☼ WHAT IS PRUDEmag?: We are a zine for spinsters, rule-makers, asexuals, relationship anarchists, celibates, and all others refusing sex-necessarism. We reclaim “prude” as a celebration of our autonomy and boundary-setting, and a liberation in which “no” is sacred.
☼ WHAT IS A “PRUDE”?: “Prude” is a word we’re called when we stand up to sexual expectations. We want to turn that pejorative into a badge of honour. We deserve to be proud to resist the sexual status quo.
☼ WHO RECLAIMS PRUDE?: A community of people are reclaiming “prude” to celebrate our boundaries, resist sexual demands, and question the culture back. Prudeness can be (and often is) practiced within sex - it is not just for asexual or celibate people. Anyone can (and should!) be a prude!
☼ OUR VALUES: We believe strongly in prude-slut solidarity and prude-slut simultaneity. We understand prudeness as a radical challenge to many interlocking axes of oppression. Our prudeness is playful, celebratory, and rooted in solidarity and care. We’re here for fun and trouble.
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☼ WE ARE SEEKING: Comics exploring whatever “prude” means to you, in all of its intersections.
☼ PAYMENT: Thanks to support from Canada Council for the Arts, we pay CARFAC standard rates. We work with you to edit and fine-tune your piece for the final print. We pay $250 Canadian per page. (Pages are 8.5 x 5.5". Max 2 pages).
☼ WHO CAN SUBMIT: Anyone is welcome to submit - you do not have to be based in Canada. And since anyone can reclaim prude, there is no such thing as “taking up space in the conversation” - your experience matters.
☼ WE ARE MOST INTERESTED IN: submissions that engage with prudeness in its specificities and particularities. How does “prude” interact with your own unique identity, obsessions, lifestyle, hobbies, past experiences, and big questions?
☼ SOME PAST COMIC EXAMPLES:
- "Moving from Saudi Arabia to Canada..."
- "Do You Like It Like This?"
- "Asexuals On The Street"
☼ IDEAS FOR THIS ISSUE:
- Anti-pathological / anti-psychiatry perspectives on prudeness (What do you think of “sexual dysfunction disorders”? What do we think of the DSM at large?)
- Prude activism / prude history / prude movements around the world
- “Late bloomers” / sexual debuts in adulthood
- Racialized imaginings of the "prude" (think: stereotype of non-white religions & cultures being sexually repressive)
- “Unfuckability” / exclusion from sex and romance / feminist lenses on being “involuntarily celibate”
- Prude-slut solidarity
☼ NOT AS INTERESTED IN:
- Destigmatizing nudity, sexual pleasure, masturbation, etc. (there are lots of other publications focused on this!)
- Standard issue coming out stories (we may be interested if there is a unique element or bigger question in the mix)
- AI generated pieces (absolutely not!)
Submit your pitch here by September 29 at 11:59 PM EST.
☼ FREE BY OUR YES, FREE BY OUR NO. ☼