The purse strings at Ms. magazine now are actually controlled by people who carry purses.
And it hasn’t been easy. Six months ago the magazine’s parent company decided to drop the bimonthly, and publication ceased with the September/October issue. It looked like the Ms. legacy as one of the only feminist publications on the newsstand might be at an end after 27 years. Instead of folding, the magazine’s founder and chairwoman, Gloria Steinem, organized a team of women investors to buy it back. Their first effort reached newsstands Monday.
This is not the first time the magazine has challenged convention. From its revolutionary editorial vision introduced in 1972 to its successful move to an advertising-free format in 1990, Ms. magazine seems to have its best moments when it defies the norm.
“We’re back,” said Marcia Ann Gillespie, president, editor-in-chief and one of the magazine’s new owners. “We’re going to be raucous. We’re going to raise hell. We’re going to celebrate all the things that you are and we are, and all the things we value about the most dangerous f-word in the world.”
Although Ms. was women-owned when it was born, most of the money came from banks and other institutions run by men. Since then several groups have owned the magazine. Most recently, in 1996, Ms. was acquired by the MacDonald Communications Corp., which also publishes Working Woman and Working Mother. In September 1998 MacDonald announced plans to sell Ms., and three months later 16 female investors–the youngest age 15, the oldest in their 80s–formed Liberty Media for Women LLC and bought the magazine for a reported $3 million.
“I can’t begin to tell you what a difference this has made that there are now women of means who put their money where their hearts are,” Steinem said. “It would not have been possible — it was not possible — for all of the first years when we were dependent on advertising and trying to make it. It probably was not possible after that either because that critical mass of women of means who are smart and political and principled were simply not there. I had no idea what a huge difference that makes. I really feel like we are on the verge of some huge leap forward because there is not just a critical mass of energy but also a critical mass of support for that energy.”
Marta Drury, a California activist who encourages other women to take control of their money and one of the new Ms. investors, introduced Steinem to some of these feminist women of means. Gillespie lovingly refers to Drury as a “godmother” of the magazine for her role.
Among the other women who helped save Ms. are Barbara Dobkin, founder and chair of Ma’yan; The Jewish Women’s Project; Sandy Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems and founder of Urban Decay; Alix L.L. Ritchie, publisher of the Provincetown Banner; Lindsay Davidson Shea, an activist and philanthropist of the New York Shea Stadium family; and sisters Abigail Disney and Susan Disney Loughman, the grand-nieces of Walt Disney, granddaughters of Roy Disney and philanthropists and activists in their own right.
Two teenage sisters from California also joined the Liberty Media consortium, using family money in their control to become part of the investment effort.
“Gloria was at the house last year, and I heard her talking to my parents about being upset that Ms. might not make it,” said Allison Kiehl Friedman, 19, a student at Stanford University. “I felt like I wanted to help. I also think it is a viable business opportunity.”
Allison and her 15-year-old sister and co-investor, Anne Kiehl Friedman, grew up with strong feminist ideals and role models. Their mother helped found Voters for Choice in 1979, the year she was pregnant with Allison, and their grandmother Phyllis Friedman is a lifelong political activist who joined with her granddaughters to back the new Ms.
“I was going to protests before I could walk,” Anne said. “It’s amazing to be involved in something like this when other people my age are doing band.”
Attracting a younger audience is one of the goals of the new Ms. At a reception celebrating the re-launch and Steinem’s 65th birthday, Steinem said that the absence of advertising gives editors the freedom to appeal to women with similar sensibilities instead of women of a particular age group.
“That means it can be a place where women can speak to each other across generations and learn from each other,” she told a crowd of about 200 at the March 16 event in Washington.
Steinem and the other editors believe a Web site at www.msmagazine.com with chat rooms, interactive surveys and merchandise will help them create a sort of virtual feminist community. College and high school editions are on publisher Fayne Erickson’s wish list, and in a few years she would like to have a shopping mall on her site.
“One of our board of directors even wants a Ms. bikini,” Erickson said with a smile. “I don’t know about that, maybe a Ms. beach towel.”
Between jokes, stories and applause, many at the reception expressed their appreciation for all that the magazine has done for them. One woman told the audience that the world not only got a new publication in 1972, it got the “concept” of being a “Ms.” Nearly a dozen members of Congress also came to offer thanks and praise to Steinem, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat from Chicago.
“When I need to be validated I would pick up Ms. magazine and I would get that kind of validation,” Schakowsky said. “I’m sure there are many others in this room who agree that without Gloria, life would have been a whole lot harder for us then and a whole lot harder for us now.”
Politics obviously is the underlying and outright theme of many of the articles in the latest issue. One piece examines the impact of women becoming more religious, asking the question, “Does that mean they are becoming more conservative?” In another story an author shares her positive experience with plastic surgery. A 12-page feature examines the implications of adultery in our society and muses that Bill Clinton may be the first man in history who got in more trouble than “the woman” for being unfaithful. The article includes the opinions of several writers on the subject and asks readers to share their thoughts by logging on to the Ms. home page.
The staff already is working on the bimonthly’s second issue and is feeling charged up about the challenge ahead.
“Our cover line says it all,” Erickson said. “We are back! Wake up and smell the estrogen.”
