How white supremacist, misogynist and homophobic ideals of manhood fuel violence in America—and put men like Charlie Kirk at risk.| Ms. Magazine
New York refuses to extradite Dr. Margaret Carpenter, reinforcing its telehealth shield law and challenging state abortion bans.| Ms. Magazine
Ideally, it is best to consider egg-freezing when you are under 35 to maximize both egg quality and quantity. The challenge for younger patients is freezing eggs at a point where you get maximum success without overkill. If there is still a high probability that a woman will conceive naturally, the time and money dedicated to egg freezing may be best spent elsewhere. The goal of freezing eggs is to ensure a high probability of success in the future, but not to freeze so early as to render the...| Ms. Magazine
Egg freezing allows fertility preservation even if you are not ready to be pregnant now, allowing you to take matters into your own hands. It enables you to preserve your ability to have genetically-related children later in life, while freeing you for other pursuits such as careers, seeking increased financial stability or simply finding the right partner without the pressure of the biological clock. It may permit women who partnered later in life to have a second or third child, even if con...| Ms. Magazine
Pennsylvania voters are heading into a typically low-profile election, but this year’s outcome could reshape the state’s legal landscape. On Nov. 4, three Democratic justices on the state Supreme Court—Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht—face retention votes that could influence rulings on abortion, redistricting and voting rights for years to come. Democrats currently hold a 5-2 majority, but Republicans see an opening: If even one justice is voted out, the balance cou...| Ms. Magazine
I had the privilege of living inside the Secretariat as a staff member, then participating in decision-making at the intergovernmental level as a representative of a member state. As we approach the 80th General Assembly, I am thoroughly alarmed at the consequences that the shifting international order can have on the U.N. The U.N., with all its faults, is still the unique path for humanity to address common problems and conflicts in a cooperative manner rather than to face an increasingly da...| Ms. Magazine
Thirty years ago this month, 45,000 women from around the world converged in Beijing and neighboring Huairou for the historic United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. In today’s hyperconnected world, it’s easy to miss how groundbreaking the mere fact of this gathering was: The largest number of women at that point in history assembled to lobby the world’s governments for their rights. As Gertrude Mongella, the legendary Tanzanian leader who served as Secretary General of the...| Ms. Magazine
What would you do if your pregnant wife learned that the baby you both desperately wanted was doomed to die just minutes after birth? Suppose your baby had a fatal condition that prevented lung development, leaving no chance for survival—and that your only opportunity to hold the child alive would be as it gasped for air, turned blue and died in your arms. Would you follow the wishes of Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton—two men who know nothing about you or your family—an...| Ms. Magazine
Everyone has a defining memory that shapes how they come to see the world. For me, a Gen Z born in 2007, it was kneeling in front of the television, eyes fixed on the screen, watching Barack Obama take the oath of office. However, more than a decade after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) promised access to birth control, I found myself at the pharmacy counter, forced to walk away without it. My insurance refused to cover the pills I need to regulate my hormones, to prevent a third surgery for cy...| Ms. Magazine
Those who raise their voices—whether for equality, democracy or reproductive freedom—are facing escalating threats. Online harassment spills into real-world violence, antiabortion attacks continue, and even professors, journalists and entertainers are being punished for speaking too boldly. Powerful institutions and individuals are working to chill movements for justice. But history reminds us that these attacks are not signs of our weakness—they are signs of our progress. The louder th...| Ms. Magazine
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, sports and entertainment, judicial offices and the private sector—with a little gardening mixed in! This week: —Suhikla Karki is the new prime minister of Nepal, following demonstrations that toppled the previous government and negotiations between Gen Z demonstrators and the military. —On Oct. 24, an open-seat contest for Ireland's next president is taking shape for a se...| Ms. Magazine
Under current New York law, if someone was drinking by choice when they were assaulted, prosecutors can decide not to pursue the case. This law provides prosecutors with an out when it comes to sexual assault, and statistics show they take it. In 2019, prosecutors dropped nearly half of all sexual assault cases in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. A bill proposed in the state legislature is looking to make it harder for prosecutors to throw out sexual assault and rape cases by prohi...| Ms. Magazine
Amid threats and a lack of Trump's protection, abortion providers are fortifying clinics, pushing states to act and refusing to back down.| Ms. Magazine
A fraction of historical figures taught in K–12 history textbooks are women. To value women, students must learn about those that paved the way.| Ms. Magazine
After Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey and Claudine Gay, are Black women professors and faculty safe in academia, colleges and universities?| Ms. Magazine
Care workers were deemed 'essential' during COVID-19. The Trump Department of Labor wants to strip away their most basic wage protections.| Ms. Magazine
HBO Max's Hacks is a show within a show: Late Night With Deborah Vance, the first late night show hosted by a woman.| Ms. Magazine
The campaign against trans athletes is less about fairness in sports than about weaponizing hate against women.| Ms. Magazine
In the Fall Issue of Ms. Magazine: Melissa Hortman, Anti-Abortion Violence, and Dangerous Work of Advocating for Abortion Rights| Ms. Magazine
‘We Have to Be Relentless’: Why #MeToo Champion Debra Katz is Confident That ‘There Will Be Wins’ for Survivors in the Days Ahead| Ms. Magazine
Trump distracts with stunts while pushing a dangerous agenda: election rigging in Texas, abortion restrictions, and cuts to SNAP and Medicaid.| Ms. Magazine
The Trump administration would rather burn contraceptives than help women and girls in developing nations.| Ms. Magazine
In the fourth episode of the Looking Back, Moving Forward podcast, feminists name the factors that fuel gender-based violence against women.| Ms. Magazine
Author and longtime Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll said Trump sexually assaulted her in Bergdorf, New York City, mid 1990s| Ms. Magazine
A fierce feminist resistance is ready to defend women’s rights at the federal level—and creatively expand equality protections in the states. This four-part series outlines the steps activists are taking to fight for our rights amid Trump’s attacks on democracy. Part 1 covers the organization Democracy Forward and its new initiative Democracy 2025, which is working to counter the Trump administration’s antidemocratic acts with swift legal challenges and other strategic responses. Part...| Ms. Magazine
The best feminist books written by women, Black, brown, APPI, LGBTQ, Native, disabled, trans, nonbinary writers for October 2023.| Ms. Magazine
The fight for gender equality starts earlier when we are girls—at the moment children first engage with toys, books and screens.| Ms. Magazine
Fifty Years After War, Southeast Asian Communities Face a New Kind of Violence. Gender and Queer Justice Must Be at the Heart of This Moment.| Ms. Magazine
When Ms. was launched as a “one-shot” sample insert in New York magazine in December 1971, it was a brazen act of independence. At the time, the fledgling feminist movement was either denigrated or dismissed in the so-called mainstream media. Most magazines marketed to women were limited to advice about finding a husband, saving marriages, raising babies or using the right cosmetics. To pay tribute to five decades of reporting, rebelling and truth-telling, Ms. gives you From the Vault, ma...| Ms. Magazine
An extraordinary new anthology, 50 Years of Ms. brings the feminist revolution to a bookstore near you. Photo: Michele Schofield; Amber McFadden| Ms. Magazine
After the richest man in the world shuttered the U.S. agency that provides aid for the world’s poorest, the government is now going to spend money destroying the contraceptives, medications and food items it chose not to distribute. This includes $9.7 million in contraceptives that were bound for crisis areas—places like refugee camps and war zones. It includes $800,000 worth of high-energy biscuits, a kind of emergency food aid for people in the direst of circumstances—and enough of...| Ms. Magazine
“Sex work is work,” is an oft-repeated refrain. But who is behind the megaphone? And who is paying the price? For most women and girls, especially from the Global South (and poor, racialized and displaced women everywhere), the notion that prostitution is freely chosen collapses under scrutiny. More often than not, entering the sex trade is not a choice, but an act of survival under patriarchal and capitalist constraints. So, who is sex work legalization really for? And what would it ...| Ms. Magazine
From the October 1975 issue of Ms.: 'Until now it has been thought that the level of testosterone in men is normal simply because they have it. But if you consider how abnormal their behavior is, then you are led to the hypothesis that almost all men are suffering from testosterone poisoning. ... 'The pathological violence of most men hardly needs to be mentioned. They are responsible for more wars than any other leading sex. 'Testosterone poisoning is particularly cruel because its sufferers...| Ms. Magazine
Despite many states imposing sweeping abortion bans after Dobbs, more Americans are having abortions, not fewer.“Abortion bans haven’t stopped people from seeking care,” said Alison Norris, M.D., Ph.D., #WeCount co-chair.| Ms. Magazine
Front & Center amplifies the voices of Black women navigating poverty—highlighting their struggles, resilience and dreams as they care for their families, build careers and challenge systems not built for their success. Now in its fourth year, Front & Center is a collaboration between Ms. and Springboard to Opportunities, a nonprofit based in Jackson, Miss., working alongside residents of federally subsidized housing as they pursue their goals. Linda, a proud mother and grandmother in Jack...| Ms. Magazine
For decades, clinicians relied on the gold standard of medication abortion care: a two-pill regimen. Mifepristone is taken first, followed by misoprostol 24 to 48 hours later. However, misoprostol can be used alone for abortion. Recent research on patients in the U.S. confirms that misoprostol-only abortion is not only safe and effective, but that patients respond positively to using it. In light of the FDA’s recent decision to reopen its safety review of mifepristone—a move advocates ...| Ms. Magazine
To celebrate the nationwide accessibility of abortion pills—even three years after Dobbs—Mayday Health took out a series of cheeky ads in the hometown newspapers of each of the five Supreme Court justices who struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.The five ads each feature a picture of the justice in question and cheerfully announce, “Abortion pills are more popular than ever. Thanks, Brett! ”| Ms. Magazine
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a 13-year-old grassroots organization that advocates for common-sense gun safety laws, knows what it means to take personal and political risks. Her second book, Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age, is part memoir and part inspirational self-help tract. Her goal? To encourage women “to live a life on fire.' 'Too often, as women, we are complicit in our own oppression. We need to ask ourselves the same question...| Ms. Magazine
Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene's misleading bill exploits the fight against female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) to attack lifesaving gender-affirming care and undermine bodily autonomy for all.This false equivalence is grossly disingenuous, dangerous and extreme. It’s a transphobic ploy to stoke fear and score political points, all while dehumanizing trans people.| Ms. Magazine
We can’t cede the United States or our collective notion of patriotism to President Trump and his MAGA supporters. Almost 200 years ago, Frances Wright, an early feminist, abolitionist and utopian visionary, gave a Fourth of July address that celebrated true patriotism as the embrace of change, moving always toward the improvement of humanity. In 1828, women didn’t speak in public—and when they did, it was only for other women. Wright was one of the first to break those barriers, g...| Ms. Magazine
New Mexico state Sen. Angel Charley's journey to elected office began with feminist organizing. Now she's centering Indigenous women's rights during a historic moment for gender representation in New Mexico politics. 'I’m a mom. I’m a daughter of parents that are getting older. I’m a wife and a partner, but I’m also an Indigenous woman. I’m a Native woman before I’m anything else in this world. ... I’m constantly asking: How is this going to affect tribes, nations and pueblos? H...| Ms. Magazine
Ranked-Choice Voting Spurs a New Era of Collaborative Campaigning Between Adrienne Adams and Zohran Mamdani in New York City Race for Mayor| Ms. Magazine
Juneteenth Calls for Economic Justice, Not Trump Racially Coded Gimmicks or Project 2025's MAGA Accounts, Which Will Mostly Help White People| Ms. Magazine
Favorite Signs From the No Kings Protests on Army 250th anniversary parade, Flag Day and president’s 79th birthday.| Ms. Magazine
As pro-choice politicians like Melissa Hortman are killed and Antiabortion Violence Surges, Republicans Vote to Repeal FACE Act| Ms. Magazine
Harvey Weinstein's Half-Baked Verdict Reinforces a Continued Tradition of Suspicion Towards Victims of Sexual Assault| Ms. Magazine
Sex work or prostitution is the selling of sexual activity for payment, which can be dangerous if coercive or unregulated.| Ms. Magazine
While attending a funeral service for 17-year-old Armita Geravand, Iranian women’s rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested and beaten.| Ms. Magazine
In the war against Trump-era authoritarianism and inequality, federal funding is another battlefront—and feminists are "battle ready."| Ms. Magazine
Trump’s Pardons of 23 Antiabortion Extremists Endanger Providers and Patients Convicted and Arrested Under the FACE Act| Ms. Magazine
Despite its promise of progress, Blue Origin’s all-female spaceflight exposed the persistent double standards women face in STEM| Ms. Magazine
Cutting Through Rocks, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, follows Sara Shahverdi, the first female council member of a remote village in northern Iran, as she battles for women’s rights and community progress. Despite resistance from men who dismiss her as an exception, Shahverdi strives to change the lives of local girls, advocate for property rights, and improve village infrastructure. This intimate documentary captures her triumphs and setbacks, offering a...| Ms. Magazine
If you want a glimmer of hope that there are still sane, compassionate and intelligent politicians in the world, Prime Minister—winner of the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition—will offer just that and more.Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's sure-footed and community-minded approach to leadership shines through in this inspiring documentary directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz.| Ms. Magazine
Sean Baker’s Anora invites our capacities for feelings, not judgment, to accompany one young, female sex worker through a few roller-coaster, genre-defying weeks in her life. Like all of Sean Baker’s films, it refuses an ending that tells us what to think. It doesn’t tie things up and lead us to a morally unambiguous conclusion but to the perfect, emotionally right one. And the magic of it is that it does it without much being said. While the comic parts of the movie, like classic screw...| Ms. Magazine
Monday, Sept. 16, marks two years since the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini made international headlines and sparked an uprising in Iran. Her death triggered the longest citizen-led rebellion in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Nasrin Sotoudeh and her husband Reza Khandan are no strangers to brutal and violent government suppression. The two Iranian activists and attorneys have faced harassment, violence and imprisonment from a government that will do virtually anything to crush w...| Ms. Magazine
The Global HER Act, led by Rep. Lois Frankel, aims to permanently repeal the global gag rule, which restricts funding for international healthcare providers that offer or even discuss abortion services—jeopardizing reproductive care for millions worldwide.“They’re gagging you, they’re putting something over your mouth to prevent you from giving information. ... Silence is an enemy,' Frankel told Ms. “And so, we cannot be silent. … One of the ways that we talk is with a bill.”| Ms. Magazine
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would impose strict in-person documentation requirements for voter registration, effectively dismantling vote-by-mail, online registration and voter registration drives. These changes would disproportionately disenfranchise historically marginalized communities, including people of color, low-income individuals and women, while being based on debunked claims of non-citizen voting. Critics argue that th...| Ms. Magazine
As the Trump administration unleashes a barrage of destructive policies, a powerful resistance—led by activists, lawmakers and legal teams—is already pushing back in the courts, in the streets and in statehouses across the country.| Ms. Magazine
Reproductive rights are now enshrined in the state Constitution, but Missouri’s main abortion provider is fighting legal hurdles to resume offering the procedure. Meanwhile, antiabortion lawmakers strategize to prevent a return of abortion services.| Ms. Magazine
The legal landscape of surrogacy remains a complex patchwork across nations, with some countries embracing it while others maintain strict prohibitions. This inconsistency in regulations has created gray areas. Scientific research highlights the possibility of abuse arising from gaps in legal frameworks and disputes, whether surrogacy is legal or not. It points to unethical practices such as trafficking of women, coercion of both surrogates and prospective parents by agencies, lack of respect...| Ms. Magazine
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ordered federal agencies to take down all public information on its websites and social media accounts that “inculcate or promote gender ideology.” When the initial deadline arrived—Friday, Jan. 31, at 5 p.m. ET—multiple web entries and databases, including many dedicated to public health, went dark. At the same time, there is a herculean and whirlwind effort on the part of researchers, journalists and advocates to preserve and republish missin...| Ms. Magazine
This year's observance of Black History Month falls at a convulsive time for Americans. As the Trump administration works to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government and throughout American society, from companies to nonprofits, it's more important than ever to celebrate and commemorate the achievements and the contributions of Black Americans. With that in mind, two films that premiered at Sundance are worthy of your attention. Seeds, the winner of the U.S. Grand ...| Ms. Magazine
In his first few days back in office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of executive actions, from exiting the World Health Organization to deploying military personnel and National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.Many of these actions are unprecedented. Some appear to be illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal experts and judges. But none of them should come as a surprise—nearly all of them were outlined in 2022 in a plan called Project 2025.| Ms. Magazine
Amanda Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua and Hadley Duvall have emerged as key surrogates for the Democratic Party, campaigning in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.| Ms. Magazine
Feeling the optimism of the moment and the energy of a fired-up political base, Ms. spoke with Black feminist scholar Carole Boyce Davies on the legacy, meanings and promises of Kamala Harris' presidential run.'We have to be ready to see the new reality, and then to move with it.'| Ms. Magazine
For many women, divorce means escape. Right-wing Republicans like JD Vance and Mike Johnson are targeting it.Vance said leaving “unhappy or even violent” marriages “didn’t work out for the kids,” suggesting that people trapped in violent marriages should stay in them to preserve family stability. You know what’s worse for children than divorce? Domestic violence.| Ms. Magazine
It’s not that Donald Trump is secretly pro-choice; it’s that he truly does not care at all about abortion rights either way, and anti-abortion groups were useful in getting him elected.Now, though, those same groups are putting his candidacy at risk. 2024 is not 2016. Trump is adjusting accordingly. And one big adjustment is on abortion, which he wants Republicans to just quit talking about—for now. Once he’s in office, though, the calculus is different.| Ms. Magazine
How is it that an independent business executive goes from a full-time position in the C-suite to a full-time position in the kitchen, out of submissive devotion to her husband? If you’ve recently spent time on TikTok or Instagram, you may have wrestled with this question.Tradwife influencers are right to point out the emptiness, precarity and dissatisfaction of neoliberal life, and the appeal of the alternative they offer is clear. But much of the rosy picture they paint exists only on our...| Ms. Magazine
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s path to the speakership was circuitous, but it puts an ally of one of the country’s most influential anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion groups third in line for the presidency.| Ms. Magazine
Reproductive rights advocates breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit attempting to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone and telehealth abortion nationwide.'While the Supreme Court did the bare minimum today, we know anti-abortion extremists aren’t stopping any time soon.”The fall 2024 elections are critical to maintaining abortion pills access. The president appoints the head of the FDA, who controls the status of mifepristone. ...| Ms. Magazine
As of this month, 46 cities have adopted ranked-choice voting (RCV), which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. On Election Day earlier this month, 11 of these RCV cities across six states held elections, and RCV has proven once again to yield positive outcomes for women.| Ms. Magazine
Former President Donald Trump on Monday announced he had selected Sen. JD Vance of Ohio to be his running mate, rounding out the Republican presidential ticket with a second white man as the party stares down a significant disadvantage with women voters and voters of color, and in an election with reproductive rights front and center.| Ms. Magazine
With recent judicial blows to affirmative action and DACA, and attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, many underrepresented students are left wondering: Now what? Do they belong in higher education? Will they have the opportunity to go to college? Will they have a successful career? Will they ever make it? Growing up Latina, low-income and undocumented, Maribel Hernández Rivera had the same questions. Now, she is the ACLU's deputy national policy director and is searching for ...| Ms. Magazine
I was thrilled to hear DNC speakers say the word “abortion,' speaking up on behalf of reproductive freedom. But I tensed up whenever someone spoke in terms of protecting women’s “decisions” about pregnancy. There is a lot about pregnancy that happens in the absence of any decision at all, or in spite of the decisions people make—like an ectopic pregnancy, or a spontaneous miscarriage, or pregnancy as a result of sexual abuse. That's why we must ensure that the law, something we can ...| Ms. Magazine
On Friday, June 24, the United States Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for the right to abortion. The sweeping decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturns Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and leaves legal protections at risk for contraception, same-sex marriage and IVF. The decision has allowed abortion bans to go into effect in 18 states.| Ms. Magazine
Donald Trump was one of the anti-abortion movement’s most dependable presidents. If reelected, the former president would have tools to quickly curtail access to the procedure, without the aid of Congress—and the pressure on him to wield them has already started.| Ms. Magazine
The Alliance Defending Freedom is the group that overturned Roe v. Wade. And they’re clear on what they’re coming for next: Trans rights. Gay rights. The separation of church and state. Secularism. Anti-discrimination laws. And contraception.| Ms. Magazine
In late May, the GOP Study Committee, the largest group of right-wing lawmakers on the Hill, introduced a so-called 'Women’s Bill of Rights” (WBOR) in the House. Far from a comprehensive plan to promote gender equity, the bill does not affirm any rights for women other than the “right” for cisgender women to exclude transgender women from gender-affirming spaces. The WBOR’s co-sponsor is the 501(c)(3) Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) and its 501(c)(4) action arm, the Independent Wo...| Ms. Magazine
The Southern Baptist Convention rejected a proposed amendment that would have designated any church with a woman pastor as no longer in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC. Those churches could have then been expelled from the SBC.Some might express surprise at this vote and wonder if Southern Baptists are changing direction on women’s issues—if they’re becoming more accepting of women in leadership.They’re not. This vote wasn’t at all about supporting women.| Ms. Magazine
The Catholic Church has been the principal religious opponent to advances in birth control and abortion rights and access. But to achieve its goals, it needed allies in its long-term campaign of resistance. It took some time, but they found them. How conservative Christianity has been systematically waging a half-century war on Roe v. Wade will be the stuff of books and graduate theses. Here are some of the major themes that that they will contain.| Ms. Magazine
A general consensus seems to have emerged after last week’s oral arguments in the case against the abortion pill that the Supreme Court is likely to rule that the anti-abortion physicians and their umbrella group, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, lack sufficient legal grounds to challenge the FDA’s loosening of restrictions on mifepristone. While dismissal based on a lack of standing would be a welcome result, it is not a guarantee given the Court’s anti-abortion supermajority. Bu...| Ms. Magazine
