The Empire Strikes Back: Trump and His Oligarchs Return to the White House

What if many of the working and middle-class men who voted for Trump were misled into thinking that feminists and racial justice advocates were their antagonists, instead of the denizens of what David Graham referred to in The Atlantic as a new “Gilded Age,” who were seated right behind Trump at his second inaugural?

To use a Star Wars analogy: What if many of the average men who supported Trump fancied themselves members of the Rebel Alliance, but one day came to understand they were actually working for the Empire?

Democrats don’t need to convert the MAGA faithful. I’m convinced that millions of men and young men who voted for Trump have not gone that far down the rabbit hole of hero-worship, conspiracy and delusion. That’s the source of my defiant hope.

‘A Citizen’s Guide to Menopause Advocacy’: A New Digital Booklet Mobilizing Menopausal Masses

Over the past two years, menopause has become wildly popular in the public discourse.

A team of experts launched a digital booklet, A Citizen’s Guide to Menopause Advocacy. Ms. Magazine’s Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Dr. Mary Claire Haver, author of the NYT #1 bestseller The New Menopause, are joined by award-winning journalist and women’s health champion Maria Shriver in creating this timely and action-oriented roadmap.

Over the next two years, these may well be among the ideas that can transcend political gridlock.

How I Broke Through the Fertility Industry’s False Promises to Become a Mom at 44

Assisted reproductive technology is more an art than a science—and until the success rates for certain groups drastically improve, doctors are foisting fairy tales onto vulnerable women. 

IVF was a hot button issue in this year’s election. But today’s discussion about whether IVF should remain legal leaves out a fundamental point: It assumes that IVF works. This is, however, far from the truth for many—especially Black and Brown women and older women—for whom assisted reproductive technology is far from a miracle cure.

Why are we selling women on the idea that they can easily get pregnant after 40 when we know that’s exceedingly rare? The answer is money.

‘We’re Still in an Anti-Vax Era’: Dr. Fauci on Battling Anti-Science Sentiment in a Divided America

Before COVID-19, it was rare for an immunologist to become a household name. But in 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci—then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—quickly became one of the U.S.’ most recognizable symbols of the fight against the pandemic. He was the face of the “Stop the Spread” campaign, urging people to get the vaccine (which some affectionately dubbed the “Fauci ouchie”), and was the subject of a documentary film in 2021.

In Ms.’ first On the Issues podcast episode of 2025, Fauci joined host and Ms. Studios executive producer Michele Goodwin to talk about his time fighting vaccine misinformation, his hopes for the future and how his life changed in the public spotlight during COVID-19, including the toll that the often-troubling attention took on his family.

N.C. Democrats Rally for Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs After Opponent Jefferson Griffin Denies Her Win

Republicans are once again denying election results after a defeat, subverting democracy to try to hold onto power.

This November, abortion-rights voters in North Carolina hoped to reelect Supreme Court justice Allison Riggs. She ran against Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, who ruled in a case in 2023 that life begins at conception. Griffin and other Republicans are fighting to have more than 60,000 ballots thrown out, hoping that challenging thousands of voter registrations will help him gain the Supreme Court seat.

Prepared and Defiant: Ms. Magazine’s Vision for the Feminist Fights Ahead

This moment feels dangerous and daunting. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that we’ve walked this path before. The feminist movement—and Ms.—has learned to endure, to rise even when everything tells us to fall. We carry with us the stories of every inch gained—the right to vote, to earn our own income, to own property, to access education, to live with dignity. Each gain was earned, and every time they tried to bar the door, we found another way through. 

Trump Pardoning Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Would Endorse Attacks on Democracy

Rewarding people who tried to ignite an insurrection turns the pardon power on its head.

Trump’s pardons are not about people and their communities—they are about personal loyalty to him. Trump summoned these individuals to the Capitol to support him and now he will pardon them to complete that transaction. Trump will use the pardon power to make it clear that violence and violation of the law can be forgiven in service to himself.

Why the ERA Needs Congressional Action—And How We Can Win

Over these past weeks, I’ve read countless emails, sat through heated meetings, and heard the cries for action directed at President Joe Biden urging him to order the archivist to certify and publish the ERA in the Constitution. I understand the yearning for a decisive stroke. But this path, I believe, is a snare, tangled in legal thorns, dangerous and fraught with risk.

After careful study and consultation with leading constitutional experts, I am certain that Congress must pass joint resolutions to recognize the ERA and remove the arbitrary time limit.

His intervention could set off a chain reaction, handing ERA opponents an opportunity to challenge the amendment in court. A judicial gauntlet with Trump-appointed judges risks obliterating decades of progress, forcing us to begin again, clawing our way back through Congress, where a two-thirds vote is needed in the House and Senate, and three-fourths of state legislatures must ratify any new amendment.

The Most-Read Stories of 2024

Every day of 2024, Ms. writers and editors set out to create content that empowered, informed and infuriated readers. We sought out the truth, sounded alarms, asked tough questions, mourned feminist losses (and feminists we lost), looked to gender justice advocates abroad, and handed the microphone over to experts. Dear reader: As we enter a new year and a new era of the movement, we promise you more of this.

Explore the 30 most popular articles published this year on MsMagazine.com—the articles feminists most clicked, shared, studied, bookmarked and passed out at marches.