More Than A Magazine, A Movement
50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf)—was released on Sept. 19. Order it here, from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or wherever you like to get your books.
From calling attention to the endless labor performed by women in the home, to being the first magazine to put the first female speaker on its cover, Ms. covers allowed the magazine to make a statement on newsstands—and bring feminist conversations into the mainstream.
In honor of Women’s History Month, here are our picks of 10 of the magazine’s most impactful covers.
“A little more than 100 years ago … rape served not only to further [the Black woman’s] oppression but also as a means of terrorizing the entire Black community. It placed brutal emphasis on the fact that Black slaves were indeed the property of the white master. … The social incentive given to rape is woven into the logic of the institutions of this society. It is an extremely efficient means of keeping women in a state of fear of rape, or of the possibility of it.”
( For more ground-breaking stories like this, order 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf)—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.)
Friends of Ms. gathered last month to discuss two extraordinary anthologies, Blackbirds Singing: Inspiring Black Women’s Speeches from the Civil War to the Twenty-First Century by Janet Deward Bell and 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution. Both give voice to extraordinary women throughout history who fought to define and demand equality.
In what The Washington Post says “changed the course of the abortion rights movement,” Ms. published “We Have Had Abortions” in its first issue, featuring the signatures of 53 prominent American women. Women who have had abortions have spoken out many times during the past 50 years, and millions of women and men have marched in countless rallies and demonstrations for abortion rights.
For more ground-breaking stories like this, order
50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf)—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.
“Ms. has always broken the silence on issues that mainstream media barely touched or refused to cover.”
(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.)
Next year’s election will see many voters turn out who are motivated by abortion and equal rights for women, according to a new poll by Lake Research Partners for Ms. and the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms. The poll showed that abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) are strong voter turnout issues separately, but even more powerful when combined.
Candidates talking about abortion and the ERA together are particularly mobilizing for Democrat and Independent voters—especially Independent women, younger women, voters who support abortion rights, college-educated women, Latinas and Black voters, and voters ages 30-39.
Last year, a group of over 300 activists—half of whom were under 25—gathered in Seneca Falls, N.Y., to celebrate 100 years since the initial signing of the ERA. The fight continued on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, with an intergenerational group of over 200—primarily women—activists, who gathered at the Roosevelt House in Hunter College to again demand that the ratified ERA be placed into law.
On Tuesday, Sept. 19—the same day the Ms. book, 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution, was released—Ms. magazine was awarded PEN America’s Impact Award, in honor of the publication’s five decades of feminist journalism.
“Through its art, literature and journalism, Ms. magazine became a platform that educated, inspired and mobilized generations of feminists in support of equality,” said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. “I am deeply honored to present the PEN America Impact Award … in recognition of Ms. magazine’s contributions to journalism, feminism and social change.”
(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.)
We hope you’ll join us in a city near you to celebrate the extraordinary new anthology 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION!
Fifty years in the making, the new Ms. book finally makes its debut on Sept. 19. We couldn’t be more excited to share it with our readers—and with the entire world. Inside the Fall issue, you’ll find a list of upcoming events on our national tour.
Also in the upcoming issue: the antis’ plan to ban abortion nationwide. The Supreme Court’s blindness to gender violence. Meet the 25-year-old leading North Carolina’s Democrats. And is the Barbie movie an outlier? Or have we finally entered an era of female-driven film?
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