases such as Roe v. Wade and debates over the Equal Rights Amendment, and examined public figures like Hillary Clinton, Germaine Greer, Susan B. Anthony (historical profiles), and contemporary artists like Toni Morrison and Joni Mitchell.

Contributors and Notable Issues

Contributors ranged from prominent activists and intellectuals—Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky (guest pieces), Evelyn Reed—to journalists who later wrote for The New Yorker, Time (magazine), and Newsweek. Notable issues included early covering of consciousness-raising groups featuring activists such as Shulamith Firestone and Kate Millett; special editions on sexual violence referencing campaigns like Take Back the Night and reporting related to the Anita Hill hearings; thematic issues on race and feminism engaging voices from Combahee River Collective and Patricia Williams; and anniversary issues reflecting on milestones like the International Women's Year 1975. The magazine also published investigative features addressing institutions such as Harvard University and Columbia University when campus activism intersected with feminist concerns, and published profiles of cultural figures including Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Susan Sontag, Jill Abramson, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Influence and Reception

Ms. Magazine influenced public discourse on reproductive rights, workplace equality, and cultural representation, intersecting with campaigns organized by National Organization for Women, legal strategies pursued in cases like Roe v. Wade, and legislative debates over the Equal Rights Amendment. Its coverage shaped perceptions of feminist debate alongside other media outlets such as The New York Times and Time (magazine), and it drew reactions from critics across the political spectrum, from commentators in The Wall Street Journal to scholars at Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. The magazine's cultural reach included collaborations and conflicts with cultural producers like Madonna, Annie Leibovitz (photography commissions), and television programs that debated feminist themes such as segments on 60 Minutes. Academics studying media and gender—affiliated with institutions like Columbia University and University of Chicago—have cited its archives in scholarship on the Women's Movement, media activism, and feminist theory.

Business, Publication, and Distribution

Initially published as a joint project with funding from the Ms. Foundation for Women and fundraising networks tied to activists like Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes, the magazine navigated publishing industry structures involving distributors that serviced periodicals such as The Village Voice and mainstream chains like Barnes & Noble. Ownership and operational arrangements shifted over time, including partnerships with the Feminist Majority Foundation for print distribution while maintaining a digital presence as other outlets moved online, competing with websites from HuffPost and Salon (website). Circulation strategies adapted to newsstand retail models practiced by Condé Nast and subscription channels used by academic journals associated with Oxford University Press and Routledge for special collections. Financial challenges mirrored those affecting magazines across the United States, prompting philanthropic campaigns involving foundations such as the Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation.

Category:Feminist magazines Category:American magazines Category:Publications established in 1971