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Former Ms. Magazine Editor Mary Thom Dead at 68 (AP / Huffington Post)
Prominent feminist Mary Thom, a writer and former editor of Ms. magazine who also was an avid motorcyclist, crashed while riding on a highway and was killed, her nephew said Saturday. She was 68. NYT Thom joined Ms. magazine in 1972 as an editor, rising to become executive editor in 1990. She was known as a journalistic virtuoso who shaped the writing of many of the feminist movement’s luminaries, including Gloria Steinem.  Ms. “We who are Mary’s friends and family haven’t absorbed her loss yet; it’s too sudden,” said Women’s Media Center co-founders Robin Morgan, Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda in a statement over the weekend. “Ms. magazine, the Women’s Media Center, the women’s movement and American journalism have suffered an enormous blow. Mary was and will always be our moral compass and steady heart.” FishbowlNY Thom lived for decades in New York City and served as an editor for Ms. for nearly 20 years before leaving the feminist magazine in 1992. The glossy, which began as an insert in New York magazine, became a feminist powerhouse read in the 1970s but struggled to leverage commercial success with its ideological voice.

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Amidst the ridiculous hysteria that has surrounded Mac McClelland‘s personal essay about using violent sex to cope with PTSD, a possibly valid criticism has gone virtually unnoticed. It’s a criticism that’s particularly relevant to journalists who report on human rights abuses: A rape victim is alleging that McClelland violated her privacy.

The woman, who is being referred to as K., says that she did not give consent to be written about by McClelland. The women met while McClelland was in Haiti researching a story for Mother Jones about the displacement camps.

The allegation was brought to light over the weekend on Essence.com by Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat. She says that K. informed Mother Jones she did not want to be written about after McClelland live-tweeted personal information, including K.’s first name. McClelland has already taken heat for this, and rightly so – revealing identifying information about a sexual assault victim, even with their consent, which McClelland believed she had, can have devastating consequences.

But the Essence story leaves a lot out.

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The Mother Jones cover for the November/December issue is scaring the hell out of us. Sarah Palin as the 50-foot woman, crushing houses and cars and neighborhoods, all while forcing upon her victims the world’s largest upskirt view. *Shudder*

The cover is for Mother Jones‘ Attack on the Middle Class!! package, which features articles about how President Obama lost control of the economic message, the troubles of the middle class, how the tea partiers are worsening the troubles of the middle class, and an excerpt from the graphic novel, The Adventures of Unemployed Man. There’s also a horrifying animation of 50-foot Palin in action, guaranteed to give you nightmares.