‘We’re 53 Years Ahead of Where They Were Then’: Looking Back at 50+ Years of Ms.—and Looking Forward to a Feminist Future
In a new bonus episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar, consulting editor Carmen Rios, Ms. Committee of Scholars co-chair Janell Jobson, and legendary author, activist and professor Loretta Ross explore how the stories of our past can continue to inspire us—and give us hope in the fight forward.
“I don’t believe that the assault on women and women’s rights can be extracted from the overall dysfunction of all societies.”
“We have to keep rewriting history and reclaiming history, especially knowing that the forces out there are doing what they can to erase us.”
“There’s a long lineage of people who have been fighting this fight, because they know that we deserve justice.”
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Ms. Magazine’s Top Feminists of 2025
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What the Backlash Against Women’s Leadership Tells Us About Young Men
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In Norfolk, Va., Parents and Community Members Took Children’s Education and Safety Into Their Own Hands
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Disrupting Intimidation: How Texas Hotel Workers Are Shaking Up the Industry
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Fourteen Big Feminist Wins in 2025
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Lessons from Ms. for the Feminist Future (with Kathy Spillar, Loretta Ross, and Janell Hobson)
ProQuest’s Ms. magazine archive, available now in libraries and on campuses nationwide, offers an incredible view of the last 50-plus years of feminist activism and movement-building.
This special bonus episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward—recorded live during a celebration in Los Angeles marking the launch of the archive and featuring Ms. editors, contributors, and scholar leaders—explores what our collective history can teach us about confronting our present moment, and how it can light the path toward the feminist future.
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Sneak Peek: What’s in the Winter Issue of Ms.? Groundbreaking Reporting on Women’s Health and Power
Mifepristone has shown potential to treat a striking range of diseases and conditions, some life-threatening: fibroids, breast cancer, depression, endometriosis, Gulf War illness and maybe even other autoimmune diseases, such as chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis. Research also suggests that mifepristone may help prevent some forms of breast cancer and can serve as an effective weekly contraceptive without the side effects of hormonal birth control.
Yet despite the drug’s promise, its development has been repeatedly stymied by abortion opponents who fear wider availability would weaken their attempts to suppress abortion access.
The result? Women are left in needless pain and subject to invasive and unnecessary surgical procedures like hysterectomies.
A Very Bad Year for Women’s Health
When I started writing for The Contrarian, a funny-not-funny inside joke was whether there would be enough fodder for a weekly democracy column that overtly centers gender. I think you already know the punchline. Suffice it to say, I did not miss a single Wednesday in all of 2025.
For my final entry of the year, we thought it worthwhile to offer a snapshot—a year’s worth of reporting on the depth of damage this administration has wreaked on women’s health, with real-time Contrarian reporting noted.
