Transcript:

00:00:00 Michele Goodwin:

Kathy, the magazine, which is so critically important coming out after the passing of Gloria Steinem, election coming up, so incredibly important, what can our readers expect from the next issue? 

00:00:25 Kathy Spillar:

Thank you, Michele. Never to disappoint. I mean, and first, of course, we start with a salute to Gloria and the founding of Ms. and her vision for making sure that women’s experiences and women’s voices counted in the national debate. How she changed journalism, you know, for the better and how she fueled, you know, those ideas that were put out through Ms. Magazine, and that she promoted…helped fuel the movement.

And you know, without your own media, you’re really at the mercy of the corporate-owned, you know, media, and so, it was so important that Ms. started, struggled to survive, made issues like domestic violence and rape and sexual harassment and abortion and contraception and equality…you know, put it on the map for so much of the country and really connected feminists to each other, which was a major accomplishment, because it strengthened the movement, and it gave us all common words to use in describing our experiences.

So, a real loss, but as you know, obviously, the magazine goes on, and we’ve adapted unchanged. I mean, we are online. We are on the airwaves. We, you know, have our own Ms. Studios. So, we have kept up with the time. I know that Gloria was very proud of that and believed that, you know, Ms. had to go on, because our work is not done, and no one person is going to change everything. This is really a movement, and so, we start with that tribute to her, appropriately.

00:02:12 Michele Goodwin:

That’s such an important tribute. It’s such an important tribute, and that’s right, that she was very clear that it’s not just a magazine. It’s a movement, and also very clear that women’s stories are not going to be told without rebelling, without setting their own stage, because corporate media was not doing the job that it could have and should have when Ms. was founded, and it still isn’t, and it still becomes incredibly vulnerable. You just think about, very recently, the president kicking out certain news media from even being able to cover in the White House. So, we know how vulnerable media can be and how important Ms. is. That’s such an important tribute.

00:02:56 Kathy Spillar:

Well, thank you. It goes on, and we’re bringing, in the fall issue, some real blockbusters, in my opinion. You know, we start…

00:03:03 Michele Goodwin:

Tell us about it.

00:03:05 Kathy Spillar:

With a wonderful piece. Well, Joyce Vance, former US Attorney and an analyst, has a piece on protecting the vote and how hard we had to fight for the vote and what we can expect this administration and Republicans to try to do to interfere with the vote, and very importantly, what feminists are doing across the country to make sure that these elections are fair and free, and has some very practical ideas for how people can get involved.

Wherever they live, whatever they do, there are ways that they can participate in ensuring that these elections are not subject to interference in such a way that we don’t get the real results. So, that’s an important piece. A second, critical piece is to remind people that the worst of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill is yet to come. So, we had a number of experts from the National Women’s Law Center, including Galen Burrows and her colleagues, write a very incisive piece on the cuts to come and how cynically the Republicans structured the cuts to come after the midterms, cuts to SNAP, cuts to Medicaid, cuts to those student loans

I mean, there were already some significant cuts, but what’s to come is even worse. Millions and millions of people will lose their healthcare, unless we can get this turned around. Food assistance, of course. Even the women and children…the WIC program to make sure that women have enough food for infants. So, we wanted people not to forget that as they get ready to vote in these midterm elections.

00:04:53 Michele Goodwin:
That’s such a critical piece, Kathy, and I know we’ve got another one, and I know we do this really quickly, but the importance of that piece cannot be overstated, right? The kind of coconut shell game that you’d see in the New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s, where a ball is underneath, and they’re moving it around really quickly, because people really don’t understand because, in this space and time, even while folks are already hurting right now, they don’t understand just what that gut punch will be after November and how strategically it’s aligned after November that they would be filling it. Wow, that’s going to be a must-read, folks.

00:05:32 Kathy Spillar:

Right. That’s right. Yeah.

00:05:33 Michele Goodwin:

Must-read.

00:05:34 Kathy Spillar:

Absolutely, and we’re going to go big on social with all of that, and then an investigative piece that I’m very proud of, looking at the international modeling industry and how that was the basis for human trafficking to Epstein’s crowd, but to other spaces, as well. I think that got lost a lot. I mean, obviously, the focus has been on the survivors, but it’s the survivors that have come together to expose this modeling industry. Many of the international modeling agencies are headquartered right here in the United States, especially in New York City. They need to be investigated for their role in trafficking women and girls from all over the world into these abuse networks.

00:06:22 Michele Goodwin:

Absolutely. I mean, we’re talking about girls who are as young as 10, 11, 12 years old, right?

00:06:27 Kathy Spillar:

That’s right. That’s right.

00:06:28 Michele Goodwin:

It’s like, you know, as long as you’re 5’10” and above, you could be 10, 11, 12 years old, and yes, the trafficking. You’re absolutely right.

00:06:37 Kathy Spillar:

Yes. Yes, and that piece hasn’t been investigated. So, we’re demanding that a new Congress investigate the modeling industry. It’s too critical to just gloss over. So, we actually talked to Congressman Robert Garcia, who will head the Oversight Committee if the Democrats take the majority, and he’s promised to look into the modeling industry, and you know, there’s an organization called the Model Alliance, which is a number of the models themselves who have come together, found each other, realized that what happened to them was not unique. That there was a pattern and practice to this trafficking, and have come together in working very closely with members of Congress, with Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York, to piece together the information that’s needed for these investigations, and so, we’re very proud of this piece. It’s some of the first, I think, coverage in this country about the importance of the modeling industry and facilitating these abusive crimes.

00:07:39 Michele Goodwin:

That’s amazing. That is absolutely amazing. Kathy, what a powerful issue. You know, all of the issues are. The amazing covers are done by our wonderful graphics design editor Brandi Phipps, and those are worth keeping on your walls. Those of you who get the magazine, it’s worth cutting those out, putting them in a frame, having them all in the backdrop of your walls, and the content inside is just fire, Kathy.

00:08:09 Kathy Spillar:

Right, and thank you for bringing it to the airwaves, Michele.

00:08:12 Michele Goodwin:

Well, and thank you, Kathy. So, pick up a copy at your newsstand. Subscribe to Ms. Magazine. Get it delivered to your home, and you know what? Give it as a gift to someone that you love or the people that you love, because what is contained in Ms. Magazine, you won’t, necessarily, be reading it anywhere else.

00:08:35 Kathy Spillar:

That’s right. That’s right.

00:08:36 Michele Goodwin:

So, Kathy, thank you so much for joining me.

00:08:38 Kathy Spillar:

Thank you, Michele.

00:08:40 Michele Goodwin:

All right. Until next time.

00:08:43 Kathy Spillar:

Yes.