The faces of four women filled the cover of Time in June 1998: Susan B. Anthony, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and not Calista Flockhart, but Ally McBeal. The women's heads faded into an all-black background, and everyone but Ally was printed in black and white. Under Ally McBeal's frame were red letters reading, "Is feminism dead?"

Ginia Bellafante wrote the issue's cover story, "Feminism: It's All About Me!" In it, she claimed that rather than focusing on real issues that affect women's day-to-day lives, including equal pay and childcare, "much of feminism has devolved into the silly. And it has powerful support for this: a popular culture insistent on offering images of grown single women as frazzled, self-absorbed girls." Bellafante goes on to cite the character Ally McBeal as evidence, describing her as empty-headed and largely preoccupied with frivolity, as opposed to the normally serious work of a prestigious lawyer.

Calista Flockhart was also one of Barbara Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People of 1998." Walters addressed Flockhart's potential eating disorder (which Flockhart then denied) but also invited the star to respond to the Time magazine cover. The actor revealed that she was shocked by the request and reasonably stated, "The idea that you can compare Susan B. Anthony to a television character didn't seem fair." She expressed her support for feminist issues and said that her own name should have been on the cover.

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