by Contact [email protected]
On the Issues Magazine, an award-winning print publication known for tantalizing progressive and feminist articles, announces a new online magazine venture at www.OnTheIssuesMagazine.com.
“Today’s political climate of crisis and uncertainty, of continuing and intensifying attacks on women in the U.S. and around the globe, demands a voice of courage and conviction,” said Merle Hoffman, publisher and editor-in-chief, who is reviving the magazine on the Web after a nine-year hiatus. “Women are eager for intellectual stimulation and emotional engagement, to dialogue and debate the profound issues and challenges facing us,” said Hoffman.
The premiere Web release of On the Issues Magazine features the dramatic and underreported stories of Middle Eastern women who oppose both war and fundamentalism. “Iranian Women Today: Fighting Two Enemies” by Mary Lou Greenberg gives an eyewitness account of recent rallies of Iranian women in Los Angeles and Brussels. A solidarity statement from acclaimed U.S. feminists is included, along with the popular anthem of banned Iranian woman singer Gissoo Shakeri.
This contemporary story is paired with a breathtaking article from the archives of On the Issues Magazine, “A Sacrificial Light” by Martha Shelley (Fall 1994), which describes the life of a woman doctor in Tehran who was stripped of her life’s work during the rise of fundamentalism.
“These articles are a sharp contrast to the propaganda of the U.S. right wing, eager to attack Iran, and which use the lives of women as a rationalization for their cause. But, the mainstream media also fails to address the harsh realities of women in the Middle East,” said Hoffman. “On the Issues Magazine Online will be a fierce voice for progressive thinking that supports women’s lives wherever they are lived.”
From 1983 to 1999, On the Issues Magazine published as an independent print quarterly. Heralded for its sharp-eyed commentary and unapologetic feminism, it addressed controversial topics ranging from abortion to racism, pornography and gender stereotyping. Then, as now, it is published by the Choices Women’s Medical Center in New York, where Hoffman is the president.
“Solid articles that are original and engaging,” wrote Utne Reader, one of many kudos and awards. “Politically diverse,” said the Boston Globe. “Excellent magazine; ‘One of the most outspoken feminist journals,'” said Women Library Workers Journal. A who’s-who of writers shared their thinking: Alice Walker, Jan Goodwin, Amy Goodman, Laura Flanders, Charlotte Bunch, Julianne Malveaux, John Stoltenberg, Naomi Wolf, Marge Piercy, Shere Hite and others.
The 45 print issues are accessible online. Prepared with the assistance of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University Libraries,” hundreds of searchable articles can be downloaded for free.
The next online Web release in May will trace the shift in the AIDS crisis with responses from writers, artists and poets about the impact on women. Readers are able to sign up now for periodic updates at www.OnTheIssuesMagazine.com
