Our fall theme is one that feels right on time for a host of reasons: the 2020 election, the ongoing conversation around sexual violence, Autostraddle’s own dedication to dismantling white supremacist structures and de-centering whiteness in both leadership and content, and the unionizing of so many newsrooms, to name a few.

For The Power Issue, we’re hoping for writing that explores the micro and macro ways power does its work in our world: the power of really seeing yourself first time, whether in print or on film or in history; the different kind of power in demanding that others see you, too; how torches are passed between generations; progress and demanding things be done in new ways; overthrowing a bullshit system; stories of change and triumph and learning from old mistakes; who has power; who’s in positions to receive it and what are they doing with it: stories of corruption, redemption, success and failures from the top; small movements that took over a conversation and changed the world; physical power; the power of nature; powers that can’t be overcome.

You can get extremely literal or extremely loose with the idea of power! As usual we’re open to reported pieces, personal essays, comics, photo essays, longform journalism, and other such things!

Here are some examples of the kinds of things we’re looking for:

• Top or Bottom: How do we desire? by Billy-Ray Belcourt, George Dust, and Kay Gabriel for The New Inquiry
• An Exhaustive Timeline of Hillary Clinton’s Power Suits by Jennifer Wright for Racked
• “Transparent” Changed Me (And TV) Forever by Drew Gregory for Autostraddle
•  Portraits of Powers by Anny Lutwak for Rookie
• The Road to Progress Is Paved with Pain by Rebecca Traister for The Cut
• How “Bad Girls” Made a Good Girl Gay by Heather Hogan for Autostraddle
• The Catastrophist, or: On coming out as trans at 37 by Emily Todd VanDerWerff for Vox
• How “Rest in Power” Went From Radical Eulogy to Kitschy Twitter Meme by Rachelle Hampton for Slate
• An Ode to the Power Lesbian by Dayna Troisi for Go Mag
• How My Badass Butch Skyrim Character Saved My Life by Rae Nieves for Autostraddle
• Lifting Heavy Things by Tess for Autostraddle’s Outsiders issue
• Occupied Territory by Rebecca Solnit for Harper’s
• Birth of The Nintendo Generation by Mónica Teresa Ortiz for Autostraddle’s essay series, Our Pulse
• The Legacy of Toni Morrison by Roxane Gay for the New York Times
• The New Face of Power Is Taking Shape by Rebecca Traister for The Cut
• Lesbian Avengers: Seize the Power and Be the Bomb You Throw by Vikki Reich for Autostraddle
• The Martha Stewarting of Powerful Women by Ann Foster for Longreads
• Inside Nxivm, the ‘Sex Cult’ That Preached Empowerment by Vanessa Grigoriadis for The New York Times Magazine
• 16 Lesbian Power Couples From History Who Got Shit Done, Together by Riese Bernard for Autostraddle
• Keeping Pussy’s Power: The Complications of Reclamation by Gabrielle Korn for Autostraddle
• The Myth of the Perfect Victim by Caitlin Moscatello for The Cut
• This Native American Trans Beauty Queen Is Reviving an Ancient Tradition by Abby Haglage for Narratively
• The Evolution and Impact of the Black Superhero by Rudy Raphael for Ebony
• The Feminine Heroic by Megan Meyhew-Bergman for The Paris Review
• These Basketball Players Sued Their College For Anti-Gay Discrimination — And Lost by Shannon Keating for Buzzfeed
• America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One by Nikole-Hannah Jones for the New York Times’ 1619 Project
• Our Fury Over Abortion Was Dismissed for Decades As Hysterical by Rebecca Traister for The Cut
• The Playboy Interview with Rachel Maddow by David Hochman for Playboy

Payment:

We are an independent publication currently hanging on for dear life! So our rates aren’t the best out there, but relative to our budget they’re quite good. Depending on the piece (length, edits required, reporting involved if relevant), payment is between $50 – $300.

We are, as always, especially interested in submissions from trans women and people of color. We also accept multiple submissions from the same author.

The deadline for submissions is October 25, but we will be accepting things on a rolling basis, and will respond to you either way by November 1.

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