Author: Jennifer Weiss-Wolf

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is the executive director of Ms. partnerships and strategy. A lawyer, fierce advocate and frequent writer on issues of gender, feminism and politics in America, Weiss-Wolf has been dubbed the “architect of the U.S. campaign to squash the tampon tax” by Newsweek. She is the author of Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity, which was lauded by Gloria Steinem as “the beginning of liberation for us all,” and is a contributor to Period: Twelve Voices Tell the Bloody Truth. She is also the executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU Law. Find her on Twitter: @jweisswolf.

Feminist Media Is Needed to Save Democracy

Despite the slew of Jezebel-inspired clickbait headlines (“End of an Era!”), feminist media is hardly dead. Far from it. Among the extraordinary and thriving nonprofit and membership-driven newsrooms, hubs and websites with which Ms. is proud to share this mantel:  The International Women’s Media Foundation, “Abortion, Every Day,” Rewire News Group, The 19th* and Women’s Media Center.

It is imperative that feminist media be understood as more than merely a hub for like-minded women. Its role is far more existential: It is where you will find the voices best able to call out and counter the rise in anti-democratic impulses and action that is growing all around us.

(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.)

The ‘Barbie’ Movie: “More Swipes at ‘The Patriarchy’ Than a Year’s Worth of Ms. Magazine”

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With opening weekend now in the rearview mirror (of her pink convertible), Barbie has raked in more than $200 million at the box office—smashing prior records for women-directed and summer blockbusters. Reviews have run the gamut. But it is the Wall Street Journal’s take, in particular, that caught our eye—and reviewer Kyle Smith’s quip that Barbie “contains more swipes at ‘the patriarchy’ than a year’s worth of Ms. magazine.”

To this, we at Ms. say: Hear, hear! We’ve been tackling feminist issues for five decades—including in our forthcoming book, 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION. So we know firsthand the force behind this magazine and its vast community of readers.  

Why Menopause Representation Matters: ‘Women in Positions of Power Realize This Is Not Something to Be Secretive About’

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Representation of menopause in popular culture matters. Among the ways menopause has been reflected on TV, the And Just Like That cast has tackled issues of aging, including a cameo by Ms. co-founder Gloria Steinem last week.

It was also the main theme of a Judy Blume film screening and panel Ms. recently co-hosted in New York City entitled “Menopause Needs Our Margaret”—a reference to Blume’s iconic book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. The event gathered the filmmakers behind the Judy Blume Forever documentary, Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, plus menopause advocates Stacy London, Sharon Malone, Omisade Burney-Scott, Tamsen Fadal and Susan McPherson, in conversation with Jennifer Weiss-Wolf.

Read on for highlights from our New York City event.

Here’s How Companies Can Protect the Privacy of People Providing or Seeking Abortion Care

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Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Center for Democracy & Technology has released a set of best practices for companies to adopt in order to better protect the privacy and safety of people seeking, providing or otherwise supporting abortion care.

Without transparency, companies could sell data to law enforcement and civil litigants—which could help prove a person sought, received, aided or provided an abortion. The best practices call on companies to consider and closely review the types of individual user data they have access to, and minimize the collection of revealing information.

Are Women’s Rights the Canary in the Coal Mine of a Democracy in Decline?

The tenets of reproductive health, rights and justice—and those of a healthy democracy—are not only inextricably interconnected, but essential to our nation’s promise.

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group. This story also appears in the Summer 2023 issue of Ms. magazine. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the Summer issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)

Judy Blume’s Legacy: How and Why We Must Talk About Periods

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, the iconic book about puberty and preteen firsts, debuts on the big screen later this month, along with the much anticipated documentary, Judy Blume Forever. Social media has been abuzz with fans spanning generations sharing their own #MargaretMoments.

Here’s mine: When I researched and wrote the book Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity in 2017, I delved into the national discourse about menstruation in the United States during the 20th century. Of course, Margaret plays a leading role—but so too, I learned, does the invention and commercialization of modern menstrual products.

Menopause Went Prime Time at the Super Bowl. Now the Federal Government Must Step Up

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Menopause has been sorely neglected by the mainstream medical establishment, by lawmakers, by employers and by just about everyone. As a result, millions of women are left to navigate its most debilitating symptoms with little support.

Menopause is clearly having a prime-time moment—and we think that’s worth cheering. We challenge the National Institutes for Health to design and launch a modern initiative to assert the long-term benefits of hormone therapy and accurately assess its risks.

Midterms and ‘Mid-Cycle Spotting’: Getting Real About Women’s Health

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We have been left all alone, our bodies overlooked by the law and undermined by the courts. We’re left, quite literally, to save our own lives. But perhaps one silver lining of the overturning of Roe v. Wade has been creating space for women to openly and deliberately trace the arc of their reproductive lives—in public—from menstruation to menopause.

As advocates, scholars and providers now work to reimagine and rebuild what meaningful reproductive care looks like in this country, we have an opportunity to be more holistic in addressing the full continuum of women’s reproductive lives. Private sector interventions and public policy solutions must reflect those intersections. Period. Full stop.