"Clay and many magazine people told me not to include a lesbian article in the first issue—and so, of course, we did."

October 31, 2011 8:19 AM

The December 20, 1971 issue of New York Magazine came bundled with a 40-page preview of the first periodical created, owned, and operated entirely by women. The first issue sold out in eight days. 40 years later, New York Magazine interviews Gloria Steinem and the women who launched Ms. Magazine. (single page version.) From the same issue: How the Blogosphere Has Transformed the Feminist Conversation

From the preview issue: Ms. Magazine's Declaration of Independence.

Mentioned in this article:

* Editor's Letter: What Is Ms. and What Is It Doing in New York?
* "The Housewife’s Moment of Truth"
* "I Want a Wife"
* "Down With Sexist Upbringing"

Also:
* "Sisterhood"
* "How to Write Your Own Marriage Contract"

The 30th Anniversary issue of New York Magazine included a brief interview/profile of "Gloria Steinem: First Feminist"

posted by zarq (10 comments total)

I used to devour Steinem's writing and other feminist writing in the early 1980s as a teen. This stuff meant something to me as I struggled through engineering college in India then on to work in my early twenties. But seeing this FPP made me realize I have not given this topic a thought in the last 15 or even 20 years. I wonder if feminism is a phase - not in the sense that you slide backward but in the sense you need this moral support as you work your way through to your own role and strengths, then once you're there, you just are who you are - a person. Not a mother, sister, daughter, wife or girlfriend but just yourself. If I were to discuss feminism in the context of my life today I wouldn't know where to begin or even how to articulate it. Yet, I now see that it is on the shoulders of these giants that I stand.

thanks, zarq
posted by infini at 8:43 AM on October 31, 2011 [4 favorites]

I grew up on Stories for Free Children.

Shoulders of giants. Yes. Exactly that.
posted by rtha at 9:12 AM on October 31, 2011

"Honest talk about feminisim & real life"
posted by docgonzo at 9:15 AM on October 31, 2011

I grew up on Stories for Free Children.

Yeah, me too!
posted by OmieWise at 9:25 AM on October 31, 2011

It's really interesting to read that marriage contract article and realize how much of it I took for granted when I got married. Thanks, Ms.: you made a difference.
posted by immlass at 10:18 AM on October 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ms magazine was such an important part of my education outside of women's studies courses that were a little outdated by then...back in college, I spent the summer of 1992 reading every single issue that existed up to that point, from the personal collection of an (older) feminist role model. Changed me in important and good ways.
posted by honey badger at 1:00 PM on October 31, 2011

And, of course, then I went on to read everything that Gloria Steinem ever wrote. She championed many different marginalized groups, all under the banner of the Other, before Other-ism existed: feminism, animal rights, the working class.

She completely understood what it meant to be Other, through being a woman in a man's world.

As a woman of color, anti-racism and feminism are important to me, but so often I feel forced to choose one over the other. Steinem is one of few white feminists who got it, and I respect her incredibly for it.
posted by honey badger at 1:11 PM on October 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

The photo accompanying the New York Magazine article of Ms editors/giants of feminism is akin to the 1927 Solvay conference photo of physicists.
posted by honey badger at 1:22 PM on October 31, 2011 [1 favorite]

1927 Solvay conference photo of physicists.

yay for Marie!
posted by infini at 1:31 PM on October 31, 2011

From The Housewife's Moment of Truth:

Men at a higher stage of enlightenment may argue, “Why do we need a washing machine? I wash my socks and we send everything out.” They simply cannot understand that we are the ones who must gather and list and plan even for the laundry we send out. It is, quite simply, on our minds. And not on theirs.

Yes. Exactly.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:37 PM on November 1, 2011