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In the late 1960s and 1970s activists within the women's movement argued over the possibilities and consequences of using the mass media to communicate their messages and build an oppositional constituency. While many activists rejected commercial media in favor of creating alterative presses and periodicals, Gloria Steinem and a host of other editors and writers worked to stake out territory within the mainstream publishing industry, creating a new magazine for women, Ms. Offering feminist politics in the guise of a consumer product, Ms. promised to become an emancipatory new medium, reaching both the already politicized as well as those with no previous ties to the movement. Moreover, the magazine promised to provide an arena for debate and dialogue about what constituted an inclusive feminism. The ability of Ms. to blend the personal tone of traditional women's magazines with the feminist political …