Dear Ms. A Revolution in Print Review – You’ve Come A Long Way Baby, Inspiring, A Must See
- Details
- Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film
- Published on Monday, 30 June 2025 13:47
- Written by Janet Walker
Dear Ms. A Revolution in Print, from HBO Documentary films, presents the story behind the movement which spawned a societal upheaval in how women experience their worlds, and caused a cataclysmic divide as change often does.
In the 1970, America was undergoing change. The defining moments of the 1960s had continued to remake society and suddenly the freedom so desperately desired by some and despised by others infiltrated mainstream society and now women actually wanted to loose the tether that kept them bound to home, and hearth, the domestic duties of child-rearing and no longer silence the inner voice that propelled them to believe in themselves.
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We meet Gloria Steinem, a name that for decades has become synonymous with the term feminist. Oddly, in the rise of the Women's Liberation movement, and the early-1970s, many people believed the term feminist meant lesbian. Before the days of Google and the information superhighway, few people took the time to research words, so feminist meant lesbian, and that was that. It meant women who were rebelling against society, not wanting both career and the emotional support of a partner were dangerous. And it clearly didn't mean equality, when in fact feminist actually translates to equality. And Gloria Steinem was on a mission to force society to recognize women deserved to be equality, contributing, members of society.
Throughout the documentary, we walk through the beginnings of this great undertaking, understanding that the universal emotions being presented by this fringe social change group were more than the opinions of a group of racialized feminist, but they were the opinions and feelings of women throughout America, from small towns to big cities, women were talking, and the opinions resonated.
The founding editors of Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Robin Morgan, Ellen Sweet, also explain the truth of magazine publishing. Magazines run on advertisers, and while New York Magazine, to their credit, gave them a budget for the first issue, it was up to the ladies to put something together that would not only sell on the newsstands in big cities but make it into mainstream.
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Harry Reasoner, who at the time was the premiere anchor for ABC News, said of the first issue, in 1972, that it would fail in six months. It would take him five years, after Ms. Magazine's fifth year anniversary to admit on national television that he was wrong.
Throughout Part I and Part II of the documentary we return to those editorial meetings, where the editors would brainstorm for the next issue. No issue was taboo, and if society deemed it taboo, it was better. Ms. Magazine tackled tough topics, introducing words into our society such as sexual harassment, which gave women a voice in reporting, domestic violence was covered, before the placating words were available to soften the blow of a home's hidden horrors, and the cover cost them advertisers.
The Ms. Magazine special issue on Men, which featured Robert Redford's back, seemed like a betrayal, and included articles on feminist women raising boys, and which will they be the solution or the problem.
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They also introduced black voices into the mainstream, and were blunt about their choices, a black women on the cover would cost them newsstands throughout the south, entire swaths of the country would refuse the issue. Not willing to bow to racism pressures, they did it anyway. Americans were introduced to an entirely new scope of feelings, simply by the inclusion of black women, many who still confronted oppression in their daily lives.
Part III, of the documentary is devoted to sex. The freedom of sexual exploration and boundaries, which exploded in the 1960s continued to be a pivotal point in the liberation of women. Sex, can one issue be so taboo? Ms. Magazine wouldn't be about women without discussions of sex.
They also clarify issues of what is erotica versus what is pornography. And as Part III unfolds we begin to understand the differences, and the importance of standing against violence against women in all its forms, be it a magazine cover depicted by Hustler Magazine of the bottom half of a women sticking out of a meat grinder, and the top half, a dish of red pulp. They also include sex workers in Part III, and as it was the 1970s, the center of the porn industry was Times Square. The sex workers, included in the documentary, present themselves as women who actively made a choice and where not coerced or forced into their profession.
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It may be the truth as equality in pay, which was a cornerstone of the Women's Liberation movement, had yet to come anywhere near a livable wage, sex workers may have decided as they had a product that was always in demand, and were apparently paid well, it was their choice.
Dear Ms. A Revolution in Print shares a part of history that many may not even be aware existed in America. A time, when women had to fight against, seen and unseen, obstacles, traditions, history, genetics, gender and wrestle with themselves, against their own feelings of failing their family by choosing to pursue a career.
Surprisingly, more than five decades later, women have yet to receive equal pay, although the gap has definitely shrunk, employment opportunities, except of course for the presidency of the United States, have also become more integrated, and one want's to believe that women have control over their bodies, but we do not, skewed doctrine and personal power trips have erased the liberties women once held.
Ms. Magazine has now been initiating conversations and changing the dynamics on behalf of women for fifty-fives years and still publishes a quarterly print magazine and also an online publication. To borrow from a famous Virginia Slims advertising campaign, "You've come a long way, baby!"
Dear Ms. A Revolution in Print, a must see documentary, premiers on July 2, 2025 on MAX. See it.
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Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Runtime: 107 minutes.
Director: Salima Koroma, Alice Gu, Cecilia Aldarondo.
Producer: William Ventura.
Executive Producer: Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez, Dyllan McGee, Amy Richards, Cindi Leive, Regina K. Scully.
Co-Producer: Maya Tanaka, Katherine Montgomery, Ines Hofmann Kanna.
Featuring: Founding editors and contributors Gloria Steinem, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Robin Morgan, Ellen Sweet, and Lindsy Van Gelder, as well as Annie Sprinkle, Veronica Vera, Robin Leonardi, and Carole S. Vance.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has completed the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and is available on Amazon. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.
