The First Cover of Ms. Magazine

In December 1971, an unusual issue of New York appeared on newsstands nationwide. Readers flipping through its pages would have stumbled upon a forty-page insert, a preview of a forthcoming women’s magazine called Ms. Its tagline was “The New Magazine for Women,” and it was indeed new. Ms. was edited and staffed by women, unlike traditional women’s magazines such as McCall’s and Ladies’ Home Journal, which were helmed by men. The journalists behind Ms. understood “women’s issues” to include more than beauty lessons and homemaking tips. Gloria Steinem, Nancy Newhouse, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and their collaborators hoped the magazine would win readers over to women’s liberation.