More Than A Magazine, A Movement
bell hooks (1952-2021) was a prolific Black feminist writer, activist and academic of race, class and gender. She is well-known for her book Ain’t I A Woman? in which she wrote about intersections of race and gender in American society, as well as her concept of the “oppositional gaze” as a form of resistance against white supremacy.
Each month, we provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.
This November brings a brilliant selection of new book releases. From Native American Heritage Month to Trans Day of Remembrance, there are books for you to learn from, unwind with, and reflect upon. Which of these 24 titles will you be reading this month?
As we saw in the Barbie movie, learning about how patriarchal oppression is impacting our daily lives is the key to helping us understand how essential feminism really is—not only for Barbie and Ken, but for all of us here in the real world.
Each month, we provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.
There is no shortage of books to inform and inspire you, soothe and relieve you. The 31 books on this month’s list are a great place to find one!
There are now 28 states that either limit how teachers can discuss issues about race and gender, or are considering passing legislation. Feminist teachers and academics have been viewing with increased alarm, anger and frustration these legislative efforts by Republicans to limit our academic freedom, censor the teaching of African American and gender studies, and place us in an untenable situation where we are forced to defend ourselves and our livelihood. The attack is personal. It is rooted in anti-Black racism, patriarchy, transphobia, whiteness and xenophobia—a propagandistic argument designed to whitewash our collective history. It is not simply a debate about curriculum; it is a fight about the direction of this country. It will not stop unless we stop it.
Join our teach-in at 12 p.m. ET on May 3.
Another season of the award-winning Showtime series Yellowjackets compares female empowerment then and now, contrasting girls of the 1990s with the women they are today.
There’s a lot going on in this brilliantly suspenseful show, including some spectacular deconstructions of stereotypes—good and bad—but what really stands out to me are the questions it asks about competition. For this viewer who came of age in the ‘90s—benefiting from a lot of self-empowerment messaging but not much feminism, let alone intersectional feminism—Yellowjackets really hits.
Florida officials have rejected a new Advanced Placement (AP) course on African American studies, calling it “woke indoctrination” that “significantly lacks educational value.” But the modern figures and movements that the state board objects to are extensions of Black history. That history is the story of Black activism, the ongoing, centuries-old struggle for rights and freedoms in the United States—and African American studies as a field is itself rooted in that effort.
“We have the potential of raising an entire generation of Black children who will not be able to see themselves represented in their own state or in education.”
There has never been a queer leader like Urvashi Vaid. Until her death of metastatic breast cancer on May 14 at age 63, she spent the better part of five decades fighting injustice. Principle drove Urvashi in almost everything she did. She exploded onto the scene with a dynamism that has never been equaled since.
“The lesbian agenda is the reconstruction of families … the reimagining of power … the reorganization of the economic system … the reinforcement of civil rights and dignity for all people … the end of the oppression of women, the end of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia … the reestablishment of a proper relationship to our environment. … When I list this laundry list of oppression, it does not overwhelm me; it tells me how far I have to go in my struggle; it tells me who my allies are.”
Renaissance, Beyoncé’s seventh solo album, offers a much different vibe and one that also represents an intergenerational inheritance engulfed in the pleasures of Black dance music vibrating across the various subcultures of Black communities around the world.
Black women—across genders, sexualities and communities—have been the blueprint, and Beyoncé’s Renaissance proves that.
When filmmaker Jennie Livingston stumbled upon drag ball culture in the late 1980s, they had no idea how much the resulting film would resonate. Released in 1990, Livingston’s first documentary Paris Is Burning showcases drag balls during the late 1980s in Harlem, New York City, and features interviews with numerous queer and trans Black and Latinx performers who comprised the various “houses” in competition at the balls. Decades later, the film continues to resonate.
It’s been a hell of a year for feminists.
But we didn’t sit around. We took to the streets, to protest the attacks on our right to decide what happens to our own bodies. To protest the lack of progress on voting rights, immigration, police and gun reform, and on finally enshrining the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. We wrote letters, sent messages, tweet stormed, rallied, called Congress, and gave money to support our causes in a year when budgets were tight—because we knew it was the right thing to do.
Happy new year from all of us at Ms., and thank you for sticking with us through the hard times.