More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Dear Cassie Ventura,
Millions who do not have the celebrity, resources or platform to speak out are exceptionally grateful for your voice, and the voice of all the courageous women who literally take the stand.
The millions of women who have experienced rape and sexual assault are grateful at a time when resources for them are in danger of elimination.
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 usually don’t know they have it. In fact, when they are most under its sway they believe that they are at their healthiest and most attractive. They even give each other medals for exhibiting the most advanced symptoms of the illness.
“But there is hope.”
(The Summer 2025 issue of Ms. is a modern reimagining of the October 1975 issue. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox.)
Planned Parenthood honored Rodrigo with the 2025 Catalyst of Change award, recognizing her for using her platform to speak out about reproductive justice and launching the program Fund 4 Good to send proceeds from her Guts tour to local abortion funds.
Despite its promise of progress, Blue Origin’s all-female spaceflight exposed the persistent double standards women face in STEM—where success is still too often judged by sparkle, not substance.
The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has been messy. There are several players, including multi-billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is furnishing near-unlimited resources for Baldoni’s legal and PR crusades, a variety of complaints in several courts, and misinformation spreaders all over social media. Coverage has been rife with misogynistic and confusing storytelling. Baldoni and Jamey Heath (the CEO of Baldoni’s studio) have made (profitable) careers out of being male feminists, and this battle endangers their carefully crafted public personas.
This piece aims to add context at a time when Baldoni continues to play his cases out in the press. It is for a court to decide whose claims are most legally compelling, but I am going to sketch out Baldoni’s feminism, the movie release and controversy, ongoing court cases, and Lively’s allegations and Baldoni’s meager responses—so that readers might find, as I do, that this battle actually looks quite similar to what happens any time a woman stands up for herself against a well-resourced man.
In the years following #MeToo, some high-profile men have embraced feminism not as a practice, but as a performance: distancing themselves from those exposed by the movement while reaping the cultural benefits of appearing as “one of the good guys.”
The day that a survivor of sexual abuse files a lawsuit is a difficult and painful day, but also one that starts a journey toward justice.
For many plaintiffs, stepping forward is not only the start of a legal proceeding but also an act of immense courage. It often involves sharing deeply personal and traumatic experiences with the court and, potentially, the public. This is why plaintiffs must have the option and privacy protection to have their cases filed under pseudonyms.
This issue is at the center of a recent high-profile case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ruled that a woman suing under the pseudonym “Jane Doe” must reveal her real name or face dismissal of her lawsuit.
In her new documentary, Bread & Roses (available now on Apple+), filmmaker Sahra Mani reveals the fierce and courageous resistance of Afghan women defying the Taliban—who wish to make them disappear.
It’s a documentary about Afghan women, by Afghan women, at a time when the world had stopped seeing them.
Though her fame as a designer came through the success of her iconic wrap dress, Diane von Furstenberg has said, “I don’t think I had a vocation for fashion; I had a vocation to be a woman in charge.”
Towards the end of the exhibit—on display at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles until Aug. 31, 2025—a QR code directs visitors to sign up for her more recent innovation: the “InCharge platform,” which serves as “a place to rally, where we use our connections to help all women be the women they want to be.” Its aim urges women to make “first a commitment to ourselves” by “owning who we are” and then to use the platform to “connect, expand, inspire, and advocate.” It is her latest project in a lifetime of advocacy meant to strengthen women.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the battle to restore abortion rights has been front and center. Less visible are efforts to enshrine women’s equality into the Constitution—the continuation of a campaign that conservatives thought they killed more than 40 years ago. Not true.
Champions of the ERA have been working tirelessly to get Congress to publish the 101-year-old measure that would ban gender-based discrimination. Although women have made considerable strides over the last century, a constitutional right is the only guarantee they will make further gains and keep them in perpetuity.