Not another health & beauty book

by Lorraine Calvacca

      When the first issue of Ms. hit the newsstands in July 1972, it was a radical departure from existing women's magazines of the day and their endless advice on relationships and makeup. If anyone doubted what Ms. was all about they needed only to look at the cover lines: "Body Hair: The Last Frontier," "Money for Housework," and "Wonder Woman for President." This was indeed shocking stuff for 1972.
      Mainstream media abruptly dismissed Ms. One top TV anchor, Harry Reasoner, confidently predicted the new women-owned title wouldn't last six months.
      Reasoner was not talking to the women of America. The debut issue sold an astounding 300,000 copies in eight days. Thus began the leading voice of what was the emerging Woman's movement in America.
      The question today is whether Ms. can do it again. In April, Ms. relaunched, this time under the aegis of Liberty Media for Women, LLC, a consortium of female investors led by Ms. founder Gloria Steinem and editor in chief Marcia Gillespie.
      In some ways the new Ms. is as unlike the mainstream women's magazines as it was in 1972. It will accept no display advertising, relying largely on subscription revenues.
      Can a women's magazine without advertising make it? And more relevant can Ms. again be a voice on the leading edge of the women's movement when so many of the issues it championed through the years have now become adopted by the mainstream press?
      The new owners seem confident they can make Ms. work as a business proposition. Publisher Faye Erickson, former publisher of MacDonald Communications' Executive Female, says their strategy is to extend the Ms. brand in the way many ad-supported publications do to lessen their dependency on the traditional ad revenue stream, including a series of mailings to build circulation from its current base of 150,000 (down from 600,000 at its peak). In April, Ms. mailed three million pieces and will follow that with two million more. A four-million-piece mailing is slated for fall.
      Ms. will also carry select classified advertisements. "There will be no breast enlargement ads or ones for diet products," says Erickson. The classifieds, which will appear beginning in August/September, will likely take up no more than two pages. "They won't run the book. They are intended to defray costs of production and keep subscription costs down," she explains.
      Other branding plans include a Web site that will ultimately include chat rooms and online discussions with Steinem, Gillespie and other editors.
      Ms. is also looking at selling branded merchandise, such as baseball caps and book bags, and is exploring a television programming alliance with The Lifetime cable channel to produce Ms. sponsored programming. Ms.- branded seminars and conventions are also being looked into. In addition, says Erickson, the magazine is reviving a university program in which corporate sponsors foot the bill for subscriptions that go to women's study majors.
      But whether all these strategies will work hinges on whether Ms. can establish its relevance as a powerful voice on women's issues.
      Steinem and Gillespie believe the new Ms. can. For all the changes in the status of women they contend the women's magazines all these years later suffer from the same shortcomings that brought so many women to the pages of Ms. 27 years ago.
      "Despite the inclusion of subjects that would not have been covered prefeminism,'' Steinem writes in the April issue, ''women's magazines seem even more focused on appearance, consumerism, and celebrity than when Ms. began, perhaps because new forms of media have increased the pressure to create articles that attract advertisers." She notes an absence of "diverse or realistic images of women, guides to political issues, or articles suggesting women could act together, not just as individuals."
     Gillespie describes the redesigned Ms. as "a work in progress" that is "fresher, more elegant, and more modern looking," She promises features, new columns, shorter takes, and more art and humor to engage a diverse audience that ranges "from 18 to 80." But Ms. will not shy away from investigative and advocacy journalism. Says she: "This is not feminism lite."
      Former Ms. owner Jay MacDonald of MacDonald Communications thinks the new Ms. has a chance. "The opportunity for Ms. is significant," he says. "Feminism hasn't gone away. It's alive and well.''
      "The question is not whether we need Ms. The question is 'Does the world need another health, fashion or sports magazine?' The answer is no."

Lorraine Calvacca is a New York-based writer.