We are pleased to publicize the following announcement:
Call for Contributions: The Art of Resistance: Creative Writings on Prostitution
Deadline: September 15, 2008
Prostitution is an issue that impacts everyone in that its harm remains invisible due to systemic racism, classism, sexism, and histories of colonialism. As we make our way into the 21st century creative writing will be important for defining the movement against prostitution as well as functioning as a means for survivors to educate others about their experiences of violence.
We are looking for creative writing (prose, prose poems, poetry, creative non-fiction, short stories, micro-fiction, memoir, diary, multi-genre) for a groundbreaking anthology that addresses the harm resulting from prostitution.**
We invite submissions from survivors, family and friends of survivors, advocates, and all others who have experienced or observed the impact of prostitution on individuals, communities, and societies. Works that discuss race, class, sexuality, disability, nationality, colonization, globalization, and ethnicity and their relationships to systems of prostitution are encouraged.
Because this is a supportive place for people in prostitution, the requirement for submissions is that they engage with prostitution in critical ways that do not blame or reinforce stereotypes of prostituted people.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Guidelines for Submission of Creative Writing:
– Poetry: Up to five submissions per person (not all works will be accepted)
– Prose (creative non-fiction, short stories, micro-fiction, memoir, diary): A suggested maximum of 5,500 words (we have some flexibility with the word count)
– Email your submissions as word documents
Include the following in your submission:
– Bio: No longer than 5 sentences
– Full name as you would like it to appear if your work is chosen for publication
– Contact information: mailing address, phone number, and email
Send Submissions to:
Email: editors.artofresistance@hotmail.com
Deadline: September 15, 2008
Email: editors.artofresistance@hotmail.com if you have questions.
The co-editors are Annie Fukushima and Christine Stark. Annie Fukushima is a doctoral student in Ethnics and a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender & Sexuality. She is also an activist that organizes with numerous organizations, and the founder of SAFEHS (Students & Artists Fighting to End Human Slavery). Christine Stark is an award-winning author and visual artist, speaker, and activist of Native American and European heritage. She is a co-editor of Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography.
**We define systems of prostitution to include street prostitution, stripping, bartering sex for food and shelter, adult and child pornography, escort and out-call prostitution, sex tourism, ritual abuse, massage parlors, saunas, phone sex, prostitution tourism, peep shows, mail order bride services, and international and domestic sex trafficking.
See also:
NoPornNorthampton’s reviews of essays in Not For Sale
A Review of Christine Stark, “Girls to boyz: Sex radical women promoting pornography and prostitution”
Stark considers sex-radicalism to be a form of female self-hatred, replicating male abuse of women even within all-female contexts such as lesbian relationships. Carol Queen claims to be on the side of all sexual minorities, but given the magnitude and pervasiveness of the sex industry and its role in subordinating women, siding with pornographers and pimps is not exactly an underdog role. (p.279) True “radical” feminism is radical not because it takes the most extreme positions on the issues, but because it looks at the roots of inequality and demands structural changes as well as personal ones. Stark observes:
Queen and other sex radicals have a rebellious, adolescent-style reaction to sex: what they perceive as being ‘different’ or rebellious is good, period… They channel women’s vaild anger and desire to rebel against patriarchy into their political camp by misrepresenting the term sex radical. True sex radicalism would mean recognizing structures of inequality and oppression, working toward egalitarian relationships, and aligning with those (whether minorities or majorities) who do not have social or political power–such as women and children hurt in pornography and prostitution or lesbians against lesbian pornography. (p.280)Because they are women and/or homosexuals, sex radicals who enjoy sadomasochism and purchasing prostitutes get away with claiming to undermine patriarchal norms, while in fact they are perpetuating other women’s subordination…
Stark is disturbed by how lesbian pornography replicates the same master-slave dynamic of heterosexual porn, only with “butch” women instead of men as the ones who abuse the weaker, more feminine sexual partner. Just as in the girl-on-girl sex scenes in porn aimed at straight men, lesbian porn often portrays sex as women being cruel to one another:
[W]omen put other women into bondage using handcuffs, masks, ropes and chains. A chain saw as phallus is next to a breast….Lesbian pornography carries articles and advertises books that detail torture methods for women to use on other women, including how to set one’s partner on fire. (p.288)Stark suggests that misogynist porn appeals to lesbians because it lets them escape their feelings of vulnerability as women and sexual minorities, and identify with the powerful oppressors. This is not a new, radical vision of sex and society–it’s an unhealthy coping mechanism that leaves the power structure intact. (p.289) Meanwhile, potential abusers take women’s acceptance of rape and incest fantasies as proof that sexual violence is natural, consensual or even invited by the victims.