PAID ZINE PUBLICATION FOR WRITERS & ARTISTS
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 14, 11:59 PM EST
☼ 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. Find out more about PRUDEmag here.
☼ 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. Read more about reclaiming “prude” here.
☼ 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.
☼ WE ARE SEEKING: Writing and/or visual art exploring whatever “prude” means to you, in all of its intersections.
☼ PAYMENT: Thanks to support from Canada Council for the Arts, we pay CARFAC and Professional Writer’s Union of Canada standard rates. We work with you to edit your piece for the final print:
- $250 per page of visual art (pages are 8.5 x 5.5". Max 2 pages)
- $200 per poem (under 200 words)
- $200 per page of longform text (350 words / page, 700 words maximum)
☼ WHO CAN SUBMIT: Submissions are open internationally and contributors do NOT have to be based in Canada. Since anyone can reclaim prude, there is no such thing as “taking up space in the conversation” - your experience matters!
☼ WHAT WE’RE INTERESTED IN: We’re looking for 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 PIECES WE HAVE PUBLISHED IN THE PAST:
- Visual Art: "Stone", "Prude Pride", "House Party", "Sex & Lake Ontario"
- Personal Essays: “Don’t Call Me Asexual, Call Me a Prude”, "I Have Vaginismus But I'm Not A Virgin", "Islam Is More Modern Than I Thought", "The Phimotic Nudity"
- Comics: "Moving from Saudi Arabia to Canada...", "Do You Like It Like This?", "Asexuals On The Street"
- Poetry: "April"
- Interviews: "Prude On Call"
☼ SOME IDEAS WE ARE INTERESTED IN FOR THIS ISSUE:
- Spinsters / elder prudes / cat ladies / childfree adults / prude futures
- “Unfuckability” / embracing ugliness / critiques and rejection of "beauty feminism"
- Autosexuality and autoromanticism
- Cultural expectations / immigrant & migrant accounts of prudeness
- Joy in singleness / "boysober" / contientious objection to sex & romance
- Endometriosis / painful sex / sexual disabilities
- "Late bloomers" and sexual debuts into adulthood
- Modesty
- Mad and anti-psychiatry prudeness
- Racialized imaginings of the "prude" (think: stereotype of non-white cultures / religions being sexually repressive)
- Lavender marriages
- Intersex experiences
- Prudeness & the digital world
- Pap smears / pathologization / prudeness in the medical system
- Prude activism / prude history / prude movements around the world
- And many more (please submit pieces beyond these themes - we love work that surprises and challenges us!)
☼ THINGS TO AVOID
- Academic or jargony writing
- Standard-issue coming out stories (we may be interested if there is a unique element or bigger question in the mix)
- Generalized pieces (ex. “Why platonic intimacy is important” - we prefer pieces grounded in real experiences and examples)
- AI generated “artwork"
☼ VISUAL ART TIPS: Pages in PRUDEmag are 8.5 x 5.5 inches (vertical). We publish a maximum of 2 pages per artist. 2 page spreads are okay. Your piece does not have to fill the entire page. Please ensure your signature is somewhere on the finished piece.
☼ DOES MY PIECE HAVE TO BE FINISHED?: We strongly prefer completed pieces. However, we recognize that this may not be realistic for many creators. With this in mind, we still accept pitches, first drafts, and sketches. The more completed work you can show us, the better!
☼ WHAT HAPPENS AFTER I SUBMIT?: Submissions are open until April 30. You will receive an email sometime in May regarding the status of your application (ie. whether it was accepted or not). The Issue 3 launch party will take place in approximately August 2025 in Toronto, and is free and open to all.