The voices of Ms. Magazine, 1972-1984

Includes bibliographical references (pages 377-383)In 1972, the editors of Ms. magazine broke many of the\ud ground rules for starting a national women???s magazine. Their staff\ud was composed entirely of women; they rejected sexist advertising;\ud they reserved a percentage of their profits for an educational fund;\ud they set up a non-hierarchical office without managers and\ud secretaries; and they aspired to become a ???forum??? for the\ud untraditional ideals of the feminist cause.\ud Yet, despite the editors??? bold efforts, few media scholars\ud have attempted to follow the growth of Ms. magazine since its\ud inception. This thesis was the first to examine the content of\ud selected articles in Ms., analyze the messages communicated and\ud compare them with events occurring in the feminist movement.\ud More specifically, this study looked at Ms. Editors??? goal of\ud becoming a ??? forum??? for feminism. Analysis focused on the people who \ud were quoted in or wrote first-person stories for Ms., 1972-84.\ud These people were termed the "voices" of Ms. magazine.\ud Qualitative content analysis was used to find distinguishing\ud characteristics of the voices presented. Particular attention was\ud paid to the voices??? espousal of moderate or radical feminist ideals\ud (or if they remained neutral). Additionally, the intensity (or\ud degree of advocacy) of the voices??? ideals was noted, as was the\ud editorial presentation of the voices (e.g., article length and use\ud of attribution), the amount of editorial support or opposition given\ud to voices, and if the voices were celebrities or those lesser-known\ud for their devotion to feminism.\ud Preliminary reading on the topics of magazine production,\ud Women???s magazines, feminism and Ms. magazine led to three\ud hypotheses: Ms. voices expressed more moderate and radical\ud statements than neutral ones; Ms. voices expressed more moderate\ud statements than radical ones; and Ms. developed a pattern of\ud repeating many of the same voices, topics and editorial techniques\ud over time.\ud Support was found for the three hypotheses. Ms. voices were\ud discovered to be predominantly moderate, sometimes radical and only\ud rarely neutral. Additionally, definite patterns were found in the\ud magazine over the years. Although article topics were not repeated\ud as often as expected, it was found that the same voices and\ud editorial techniques were often used.\ud It was concluded that -Ms. editors remained cautious in their\ud use of radical voices and the extent to which advocated they radical \ud ideas. Yet, given the ideological changes in the feminist movement\ud from 1972-84 and the fluctuations of the publishing industry during\ud that time, it could still be said that Ms. did manage to retain most\ud of its initial objective of serving as a feminist forum. The\ud editors did not shift too far from their goal of uniting women\ud readers trying to change traditional values.\ud Suggestions to the editors, readers and future researchers\ud of Ms. magazine were provided at the end of the thesis