'50 Years of Ms.' Book Archives - Ms. Magazine

‘We’re 53 Years Ahead of Where They Were Then’: Looking Back at 50+ Years of Ms.—and Looking Forward to a Feminist Future

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 21:20:40 +0000

In a new bonus episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar, consulting editor Carmen Rios, Ms. Committee of Scholars co-chair Janell Jobson, and legendary author, activist and professor Loretta Ross explore how the stories of our past can continue to inspire us—and give us hope in the fight forward.

"I don’t believe that the assault on women and women’s rights can be extracted from the overall dysfunction of all societies."

"We have to keep rewriting history and reclaiming history, especially knowing that the forces out there are doing what they can to erase us."

"There’s a long lineage of people who have been fighting this fight, because they know that we deserve justice."

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‘A Patriarchal, Male-Dominated, Use-of-Violence Society Is Not Good for Anybody’: Ellen Sweet on the Historic Ms. Study of Campus Rape, 40 Years Later

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 22:11:38 +0000

The former senior editor and writer for Ms. coordinated what became the first-ever national survey of campus sexual violence. In the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, Sweet assesses what she learned from the study about rape, activism, and backlash—and what has and hasn’t changed since it was published.

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, "How Feminists are Breaking the Cycle of Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (with Ellen Sweet, Jane Caputi, Vanessa Tyson, Victoria Nourse, and Debra Katz)" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

The post ‘A Patriarchal, Male-Dominated, Use-of-Violence Society Is Not Good for Anybody’: Ellen Sweet on the Historic Ms. Study of Campus Rape, 40 Years Later appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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‘Looking Back, Moving Forward’: New Ms. Podcast Traces Feminist History to Light the Path Ahead

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 16:16:53 +0000

We’ve been here before—and our shared histories can illuminate the feminist fight forward.

Looking Back, Moving Forward, a new podcast from Ms. Studios hosted by Carmen Rios, explores what we can learn from the last 50-plus years of Ms. to inform where we go next.

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Women’s History: 10 of the Most Iconic Ms. Magazine Covers

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:28:32 +0000

From calling attention to the endless labor performed by women in the home, to being the first magazine to put the first female speaker on its cover, Ms. covers allowed the magazine to make a statement on newsstands—and bring feminist conversations into the mainstream.

In honor of Women’s History Month, here are our picks of 10 of the magazine’s most impactful covers.

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From The Vault: Joan Little and The Dialectics of Rape (June 1975)

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 20:12:59 +0000

"A little more than 100 years ago ... rape served not only to further [the Black woman's] oppression but also as a means of terrorizing the entire Black community. It placed brutal emphasis on the fact that Black slaves were indeed the property of the white master. ... The social incentive given to rape is woven into the logic of the institutions of this society. It is an extremely efficient means of keeping women in a state of fear of rape, or of the possibility of it."

( For more ground-breaking stories like this, order 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf)—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.)

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Looking Back and Forging Ahead: Three Feminist Writers on Women’s History, Feminist Media and Intergenerational Engagement

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 19:21:33 +0000

Friends of Ms. gathered last month to discuss two extraordinary anthologies, Blackbirds Singing: Inspiring Black Women’s Speeches from the Civil War to the Twenty-First Century by Janet Deward Bell and 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution. Both give voice to extraordinary women throughout history who fought to define and demand equality.

The post Looking Back and Forging Ahead: Three Feminist Writers on Women’s History, Feminist Media and Intergenerational Engagement appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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From The Vault: We Have Had Abortions (Spring 1972)

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 17:12:53 +0000

In what The Washington Post says "changed the course of the abortion rights movement," Ms. published "We Have Had Abortions" in its first issue, featuring the signatures of 53 prominent American women. Women who have had abortions have spoken out many times during the past 50 years, and millions of women and men have marched in countless rallies and demonstrations for abortion rights.

For more ground-breaking stories like this, order
50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf)—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.

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Celebrating the Legacy of Feminist Reporting: 50 Years of Ms. Magazine at UCLA’s Hammer Museum

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:05:00 +0000

"Ms. has always broken the silence on issues that mainstream media barely touched or refused to cover."

(This essay is part of the "Feminist Journalism Is Essential to Democracy" project—Ms. magazine’s latest installment of Women & Democracy, presented in partnership with the International Women’s Media Foundation.)

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The 2024 Election Will Be a Referendum on Abortion and Women’s Equality, According to New Ms. Poll

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 21:41:26 +0000

Next year’s election will see many voters turn out who are motivated by abortion and equal rights for women, according to a new poll by Lake Research Partners for Ms. and the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms. The poll showed that abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) are strong voter turnout issues separately, but even more powerful when combined.

Candidates talking about abortion and the ERA together are particularly mobilizing for Democrat and Independent voters—especially Independent women, younger women, voters who support abortion rights, college-educated women, Latinas and Black voters, and voters ages 30-39.

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Ms. Magazine Has Been Fighting for the ERA Since Its Inception

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Last year, a group of over 300 activists—half of whom were under 25—gathered in Seneca Falls, N.Y., to celebrate 100 years since the initial signing of the ERA. The fight continued on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, with an intergenerational group of over 200—primarily women—activists, who gathered at the Roosevelt House in Hunter College to again demand that the ratified ERA be placed into law.

The post Ms. Magazine Has Been Fighting for the ERA Since Its Inception appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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