More Than A Magazine, A Movement
From the swearing in of our first woman vice president, Kamala Harris, to the severe restrictions on reproductive rights, 2021 has been a mixed bag for feminism. Of course, popular culture—ever a pulse from which to measure the present moment—served as a guide this year for feminist expression.
Here is a list of what got us thinking and talking about feminism in popular culture.
Each month, I provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.
You’ve read the other “Best of” lists—now read the other one. You know, for the rest of us. Each year, I review my monthly Reads for the Rest of Us lists and choose my favorite books of the year. It was such a wonderful challenge to review all the lists and choose my top 50, but here they are.
“sista bell hooks,
to you,
we owe
an enormous debt
that can never really
be repaid
in full.”
“No need to cry useless tears for you.
Instead, let us pick up our pens
& write our way
to liberation and freedom.”
Poet Andrea Gibson is not feeling gloomy right now—in fact, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and a cancer diagnosis, they are feeling hope, gratitude, connectedness, peace and an immeasurable amount of love. Author of seven books and seven albums, Gibson is releasing their latest book of poetry, “You Better Be Lightning,” this month.
“It was more than a little bit haunting when I got diagnosed with cancer so soon after handing in my final edits. … But here I am, grateful for having made a book the best of me can get behind, and awed by the million ways this time is further widening my lens, further softening my heart.”
“on my back,” a poem written by Sheri Lynn, is based on and dedicated to the Women’s March for Reproductive Rights that took place on October 2, 2021.
Born into a Tamil, Catholic family, poet Divya Victor spent her childhood in India, her teen years in Singapore, and now lives and works in the United States. Her latest poetry collection, ‘Curb,’ is an unflinching exploration of the inequities that the South Asian community face in the United States.
In conversation with Ms., Shin Yu Pai explores the intersections between her identities as an artist, mother, and Taiwanese American.
“My different identities have led me towards pushing my work into different directions allowing me to be as expansive as I wish to be in my humanity and my wholeness as a person.”
American photographer Jeanette Spicer is the co-editor and co-founder of WMN, a lesbian publication of art and poetry based in Queens, N.Y. WMN provides a platform for marginalized lesbian-identifying artists to have their work seen and heard.
“We really felt like there’s a lack of lesbian visibility in all aspects of the world—the art world, the sports world, and even in the LGBTQ+ spectrum,” Spicer told Ms.
How does a living lesbian dress? How do we make conventional, traditional garments into our own looks? How do we send signals to other lesbians?
Caroline Earleywine, author of Lesbian Fashion Struggles and Mary Meriam, author of My Girl’s Green Jacket, sewed a cento with excerpts from their books, interwoven with excerpts from other poets.
Ladan Osman’s lines tend to levitate from the page and embed themselves into your heart and consciousness. Nearly every poem in her collections point to generations of women whose full humanity has been questioned or exploited, their power underestimated.
