Founded in 1972, at a time when “the second wave” of feminism was hitting its stride in America, this monthly magazine became the first nationally distributed commercial feminist publication. At the height of its popularity in the late 1970s, Ms. had a guaranteed circulation of 500,000. It was founded by feminist activist and writer Gloria Steinem and Patricia Carbine, editor-in-chief of McCall’s. Designed to fill a perceived gap in coverage by mainstream women’s magazines of feminist issues, it featured groundbreaking cover stories on domestic violence and sexual harassment, and eventually caused more traditional magazines to incorporate feminist material.