A Social Experiment in Publishing: Ms. Magazine,1972-1989

Abstract

This article explores the attempt by the editors of Ms. magazine, a feminist, mass-circulation, commercial periodical, to create a nonhierarchical, collective-type organization within the context of the mass-media publishing world. Drawing from interviews with the former editors and writers of Ms., published “Personal Reports,” and the editorial files collected at the Sophia Smith Archives, this article focuses on the tensions that emerged in constructing an egalitarian organization. The study finds that the primary transformations occurred within the editorial side of the magazine, though splits between women's movement-identified editors and women's magazine-identified editors made these changes more difficult than they had originally imagined. Few attempts were made to alter the business side of the magazine, which worked primarily as a pipeline to move staff into the world of mainstream (and male) publishing.