Letter From The Editor
IGOT A GREAT letter recently. It was from a reader who complimented just about every facet of the magazine— the rugged adventure stories, the travel pieces, the fashion, and the cool gear. In other words, it was someone who really understood what Men’s Journal is all about. I was f lattered and, to be honest, a little surprised. Not because of the comments—and not even because someone decided to actually put a pen to paper—but because this particular reader’s name was Kathy.
The fact that a woman is a fan should not be a shock, and the more I’ve thought about it, the less surprised I’ve become. Other than its name, there’s nothing forcibly male about this magazine. Plenty of women obviously share a passion for the things we write about. Close to home, my daughter, a competitive rock climber at age 13, is arguably more MJ than I am (she’s definitely in better shape), and my wife, who suffers from a bad case of wanderlust, devours the travel stories. And with more than 300,000 married subscribers, I’m sure there are more than a few other spouses taking a peek each month to see what we’re up to.
Being aware of this new fan base— anecdotally now numbering three—doesn’t change things, but it got us thinking: In our quest to tell the tales of badassery we’ve made a pretty startling omission. That’s about to change.
In an effort to start 2019 the right way—and, boy, don’t we all need a fresh start?—we are kicking off a long-overdue franchise celebrating the feats of female climbers, skiers, divers, cyclists, activists, and more, in what we’re calling “The New Adventure Icons” (page 60). Skiing at 26,000 feet from the summit of Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth-highest mountain; walking 1.2 miles on a slackline hundreds of feet over an abandoned mine; cycling 2,745 miles solo from Canada to Mexico, surfing a 68-foot wave off the coast of Portugal—these are the incredible achievements of just some of the women in this totally dude-free feature.
And it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Narrowing the list to 17 meant leaving dozens of others on the cutting-room floor. But we’re not done. The goal moving forward will be to honor and celebrate the adventurous life, no matter who is living it. And the January issue is a testament to that in our usual ways: chasing powder and hot springs across Japan’s northernmost island (page 14), sleeping atop all of Colorado’s 58 14ers (page 20), and fighting the power in Alaska, where a proposed mine could destroy the world’s largest sockeye salmon run (page 74). We’ll keep chasing these stories no matter who’s at the center of them.
Men’s Journal will always be about an idea—rugged, adventurous, aspirational— not a gender. If you have a problem with that, just write me. Because we’re always listening, always learning, and always growing. I can’t think of a better mantra for 2019. Happy New Year, Kathy!