“Funny Women” submissions don’t read themselves. Most of the time Assistant Regional Funny Woman Katie Burgess reads them (she wrote the infinitely funny “How to Read a Poem,” anthologized in Oxford University Press’s Humor: A Reader for Writers, and has since gone on to read slush).
Katie, now Editor-in Chief of Emrys Journal, wants women and gender nonconforming writers to send her their fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
From her word processor to yours:
I’ve read tons of articles, and I’m sure you have, too, about gender disparities. The VIDA pie charts that are just frowny faces. Then there’s the advice to avoid writing about female issues like love or childbirth (because men don’t love anyone and were never born, and if they have to read about it, then they will explode).
And so you’ve probably also already heard that one big reason for the publishing gap, aside from plain old institutionalized sexism, is that women simply don’t submit as much.
And this stems from plain old institutionalized sexism: Women often get paid less and are raised to think it’s unseemly to show strangers your sestinas, etc.
I started seeing this discrepancy up close when I became the editor of a literary magazine. I’d estimate that right now over eighty percent of our submissions are from male writers. Why do I care? Am I one of those social justice warriors? Answer: Yes.
Maybe I’m not getting a lot of submissions from women because they’re all busy sending out to bigger publications and can’t be bothered with us. I hope that’s the case. But I have a feeling it’s mainly for all the aforementioned reasons.
Your stories need to be told. In the words of eighth grade cheerleaders everywhere—Do it. Do it. Do it. Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop. Keep submitting, and while you’re at it send something my way!
And dudes, I really do want to read your work, too—I want to hear from everybody! But I would like to receive fewer stories about dead women/stories containing the phrase “supple breasts”/stories about dead women with supple breasts. If it’s not too much trouble.
