Ms., periodical, launched in 1972 by American feminists Gloria Steinem, Patricia Carbine, and others, that was the first nationally circulated women’s magazine to bring feminism and the issues of the women’s rights movement into the mainstream. From the beginning, the editors of the magazine assumed that their readers were interested in more than new recipes and household hints. The magazine’s chief purpose was to address the concerns of contemporary women and to provide coverage of national and international news of particular relevance to women. It also devoted pages to women’s history and to stories and poetry written by women. Notably, the magazine initiated a policy of refusing advertising that depicted female stereotypes or was deemed demeaning to women.
Ms. demonstrated its divergence from conventional women’s magazines by printing in the first issue (which appeared before the pro-choice decision in Roe v. Wade) a list of 50 well-known women who acknowledged having had abortions. The magazine was successful in broadening the base of the women’s movement during the 1970s. The economic downturn of the early 1980s and the loss of key staff members threatened the magazine’s continuation, and in the late 1980s the magazine was sold. In 1990 Ms. halted publication for seven months. The magazine was relaunched in 1991 as an advertisement-free bimonthly. It continued to publish the fiction and nonfiction of women writers and to report on social, political, and legislative news that pertains to women’s issues. In 2002 Ms. became a quarterly publication.