Health

‘Beauty Is a Labor Issue’: The Ms. Q&A with Arabelle Sicardi

PUBLISHED 10/14/2025 by

Since the start of their career, Arabelle Sicardi has worked to carve out a niche as a beauty writer who takes the industry to task. In an industry that thrives on affiliate links, and where publications near universally get commissions for the products they recommend, it’s a hard angle to take: Critiquing the system, let alone exposing the inequality that goes on behind the scenes, can put you in a vulnerable position.

Sicardi sat down with Ms. to discuss beauty under fascism, the labor issues at play in the beauty industry, and finding community and connection in an industry that’s fraught with violence.

Five Things to Know About Missed Period Pills

PUBLISHED 10/14/2025 by

If your period is late and you don’t want to be pregnant, do you really have to wait for a positive pregnancy test before you can act? The answer is often no. Increasing availability of “period pills” means you don’t have to wait or sit in uncertainty.

As missed period pills change how people stay in control of their bodies—and how early abortion care may be accessed—we see more questions and, unfortunately, more attacks from those who don’t support a full range of pregnancy options.

Here’s what’s important to know.

Would Charlie Kirk Be Mourned the Same if He Were Single and Childless?

PUBLISHED 10/10/2025 by

After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, many mourners grieved the untimely death of a “father and husband.” Opinions of his rhetoric aside, the unintended implication is that he would be less worthy of being mourned if he were single and childless.

As a 47-year-old male who’s never been married and has little to no interest in dating, you’d better believe I’ve been asked questions like, “When are you gonna settle down?” and “why are you still single?” But this isn’t about me venting. It’s about what’s behind these questions: the core assumption that not having a partner is lacking.

This Manufactured Shutdown Threatens Healthcare and Reproductive Freedom

PUBLISHED 10/9/2025 by

This is not governing—it’s sabotage, carried out at the expense of Americans’ health and freedoms.

In July, House Republicans created a healthcare crisis when they rammed through a budget that gutted Medicaid, defunded Planned Parenthood and put a target on the Affordable Care Act. Now, instead of fixing the mess they made, they’re steering us toward a government shutdown that will only compound the damage.

Americans across the political spectrum value these programs. Medicaid, Planned Parenthood and the ACA are lifelines in red states and blue states alike. People may disagree on politics, but they overwhelmingly agree that their families deserve access to affordable healthcare. That’s why the position to protect care and keep the government open is both the responsible path forward and the popular one.

Keeping Score: Trump’s Dangerous Claims About Tylenol; Government Shutdown Begins; Diddy’s Four-Year Sentence

PUBLISHED 10/9/2025 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—Doctors push back against Trump’s dangerous claims that Tylenol in pregnancy increases the risk of autism.
—The U.S. entered a government shutdown, affecting millions of federal workers.
—Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to four years in prison.
—Zoologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall died at age 91.
—University of California students and faculty are suing the Trump administration for violating free speech rights.
—Student activists are stepping up to get around birth control bans on campus.
—Louisiana admits non-citizens voting is not a systemic problem.
—The ACLU and religious freedom organizations are suing to block 14 more Texas school districts from implementing a law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments posters.

… and more.

Meanwhile, at the FDA: Menopause Progress, Abortion Gaslighting

PUBLISHED 10/9/2025 by

The FDA caused a stir last week when it approved a new, generic version of mifepristone—the abortion medication that has safely, effectively and privately ended pregnancies for 25 years. Many mainstream outlets made it sound like a dramatic policy reversal, but really it was a procedural box check. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is already laying the groundwork to undermine access, announcing a so-called “safety review” based on flawed data and false claims. As reproductive rights advocates like Mini Timmaraju have pointed out, this is gaslighting—pretending to be moderate while plotting restrictions. That’s why protecting mifepristone still matters now.

At least there was some progress this week in menopause care: The FDA signaled plans to remove the “black box” warning on certain hormone treatments that has long stoked fear and confusion. Experts say the label was based on outdated science and has caused real harm, leaving countless women to suffer unnecessarily. For once, the agency seems poised to get this one right.

Grief, Power and the Ongoing Fight for Women’s Rights

PUBLISHED 10/8/2025 by

From daily violence to decisions over their bodies, women’s suffering is ignored and their losses go largely ungrieved—a reflection of a culture that shapes which rights are protected and whose lives are mourned.

The newly released Beijing report warns that progress is not guaranteed, and regression is already underway. This anniversary must be more than a commemoration; it must be a recommitment. As Hillary Clinton cautions: “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for women across the world who have benefited from the changes in the laws, regulations, and norms over the last 30 years to realize that there are strong forces at work to try and turn the clocks back.”

The clock will not be turned back—not if we raise our voices, grieve loudly for women and refuse silence.

Cuts to Lifesaving Hunger Aid Could Impact Millions: ‘Our President and Congress Think Budget Cuts Will Help People Achieve Self-Sufficiency. They Won’t.’

PUBLISHED 10/8/2025 by

When Crystal FitzSimons became president of the 55-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) in May, she anticipated attacks on federal food and nutrition programs. But she calls what has unfolded unprecedented, and makes clear that unless Congress changes course and passes the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025, millions of U.S. residents will lose some or all of the benefits they’re receiving through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP.  

Other pending changes that FitzSimons is expecting will take the shape of denying SNAP to the few immigrants who were previously eligible for benefits, such as asylum seekers, refugees and international survivors of domestic violence.

“We are working at the state and federal levels and are collecting stories of different people who will be directly impacted by the cuts—the grandmother who relies on SNAP and helps watch her grandchildren while her daughter is at work; disabled people who use SNAP to support their independence; and older adults who are no longer able to work. We share their stories because we know that the real experiences of real people are critical in helping lawmakers and others understand who benefits from SNAP.”

“Every dollar spent on SNAP generates up to $1.80 in economic activity at the community level during economic downturns.”

Ms. Global: Indigenous Women’s Rights Violated in Greenland, Earthquakes in Afghanistan and Indonesia Affect Women and Children, and More

PUBLISHED 10/8/2025 by

The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

This week: news from Indonesia, Greenland, Gaza, and more.

One Megabill for the Megarich

PUBLISHED 10/7/2025 by

The Trump administration is calling its new budget “the most pro-family legislation ever crafted.” But for women like Bre’Jaynae Joiner, a single mother of two in Oakland, the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP threaten her family’s very survival.

Over the next decade, more than 11 million Americans—mostly women and children—are expected to lose health coverage, while deep food assistance cuts and work requirements will push even more families into crisis. Advocates call the bill a massive transfer of wealth to the rich at the expense of the poor, a policy that will shutter rural hospitals, deny essential care and worsen maternal mortality.

As Sen. Raphael Warnock puts it plainly: “If you cut $900 billion out of Medicaid, people are going to die.”