By Lisa Herbert

Ophira Edut, her twin sister, Tali, and their friend Dyann Logwood are not your stereotypical Generation X "slackers." After many late nights in their freshman dorm rooms at Michigan discussing what their ideal magazine would look like, they were presented the opportunity to find out by way of a Women's Studies class project of Ophira's in their 1991-92 sophomore year.

The three classmates decided to create a magazine to promote women's self-esteem. The result: Hues magazine ("Hear Us Emerging Sisters"), which was once a compact-size mini-zine circulated on campus, but is now a full-size magazine with a nationwide readership of 40,000 on a 15,000 sales base.

From its first issue, Hues has projected a distinct attitude. "Feminism doesn't have to be boring," explains Ophira Edut (Ay-DOOT). "Why can't it be fun? Why can't it be sexy? I think if it's funky and stylish, people are more likely to embrace it." And she's right. The first 1,000 copies of Hues were distributed free and quickly disappeared from campus magazine racks. Letters poured in asking for more.

The Edut sisters, who grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, and Logwood, who is from Ypsilanti, decided to continue their project. They formed a student group which enabled themselves and other students to work for Hues for academic credit under the Community Service Learning Program. With a staff of young women students they created three more locally distributed issues. "They were full-size and on glossy paper, but they were really just practice," Ophira says of issues two through four. "The writing isn't as good as what we have in there now."

The Spring/Summer 1995 issue marked their entrance onto the national scene. Full-sized and full-color, issue five featured topics such as "An Indian Woman's Dialogue on Dating and Culture," "Red, White and Clueless? Republican Women of Color," a dating advice column called "Two-Minute Romeos," and "Interview with Yoruba Priestess Luisah Teish." win/1996 looked at "PMS Fashion," a "Stupid Body-Products" review, "Sister Circle—A Black Women's Dialogue," and "Can I Love My Body? (Finally You Can)."

Michigan Today interviewed Ophira Edut to find out more about Hues and the ideas that have shaped it.

Michigan Today: How did you happen to turn your Women's Studies class project into a magazine?

Ophira Edut: The class required an action project—do something with the community like work at a shelter or something. I wanted to do, well, I don't want to say more, but I don't think of women's self-esteem as charity. It's vital. Plus, Tali, Dyann and I wanted to get our criticisms of feminism out there. We wanted women to speak for themselves rather than being spoken for. One of the things we were really unhappy about that we try to address in Hues is the portrayal of women of color. Hues lets any woman of any culture talk about her own experiences. We believe a person who has been sexually assaulted should write about that. We like our articles to have a personal touch.

MT: Do you think the image as a popular magazine runs the risk of minimizing your message or your ability to adequately address the issues?

OE: In some ways, yes. We will never be as theoretical as an academic journal. But we are presenting in a real tone of voice. The object of printing anything should be to communicate a message. If the message isn't communicated, it doesn't matter how many syllables and fancy words you know. We can't forget that in this country packaging and marketing do matter. We can't expect the world to be totally receptive to something that has no flavor.

MT: On the cover of the issue about Republican women of color there are three women of different ethnic backgrounds and different shapes and sizes. It struck me because it isn't what you are used to seeing. It wasn't a skinny, voluptuous, blond woman, but it still looked good.

OE: It's because of the attitude they project. The look we want the women of Hues to have is, "Yes, I don't look like the typical cover girl or magazine model, but I'm not really concerned about that. I like myself and this is who I am."

MT: How does this contrast to the mainstream women's magazines?

OE: Other women's magazines will make jokes about women's "cottage cheese thighs" or "you know how men are when they're watching football on Sunday afternoon." And it's like, why do you even have to say that? There are plenty of men who aren't watching football on Sunday, and plenty of women who are. They continue to keep those gender lines drawn so rigidly.

When we say women, we mean all women. At Hues we'll show large women, thin women, tomboys, feminine-looking women—we're not telling anybody how to be a strong woman or what one looks like. We're trying to let women define strength for themselves, with as many different perspectives as possible.

MT: How did Hues evolve in terms of funding, advertising and marketing?

OE: We have a loan and advertising from the Levi Strauss corporation—that's the big one. A small organization called the Multi-Cultural Alliance in San Francisco also has some advertising. Mom is a big investor, too. She didn't give us any money but let some of her assets be used as collateral on the loan. We have promotional kits and advertising kits that we send to a lot of companies. We had to learn as we went along what we can and can't expect. I've had a lot of mentors. I attended NYU Summer Publishing Institute in 1994.

Tali and I both interned at Sassy magazine in 1992, so I had spent the summer watching how all the different departments of a magazine work. I absorbed a lot from that and was able to use it as a precedent. We have also received donations of things like clothes for a fashion shoot, and a prize for a contest.

MT: Who have you gotten your most enthusiastic response from?

OE: College women are our core audience. They are women of all different races. We also have received a good response from college men. The attitude I get from the men is, "This is great! Men need to learn this stuff too."

MT: Do you see a place for men in Hues?

OE: No. It's not about men, it's about women getting to know themselves and liking themselves. But Hues is not anti-male. Men are not the enemy. Sexism is. Men can perpetuate sexism, but women can too. Anti-male feminism doesn't work. Most of what's out there is either, "How to catch a man," or "How to hate one." It's so ridiculous to assume that women get together only to talk about men, whether it's loving them or hating them.

MT: You sell about 15,000 copies now. What are your circulation goals?

OE: A press run of 100,000 is our next goal because it's the starting point for many advertisers to pick us up. In comparison, a big magazine like Glamour has 10 million readers. Sassy, which is a much newer magazine, has 800,000. I'd like it to become a bimonthly magazine. But we like to say Hues is more than a magazine, it's a movement. Because it really is about the changes that are taking place in women's lives; their values, attitudes and lifestyles. We'd like to do interactive stuff and TV stuff; to have an enterprise going.

MT: On a personal level, what has Hues been to you?

OE: The most accurate description I could give is that it's like a daughter. It brings me joy and frustration, it will always be a part of me that I'm connected to. I feel responsible for it. I feel passionate about it. I want to see it grow up. But I've also constantly had to test and renew my faith. I still wake up every day wondering, "Is it worth it? Is it going to happen?" But there are women out there who want this. We get letters. And now we have a Web page. This week we got e-mail from Israel and Russia from women who saw our page and one said,

"God, Hues isn't like anything we've ever seen. It's what I've been looking for in a women's magazine." And that's why we're out there. I've learned that there is no instant gratification. I've learned patience and resilience. Although I think if I knew then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have done it.

MT: What is it you know now?

OE: When it rains, it pours---both good and bad.



Hues issue #8 is scheduled for January 1997. Ophira and Tali Edut and Dyann Logwood hope that one will begin a bimonthly production schedule and put them at 100,000 copies.

Gloria Steinem and Rebecca Walker, author of the feminist anthology To Be Real (and also daughter of the author Alice Walker) have joined the magazine's advisory board. Hues has also formed a "sister publishing network" with magazines that "share our philosophies," the publishers announced in their Winter 1997 issue. The network includes New Moon: the Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams, a "girl-produced bimonthly for girls ages 8 to 14"; Teen Voices, a quarterly that encourages "self-esteem in teen girls rather than writing about the season's best lipstick colors and kissing tips"; and Hip Mama, "a quarterly parenting 'zine for non-June Cleaver moms."

To subscribe to Hues, you may call 1-800-Hues 4U2, or send $14.99 for four issues to P.O. Box 7778, Ann Arbor, MI 48107. More information is on the Hues Web site at http://www.hues.net/.

Lisa Herbert is a freelancer based in San Francisco.