Dear John,
We begin the year 2025 with a celebration: on Thursday, Ellie Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and publisher of Ms., was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal. President Joe Biden awarded Smeal the nation’s second highest civilian honor for “defining the movement for women’s rights.”
In times like these, it feels important to acknowledge our movement leaders and celebrate our victories. Yet, we know the road ahead will be challenging. You can feel it in the air. The ugly pulse of something old and sinister reawakening.
Hard-won rights are steadily being rolled back. Authoritarianism is once again fashionable, dressed up in slogans and banners, tightening its grip on democratic spaces, especially the spaces that belong to women.
This moment feels grim, but perhaps that’s exactly what it is meant to do—call us to action.
Ms. magazine was born for a time like this. 53 years ago, Gloria Steinem and a small band of determined women set out to create a magazine that didn’t whisper, didn’t apologize, and didn’t avert its eyes from the truth. Ms. was built on a belief in women’s voices and the power of those voices to change everything.
Ms. was not content to observe from the sidelines; it threw itself into the fray, amplifying stories that mattered, pressing against the boundaries of what was considered acceptable or polite.
And now, all these years later, Ms. remains here—today with the added power of the Ms. community—still defiant, still asking questions others won’t dare to touch. Answering those raw questions truthfully and boldly.
We can do this because Ms. is not a “kept publication.” Not kept in someone’s pocket. We do not cozy up to the powers that be, and we sure don’t take corporate dollars or government funds.
And make no mistake, we are prepared. Given the flood of misogyny in the 2024 elections and likely far more to come from the Trump White House and MAGA Congress, we are prepared to report on the cruel and sometimes deadly impacts of their Project 2025 agenda as each new Executive Order is issued and each new policy is implemented.
But we’ll do more than chronicle each new damaging action. We’ll report on how the feminist movement is fighting back. We’ll talk with the governors and state attorneys general and members of Congress who are acting to protect women’s rights and guard against Trump’s attacks.
And we’ll expose who and what forces are funding this war on women. Because we are not dependent on corporations or billionaires and thanks to the independence our Ms. community provides, we’re able to launch new initiatives to meet the challenges we now face.
Just as importantly, Ms. will lift up strategies for moving forward, even in this time of backlash. The fight for equality under the law will go on, and Ms. will cover every battle to ensure feminists have the information they need and are ready to act. Until Congress takes the simple step of voting to recognize and publish the already-ratified Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution, we will not let up.
What’s more, we will report on how state Equal Rights Amendments—like the newly passed New York state ERA—are being used to advance equality as well as counter Trump’s attacks.
This moment feels dangerous and daunting. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that we’ve walked this path before. The feminist movement—and Ms.—has learned to endure, to rise even when everything tells us to fall. We carry with us the stories of every inch gained—the right to vote, to earn our own income, to own property, to access education, to live with dignity. Each gain was earned, and every time they tried to bar the door, we found another way through.
This moment calls for no less. They want us to disappear, but we’re not going anywhere. This is our fight, and we know we are not alone in this fight. Women across the globe—in Afghanistan, in Iran—are risking everything for the chance to speak, to resist, to claim their rights. Their courage threads through ours, all woven in to the same fabric of struggle.
We are proud to stand with our Ms. community of readers, knowing that with your support, the promise of equality and justice will remain unwavering and unextinguished.
With deep gratitude and resolve,
