Is mainstream Ms. getting the smackdown?

For better or worse, Ms. magazine has been the publication of choice for mainstream feminists. But according to this Alternet article, seems like the magazine's current owners, the Feminist Majority Foundation, weren't pleased with the direction the publication was taking under the helm of editor Elaine Lafferty. Too commercial. Now Lafferty is leaving.

That's unfortunate, because this was a magazine in dire need of a little something-something. The last time I picked it up (pre Lafferty, who was at the helm for two years) I really wanted to like it but couldn't help feeling bored. Now, I recognize it's a fine balance between being boring and pandering. I was even a bit troubled to read that the current cover story is about "Desperate Housewives." Pan-der-ing, no? Then again, they have to compete with all the other covers featuring that damn show I've never watched. As Gloria Steinem puts it: Desperate Housewives is not important, [but] you start a conversation with Desperate Housewives because many people have seen it, and then the conversation can go deeper after that. It's a shared reference."

So, hmm, I'm posting about a magazine I don't read's coverage of a show I don't watch. Aren't you glad you stopped by?