Call for Submissions: Catharsis: Trans Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence

Hello My Friends!

I stumbled across this call for submissions today and I'm SO glad I did.  This book will document trans women's experiences with sexual violence and assault.  No wonder it's called "Catharsis."  I've written hundreds of stories over the past 5 years, and if there's one thing I've learned it's that writing is an incredibly effective way of dealing with your shit.  So much of the clarity in my life has come through exploring my life experiences on the page.

But enough about me! Here's the call: 

Call For Submissions 4/3/12 **Please Share & Repost!**

Catharsis: Trans Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence is seeking written submissions from trans women who are willing to share their experiences of sexual violence and assault. The goal is to create a book-length collection of personal essays and stories from trans women about their individual experiences. Through compiling these stories, we hope to counteract the tendency of broader feminist dialog to deal with the subject of violence against trans women as hypothetical, ethereal, and comparatively minimal. We also hope that such a compilation would reinforce the place of trans women among all women and help to bring support and healing to our often overlooked communities.


DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS JULY 31ST, 2012!  For Submission Form Please go to: http://catharsisproject.wufoo.com/forms/catharsis-submission-form/


What We’re Looking For: Stories of personal experience from self-identified trans women who are survivors of rape, sexual assault, or other sexual violence. Submissions should be roughly 2-5 pages in length and focus primarily on individual experiences and feelings. Because every individual processes these experiences in different ways, the “tone” of the collection will be left to the contributors. Anger, humor, grief, healing, indifference, etc. are all welcome themes. Those wishing to remain anonymous will have that wish respected and not be named in the final publication. Anonymity will be granted to the degree at which it’s requested, so please make your needs clear with your submissions.


Why Trans Women Only? The perception that trans women are less often targets of sexual violence is incredibly pervasive, even among allies to the trans community. This erroneous assumption is deeply rooted in cissexism, transphobia, and transmisogyny. While sexual violence affects many communities and is often taboo or “invisible” in those communities, trans women’s experiences are uniquely derided and ignored. This results in the isolation of trans women survivors, a culture of silence within broader trans communities, and a false pretense for the exclusion of trans women from feminist conversations about rape and assault. The purpose of this collection is to give voice to and encourage dialog around the specific reality of sexual violence against trans women. We are interested in work by trans women of all backgrounds, regardless of transition status, race, class, education, ability, age, orientation, or occupation. Any survivor of sexual violence that self-identifies as a trans woman is encouraged to contribute. To send submit your story, go to: http://catharsisproject.wufoo.com/forms/catharsis-submission-form/


Anyone wishing to assist this project is encouraged to **forward this call for submissions widely.**


If you want to help further or have any questions please contact reddurkin@gmail.com