Carmen Rios | Ms. Consulting Editor & Podcast Host

‘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."

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

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A Landmark Self-Defense Case in the Age of Mass Incarceration: A New Documentary Tells Joan Little’s Story

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:33:08 +0000

A new documentary short chronicles Little's groundbreaking case—and her historic victory as the first U.S. woman acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault.

The post A Landmark Self-Defense Case in the Age of Mass Incarceration: A New Documentary Tells Joan Little’s Story appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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‘You’re Either Going to Be on the Right Side of History, or on the Sidelines Watching Us Make History’: ERA Champion Pat Spearman Is Ready for the Feminist Future

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 19:27:22 +0000

Pat Spearman had a habit of making history during her three terms in the Nevada Senate.

Spearman became the first openly lesbian member of the Nevada Legislature when she was first elected in 2012. In her second term, she was the chief sponsor of legislation ratifying the ERA in the Silver State in 2017—35 years after the deadline imposed by Congress on ERA ratification had expired—reigniting the movement for constitutional equality and leading a three-state wave that pushed the ERA over the finish line for addition to the U.S. Constitution. And in her third term, Spearman also drove the successful effort to add the most inclusive and expansive ERA on record to Nevada’s own state constitution in 2022, “guaranteeing rights regardless of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.”

"I want us to hurry up and get this done," she said in the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, "because I’m ready to pick another fight."

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, "The Feminist Fight For The Equal Rights Amendment Is Far From Over—and More Urgent Than Ever (with Pat Spearman, Ellie Smeal, Carol Moseley Braun, Kathy Spillar, and Ting Ting Cheng)" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

The post ‘You’re Either Going to Be on the Right Side of History, or on the Sidelines Watching Us Make History’: ERA Champion Pat Spearman Is Ready for the Feminist Future appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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‘These Aren’t Decorative Constitutional Provisions—They’re Powerful Tools Waiting to Be Used’: How the ERA Project Is Advancing the Feminist Agenda, State by State

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 23:51:44 +0000

In the final episode of the Ms. Studios podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward, ERA Project director Ting Ting Cheng breaks down the power of state Equal Rights Amendments—and how activists and lawmakers can leverage them to build a stronger foundation for federal constitutional equality for everyone.

The post ‘These Aren’t Decorative Constitutional Provisions—They’re Powerful Tools Waiting to Be Used’: How the ERA Project Is Advancing the Feminist Agenda, State by State appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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‘Who Could Be Opposed to This?’: Why the ERA Is Kathy Spillar’s ‘North Star’ in the Fight for Gender Equality

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 19:30:07 +0000

Kathy Spillar, executive editor of Ms. magazine, became involved in feminist organizing when the supposed ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment expired in 1982. In the final episode of the Ms. podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward, she explains why, 40 years later, she’s still calling for constitutional equality.

The post ‘Who Could Be Opposed to This?’: Why the ERA Is Kathy Spillar’s ‘North Star’ in the Fight for Gender Equality appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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‘It Was The Most Important Thing I Could Do’: Ellie Smeal Reflects on a Lifetime of ERA Activism—And What Comes Next

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:50:36 +0000

Ellie Smeal helped architect the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. In the final episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, she shares stories from the frontlines and offers lessons—and optimism—for the fight ahead.

The post ‘It Was The Most Important Thing I Could Do’: Ellie Smeal Reflects on a Lifetime of ERA Activism—And What Comes Next appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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‘I’m Not Going to Tolerate Being Treated as a Second-Class Citizen’: Carol Moseley Braun Isn’t Giving Up on the Fight for Constitutional Equality

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 20:55:33 +0000

"The expectation of equality is the most important cultural thing that we can achieve, and we have to keep holding up that light."

Carol Moseley Braun became the first Black woman elected to the Senate after her involvement in the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. In the fifth and final episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, more than 40 years later, she asked a simple question: “Why haven’t we gotten this right yet?”

The post ‘I’m Not Going to Tolerate Being Treated as a Second-Class Citizen’: Carol Moseley Braun Isn’t Giving Up on the Fight for Constitutional Equality appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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The Promise of the Equal Rights Amendment Is More Urgent Than Ever

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 17:48:03 +0000

In the fifth episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, advocates and experts reflect on more than 50 years of activism to ratify the ERA—and the power that would come from women’s constitutional equality to redefine our democracy, protect our fundamental rights and change the stories of women’s lives.

The post The Promise of the Equal Rights Amendment Is More Urgent Than Ever appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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What Feminist Scholar Jane Caputi Believes History Can Teach Us About Taking on Male Supremacy—and Building a Future Without Femicide

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 22:36:56 +0000

The professor and The Age of Sex Crime author explained in the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward why the backlash we’re facing is proof that we’re winning—and urged feminists not to abandon their utopic visions for a world without misogyny.

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 What Feminist Scholar Jane Caputi Believes History Can Teach Us About Taking on Male Supremacy—and Building a Future Without Femicide appeared first on Ms. Magazine.

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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.

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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