Alternative Feminist Media
Julie Wagoner
Alyssa Detert
Jacqueline Doyle
An Overview
 Feminism: Then and Now
 The Need for a Voice
 MScommunication through Advertising
 What are we up against?
 Why does this matter??
Feminism: Then and Now
 What exactly is
feminism?
Put simply: a theory
of equality of the sexes
Examined over
various disciplines:
political,sociological,
legal,psychoanalytic,
literary, philosophical
Feminism: Then and Now
 First Wave
Feminism:
Women’s Suffrage
Movement of the Early
20th Century
Considered a largely
white, middle-class
woman’s movement
Feminism: Then and Now
 Second-Wave
Feminism
Progressive thinkers of
60s and 70s, as a response to
idealized 1950’s American
lifestyle
Radical, characterized
by the term ‘Femi-Nazi’
Influential writers, such as
Adrienne Rich, Gloria
Steinem and Ms.
Roe V. Wade
Feminism: Now and Then
 Third Wave
Feminism:
NOW!
More inclusive to
minority groups at
home and abroad
Looks to work for
equality for all
oppressed groups
The Need For a Voice
 During the late 60s
women saw the
wage gap enacted
by many
publications that
employed them.
 Evident their careers
were restricted by
“the glass ceiling”
The Need for a Voice
 At this point in time
there was no sturdy
platform for women
to express their fury
with these recurring
chauvinistic
practices.
The Need for a Voice
 An abortion case in New
York state held legislative
hearings in Albany, where 14
of 15 expert witnesses were
men.
 Outraged by the absurdity of
this case, a group of women
held the first feminine
“speakout” in Manhattan.
 The protest served as an
opportunity for women to
tell the truth about their lives
in public
The Need for a Voice
 Gloria Steinem was one
such woman in the
crowd.
 Seeing the need for a
feminist publication,
Steinem began meeting
with journalists and
activists to share her
ambition.
The Need for a Voice
 In the winter of 1972
the first issue of Ms.
magazine hit
newsstands.
 The issue promised
stories on sisterhood,
abortions, children, sex
roles, and living as a
housewife.
The Need for a Voice
 After the first issue:
- 26,000 subscription orders
- 20,000 reader response letters
MScommunication through
Advertising: Focus Groups
 Ad agency, BBDO
conducted focus
groups to find out
information about
what products and
ad images women
thought were most
objectionable and
why.
Mscommunication through
Advertising: Resentment
 The agency
discovered that
women resented
advertising that
reinforced the idea
that women belong
in the home.
Mscommunication through
Advertising: Results
 Women obtained executive positions at
advertising agencies.
 Industry recognized that 85% of the nation’s
spending power was controlled by women.
 Career women became a new target for
advertisers.
Mscommunication through
Advertising: Not Hiring
 Advertisements
lacked sensitivity to
the women’s
perspective was
because of
discrimination
against employment
opportunities for
women in the
advertising industry.
MScommunication through
Advertising: Counter-Stereotype
 A new type of
advertising created:
Counter-stereotype ads
reversed traditional
stereotypes in order to
be included in
magazines like Ms.
 Polished the reputation
of the company
featured in the ad
Mscommunication through
Advertising: Financial Struggle

Ms. became a nonprofit foundation to maintain
control over its content.
 Investors became more important to their survival.
 1989 - Ms. purchased by Dale Lang, owner of
Working Mother and Working Woman.

Ms. Mag became ad-free.
What are we up against?
 Cosmopolitan’s
“Fun Fearless
Female”
 Looking at their
rates for
advertisements,
whose agenda is
being served?
What are we up against?
 Advertisers push images
of the ‘ideal’ woman!
 Gender Based
Assumption: A woman
is always a work in
progress
 Veblen’s theory of
conspicuous
consumption
What are we up against?
“...to thumb through the
Cosmopolitan now on
the racks is to visit a
matrix of ‘content’ and
advertising that
incessantly inflames-and cashes in onobsessions with seeking
to measure up to
media-driven images”
(Solomon 2002).
By contrast….
Ms. and Bitch do not
look at their readers as
consumers
 Few advertisements,
Lots of dialogue,
Intellectual Respect
 In the Pages Advertisement Criticism,
Mobilization,
Advertisements for Each
Other
Why does this all matter?
 Progress does not come instantaneously
 Resistance is met with criticism
 Women of today have more freedoms because
activists in the past
 Therefore, it is important to maintain discourse
about today’s ideals