Editor’s note: The following is adapted from Thornton Dill’s powerful speech at the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.) Global Women’s Rights Awards on Tuesday, Nov. 18, in Los Angeles. Head here for more of Ms.’ coverage of the event, or here for our Instagram highlights.
One of my joys in college teaching was to watch my students’ deep engagement when I taught using Ms. magazine. Their faces, questions and comments showed how excited they were to explore a news source that is holy oriented towards women and women’s points of view. With Ms. as a resource they didn’t just open a magazine—they opened their eyes.
Opening minds and eyes is what Ms. is about, and there has been no time when Ms. is more needed than it is today.
Simply put, the major media outlets—never ideal—are now severely compromised by the bullying of Donald Trump. They are scared, they are careful not to piss him off, they are no longer doing the vigorous job that a free democracy requires to function. And I’m not saying that Ms. magazine can take the place of that loss, but it can help, and it does help—because it is in Ms., and often only there, where students, and the rest of us, can find information about the resistance. About the fight for women’s rights and racial justice.
Just this year, while major media outlets were touting the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” within the pages of Ms., we reported in depth about how that Big Ugly Bill would specifically harm women and children, and how threats to government employment would disproportionately impact Black women. Nowhere else would you find that kind of reporting.
While major media outlets rarely, if ever, report on violence to abortion clinics and abortion providers—as if it was a secret that must not be discussed—Ms. keeps a constant tab and a laser focus on that sort of violence, including how the deadly violence that targeted lawmakers in Minnesota was the result of antiabortion extremism.
Where else do you think you might read about the direct connection between misogyny and political violence?
Where else will you find how the administration’s cutoff of gender-based asylum claims will specifically harm women fleeing domestic violence?
Where else would you learn about how women in the U.S. immigration detention facilities face a special kind of hell, as they are both separated from their children, and sexually assaulted?
And what national media outlet is tracking the administration’s attacks on women and gender studies programs?
And those are just a few examples.
So while I’ve been away from the classroom for several years, I’m thrilled to say that Ms. is more present than ever. I know from experience that Ms. helps students envision a just future, offers hope, strategy and models for what it looks like when people challenge repression and inequality in their communities, nationally and globally.
Ms. is more than a magazine or a media outlet. It is a movement. It is a catalyst for action and an investigative powerhouse. Because Ms. does not take corporate or government funding—and thank goodness; we see how government funding is working out for folks these days. It is independent, and able to enact an unwavering commitment to truth.
As the primary U.S. publisher of feminist journalism over the last 50-plus years, as a media outlet that is unafraid to confront the administration of our 47th president and report on news you will see nowhere else, Ms. does not flinch. Will not flinch. It is an absolutely vital resource for young people, and for all of us, who will envision and create the next iteration of our country, the post-MAGA America that we all seek to realize. We are proud to say that Ms. is an essential and steadfast part of the resistance. Thank you.
Ms. is more than a magazine—it’s a movement! And it’s one that’s more critical than ever in these times. Make a tax-deductible donation today to fuel our reporting, rebelling and truth-telling and keep Ms. strong.
