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Join The Fem!

Below are descriptions for positions we are looking to fill. All positions are 100% volunteer.

Applications are due December 30, 2016.

 

Art Editor

• Review and accept art submissions that promote inclusive, intersectional feminism
• Comfortable communicating with artists
• Seeks artwork and artists that can be featured on The Fem
• Must be a team player and participate in regular meetings
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

Assistant Editor 

• Assist the EIC in daily operations
• Maintains an up-to-date posting schedule for entire staff
• Initial screening of new applications when The Fem is hiring staff
• Practices effective communication with the EIC and the rest of The Fem team
• Take notes during regular team meetings
• Lead or assist meetings, workshops, or other projects where the EIC is unavailable
• Must be flexible and able to wear different hats. Experience with multiple genres is not required but is a plus.
• Very organized and able to stay on top of multiple projects at once
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

Blog Editor

• Manage a group of regular and consistent bloggers/columnists
• Listen to pitches and assigns article topics
• Communicate which ideas are moving forward with Assistant Editor and EIC
• Reviews and edits content before sending to EIC for publication
• Must be a team player and participate in regular meetings
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

Book Reviewer

• Finds feminist, inclusive lit to read and review
• Able to adopt a specific tone and format for publication
• Able to meet monthly deadlines
• Must be a team player and participate in regular meetings
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

Nonfiction Editor

• Review and accept essays that promote inclusive, intersectional feminism
• Comfortable communicating with authors
• Must be a team player and participate in regular meetings
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

Regular Bloggers/Columnists

• Pitch blog ideas weekly to Blog Editor
• Able to demonstrate quick turnaround
• Write and develop well researched content to be featured on the site
• Must meet deadlines set by Blog Editor
• Must be a team player and participate in regular meetings
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

Social Media Manager

• Work with Social Media Team to garner a relationship with the public
• Manage our Facebook and Twitter
• Promote any upcoming events and content
• Stay up to date with feminist campaigns and the work of our partners
• Must be a team player and participate in regular meetings
• Must be an effective and timely communicator
• Must adhere to The Fem’s overall mission in protecting and publishing inclusive feminist work

 

Send your resume and a brief description of why you’re interested in working with an inclusive, diverse, and feminist literary magazine to thefemlitmag@gmail.com. You may also include an explanation of previous experiences or writing samples that you feel are relevant.

Be sure to include which position you  are applying for in the subject line.

Tweet us @thefemlitmag with any questions!

*Please no follow up emails*

 

 

 

 

You’re a Wanker, No. 9 by Katherine Frain

JOIN THE TEAM: Social Media Editor

All of our roles are virtual (remote) and 100% volunteer. You will be working with a diverse staff on a project started by two women of color and committed to intersectionality. View our mission here and our philosophy here.

Nonbinary folk, trans people, queer people, people with disabilities, and people of color are especially encouraged to apply, though applications are open to anyone.

ABOUT THE ROLE

• Estimated time commitment: 4-6 hours a week
• Post daily to Facebook and Twitter
• Schedule Tweets regularly
• Add to existing social media schedule
• Participate in staff meetings
• Communicate regularly with team on Slack (free remote instant messaging tool!)
• Pay attention to issues facing marginalized groups and RT/boost
• Be extremely passionate about justice for marginalized groups, highlighting marginalized voices, and continually learning about issues facing marginalized folks
• Develop and moderate Twitter chats every 6 months alongside genre editors
• Design basic graphics using Canva (templates already designed) for promo materials
• Work alongside other Social Media Editor, who manages Tumblr and Instagram

PERKS

• Promotion of your work on The Fem channels
• Gain connections and network with other writers with similar values
• Lots of love and appreciation
• Room to challenge and improve the poetry section of a forward-thinking, progressive, and growing publication
• Flexibility, as we are all volunteers
• Structure, as we are dedicated volunteers with a solid plan to support our dream

TO APPLY
Send the following to thefemlitmag@gmail.com with SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR APP in the subject line:

• a resume
• a brief description of why you’re interested in working with us
• an explanation of background in social media management
• any identities you feel comfortable sharing with us

PS: Be yourself! It’s okay if you’ve never run a social media account. Let us know why you want this position, and tell us how it fits your career and personal goals.

The Sexualisation of Black Women in The Media: Isn’t It Time for a Change? by Ms. Cheryl Diane Parkinson

Women get a raw deal—I’ve always thought so. In this patriarchal society, we are treated as lesser and when you are treated as lesser, often with it comes ‘other’. I consider myself a feminist. How can I be a woman and not be a feminist? Being a black woman and a feminist isn’t about hating men, or hating white people—it’s about equality and freedom. It always has been.

In today’s world we have the likes of Rihanna, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj and others on our television screens, perpetuating what I can only see as the sexualisation of black women. Women are viewed through the ‘male gaze’ and are seemingly promoting this hypersexualized image themselves. This creates a revolving door for the black woman. These images that are portrayed in the media perpetuates the ideology of inferiority as well as fetishism and sexist objectification from which the black woman cannot escape. The young watch these portrayals of black women and emulate them, replicating them and the cycle continues. But are there two sides to the story? One would argue, more than two, there is a myriad of perceptions surrounding this controversial issue.

Women have long been used, exploited for financial gain. This contempt for women, it can be argued stems from biblical Eve. She is blamed for being tempted by the devil, tempting man with the forbidden fruit and has been accused of being a temptress of men ever since – there is a contempt for women regardless of colour differences, but black women have had others ideals on their bodies imposed on them for centuries. Sexualisation on black women is, it can be argued, a continuation of the slavery mindset.

Sexuality was placed upon their bodies first by the slave owners, then by the colonialists and now popular media. Whereas before there was a legalised ownership of black bodies through the system of slavery, now the very notion of exploitation and ownership of these bodies is explained away.

Biblical Eve offering the forbidden fruit to Adam

The Burning Bush by Tiffany Firebaugh

Love drearily calls out the wrong names
but I always remember yours.

The healer cautions that there is a difference
between the pain of injury and the pain of something leaving
that should go

Getting Mary Out of the Way by Natalie Solmer

So, maybe Mary met Joseph at reggae night
in a small basement bar and maybe Joseph
was an exceptional dancer, an athlete with arthritis.

Could it have been? Joseph was a Jamaican immigrant—
balding and spiritual, not religious. And maybe Mary
sold flowers at the grocery store and perhaps

when she went home and prayed at her altar,
she lit a pink candle called Manifest A Miracle,
and shuffled her tarot cards. Would you believe

Mary refused to marry Joseph when he asked?
Maybe Jesus was their second son. Maybe this Joseph’s
father was in fact a carpenter, but he himself

installed cable. What if Mary caught Joseph cheating
by finding condoms and receipts? Maybe Mary moved
out and received food stamps. Sorrow, sorrow, we all know

BROWN DISABILITY or by Keith J. Castillo

here is
your body,

brown,
chronic pain dancing on joints,

an exercise in screaming
made physical

here is your soul,
a cardboard cutout
decorated with stars,
sliced through with matches
waiting to be set aflame

Featured Friday | Meet Ashaki Jackson

Interview by Anna-Claire McGrath

Ashaki Jackson is a Houston, Texas native who now resides in Los Angeles. A social psychologist and programs evaluator, Ashaki’s poetry and activism often intermingle as evidenced in her debut chapbook, Surveillance, a meditation on the brutal murders of black and brown youth by police officers in America.

Ashaki returns with Language Lesson, Miel Books, August 2016, an equally emotional and exquisite book. Here, Ashaki returns to her southern roots to follow her grandmother back to her final resting place.

THE FEM: So this book is about mourning your grandmother, and I wanted to talk to you first about the impetus to write a book of poetry about that. What was her role in your life and why did you feel that poetry was the proper vehicle for paying tribute?