April 08, 2008 Feminist and Progressive: “On The Issues Magazine”Relaunches Online

April 08, 2008 Feminist and Progressive: “On The Issues Magazine”Relaunches Online

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

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Merle Hoffman's Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto

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“Merle Hoffman has always known that in a democracy, we each have decision-making power over the fate of our own bodies. She is a national hero for us all.” —Gloria Steinem

In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade and a country divided, Merle Hoffman, a pioneer in the pro-choice movement and women’s healthcare, offers an unapologetic and authoritative take on abortion calling it “the front line and the bottom line of women’s freedom and liberty.” 

Merle Hoffman has been at the forefront of the reproductive freedom movement since the 1970s. Three years before the Supreme Court legalized abortion through Roe v. Wade, she helped to establish one of the United States’ first abortion centers in Flushing, Queens, and later went on to found Choices, one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive women’s medical facilities. For the last five decades, Hoffman has been a steadfast warrior and fierce advocate for every woman’s right to choose when and whether or not to be a mother.