Ms. magazine first appeared in 1972. Edited by noted feminist Gloria Steinem, it was radically different from publications such as Good Housekeeping. Steinem said Ms. would not tell you “how to make jelly, but how to seize control of your life”.
Ms. was an instant success. All 300,000 copies of the first issue were sold in eight days.
That first Ms. had an essay on sisterhood by Steinem, one of the most prominent feminist activists of the time; a piece on lesbianism (though Steinem was warned against running it since it played to a stereotype); and a petition calling for abortion to be legalised, signed by women including Anais Nin, Nora Ephron, Susan Sontag and Billie Jean King, and headed “We Have Had Abortions”.
Later issues tackled domestic abuse, childcare costs and female genital mutilation.
Steinem had a gift for aphorisms. Among her quips were “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off”; “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament”; and “A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after”.
Gloria Steinem died at her New York City home on 2 September 2026, at age 92.
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That first Ms. had an essay on sisterhood by Steinem, one of the most prominent feminist activists of the time; a piece on lesbianism (though Steinem was warned against running it since it played to a stereotype); and a petition calling for abortion to be legalised, signed by women including Anais Nin, Nora Ephron, Susan Sontag and Billie Jean King, and headed “We Have Had Abortions”.
