This bonus episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward features a conversation between Ms. consulting editor Carmen Rios; professor, author, and activist Loretta Ross; and professor and Ms. contributor Janell Hobson, moderated by Ms. Executive Editor Katherine Spillar, about how the past informs the future—and what our history tells us about our present moment.

Their conversation was recorded during a celebration in Los Angeles marking the launch of the Ms. Magazine archive on ProQuest, available now at libraries and on campuses across the country. Together, they reflected on the lessons we’ve learned from feminist history, the importance of feminist media platforms like Ms., and their visions for the future of feminism.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

This bonus episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward features Ms. consulting editor Carmen Rios in conversation with Peabody award-winning documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen, whose latest documentary short, FREE JOAN LITTLE, tells the incredible story of the first U.S. woman ever acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault—and the coalition movement in support of Little that connected the Black Power, feminist, and prison justice movements.

The documentary, which premiered this month at DOC NYC, was produced in partnership with Retro Report, an independent nonprofit documentary newsroom. This conversation explores Richen's journey to bringing Little’s history to the screen—and the urgency of telling her story at this particular moment in time.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

The Equal Rights Amendment was sent to the states for ratification the same year Ms. made its newsstand debut. It took nearly 50 years to bring the ERA to a successful vote in the Senate and House; and today, more than 50 years since, the fight to enshrine it in the Constitution goes on.

The ERA would expand and protect many of the gains feminists have made in the last 50-plus years, acting as a "safety net" for women's rights. The need for constitutional equality has only become more clear in the wake of local, state, and national efforts to roll back women’s progress, regressive SCOTUS rulings and a judicial system stacked with originalists, and a political landscape where our rights hinge on every election’s outcome. 

The fifth and final episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward illustrates the power of the ERA's promise, and how the fight for constitutional equality is connected to the issues we've explored in our previous installments—women's political power, reproductive freedom, economic justice and the struggle to end gender-based violence. Experts and advocates share what they've learned in 50-plus years of ERA activism, and how they're fighting forward for full equality at the state and national level.

Featuring former Nevada state Senator Pat Spearman, Feminist Majority Foundation president and ERA movement architect Eleanor Smeal, the Hon. Carol Moseley Braun, Ms. executive editor Katherine Spillar and ERA Project director Ting Ting Cheng.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

Ms. made history when it put domestic violence and sexual harassment on the cover, commissioned the first national survey on campus sexual violence, and instigated a successful campaign to change the FBI’s definition of rape. But 50-plus years since Ms. hit newsstands, women are still being impacted every day by gender-based violence and harassment—and survivors of violence continue to be blamed and disbelieved.

This episode traces the impact of feminist writing and advocacy focused on naming, confronting, and preventing sexual harassment, rape culture and intimate partner violence—and the urgency of acknowledging the violence of patriarchy, white supremacy and other social forces in our everyday lives and building a future without fear.

Featuring former Ms. writer and editor Ellen Sweet,The Age of Sex Crime author Jane Caputi, political scientist Vanessa Tyson, legal scholar Victoria Nourse, and Katz Banks Kumin LLP founding partner Debra Katz.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

Women have experienced multiple economic upheavals since the founding of Ms., but one thing remains true: economic inequity is still shaping women’s lives — especially for women of color, LGBTQ women, women with disabilities, and low-income women. Ms. has long given voice to the economic disparities women face, and the nuances within our economic experiences along intersectional lines. 

In this episode of "Looking Back, Moving Forward," host Carmen Rios zooms in on workplace discrimination, women’s unpaid domestic and care burdens, and the factors that have pushed women disproportionately into poverty for the last 50-plus years—revealing how the system seeks to devalue all of “women’s work,” and what feminists are doing about it.

Featuring labor and feminist historian Premilla Nadasen, economists Rakeen Mabud, and Lenore Palladino, Springboard to Opportunities founding CEO Aisha Nyandoro, the National Women’s Law Center Vice President for Education & Workplace Justice Gaylynn Burroughs, and legendary labor organizer and feminist leader (and founder of the Dolores Huerta foundation) Dolores Huerta.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

Ms. launched with a bold declaration: Women were having abortions, and the law should allow for it. In the more than 50 years since, abortion access, abortion laws, anti-abortion violence, and abortion’s connection to larger feminist issues have remained core to the magazine. 

In this episode of "Looking Back, Moving Forward," host Carmen Rios traces the feminist fight for bodily autonomy — from Roe to Dobbs and beyond — and explores how feminists are organizing to defend and expand reproductive freedom in this challenging moment, and what lessons from the pages of Ms. can inform our fight forward. 

Featuring WeTestify founder Renee Bracey Sherman, constitutional law and health policy expert Michele Goodwin, Plan C co-directors Angie Jean-Marie and Amy Merrill, Women's Law Project executive director Susan Frietsche, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

What would a truly representative democracy look like — and why don’t we have one?

Looking Back, Moving Forward launches with a focus on women’s growing political power and how feminists can, and must, shape the future of government, policy, and lawmaking. 

Our democracy is under attack, and a more representative democracy is the answer. This week, Carmen explores how we can strengthen our democracy by lifting up women and other marginalized groups in politics, and why representation in politics and power matters so much. Featuring Celinda Lake, Aimee Allison, Angel Charley, Julie C. Suk, Cynthia Richie Terrell, and Jennifer M. Piscopo.

Since its founding, Ms. has named the difference women can make as voters and in the halls of political power — and demanded a more representative democracy. This episode traces the history of women’s fight for political representation and participation, including how Ms. has shifted the electoral and political landscape — and showcases how much work is left for a fully equitable democracy to take shape in the US.

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.

A new podcast from Ms. Studios, hosted by feminist superstar and Ms. consulting editor Carmen Rios, will trace the intertwined history of Ms. magazine and the feminist movement it has given voice to for over 50 years — and explore where the fight for gender equality must go next. 

By examining the legacy of America’s longest-running feminist magazine, Looking Back, Moving Forward explores how we got to where we are now — and how our shared histories illuminate the path forward, toward an intersectional feminist future.

Subscribe to Looking Back, Moving Forward today so you won’t miss a second of the conversations and revelations to come! The first episode launches on the Fourth of July. 

Looking Back, Moving Forward is produced by Ms. Studios. Executive producers are Michele Goodwin and Kathy Spillar. Supervising Producer, Writer, and Host is Carmen Rios. Episode producers are Roxy Szal and Oliver Haug. Every episode is edited by Natalie Hadland. Art and design are by Brandi Phipps.

Stay in touch with Ms. at msmagazine.com and on Facebook @msmagazine, Instagram and Threads @ms_magazine, and @msmagazine.com on BlueSky.

Stay in touch with Carmen at carmenfuckingrios.com and @carmenriosss on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.