WOOLF PACK IS OPENING SUBMISSIONS FOR OUR NINTH ISSUE (TO BE RELEASED IN AUGUST 2017). ARE YOU A FEMME OR NON-BINARY WRITER/ARTIST IN AUSTRALIA? SEND YOUR COOL SHIT TO [email protected] BY 2nd JULY 2017

TRUE FAQS:

What kind of stuff should we send you?

Essays! Rants! Fiction! Illustrations! Photo Essays! Comics! Recipes! Mixed Media! Collage! Poetry! How-tos! Anything realistically printable in a zine! If you haven’t seen the zine before, you can get at all the old issues in the sidebar and check out what we do.

Can I send you something I’ve already put on my tumblr/blog/own zine/an assignment etc?

You sure can! Basically anything that’s your original work, but make sure any previous publications sign off on it (we do not have lawyers)

How big/long/what size/what format should submissions be in?

When you submit, please give your name as you’d like it published and a title for your piece!

Text stuff: Please send submissions of any kind, preferably under 3000 words. We take .doc files, and we edit using track changes.

Image goodness: We prefer 300dpi - 1748 x 2480px for A5, 2480 x 3508px for A4. We print in full colour, but this is a print-at-home zine meaning that colour quality is mid-fidelity, so please keep this in mind.

.png or .tiff preferred and .jpg is cool too. If you don’t know what any of this means that’s fine too, we’ll try our best to help you figure it out, there’s lots of space to negotiate so don’t let the above deter you!

Is anything off-limits?

Things that are fine:

Language! Nudity! Adult themes! General insurrection! Discussions of Real Shit! Being completely independent means we can publish pretty much whatevs we want.

Things to keep in mind:

If your piece involves the use of slurs, we may asterisk them up. If you’re commenting on the slurs meaningfully and in good faith, that’s probably going to be fine. If you’re using slurs to be totes edgy and rustle jimmies, we’ll probably be bored with it.

We may ask you to put content warnings in text pieces (we’ve generally used them in-text if something super gnarly is coming up), or insert our own. Content warnings are important because they’re the very definition of classification over censorship, and we want the freedom to discuss anything that affects us, like assault or mental illness, and give people the heads up they need when going into a topic that’s tough for them. We will not publish pieces about how content warnings are wimpy and indulgent and are ruining academia, because… they’re not.

I have an idea, but I’m not sure what to do with it!

Shoot us an email, and one of the editors can talk it over with you. But give yourself lots of time!

What happens if you’d like to publish my thing?

Hooray! One of us will be in touch (Talia for visual pieces, Rebecca for anything with words) to edit your piece and make sure we’re both happy with it. We edit/give feedback on/workshop all of our stuff until both we and the artist are happy with it, so get ready to furiously draft. We will definitely be using track changes in Word for text pieces.

We also work with a tight set of deadlines, as we are all doomed students and this is our version of taking a vacation; so be ready to edit like the wind!

Why didn’t I make it into this issue?

Like we said, this is a fly-by-night self-printing operation, so we can only publish so much. Everyone will hear back individually from us either way, so you may get some feedback, notification that I’m holding the piece over for the next issue (with your permission), or a friendly ‘submit next issue!’

Do you pay for content?

We now actually do: we pay $20 per piece. We’re self-funded, but we do charge for the zines- and our artists work hard. A ‘piece’ for the purposes of payment will be anything that would come under a single heading in our contents page, and will probably be negotiated individually; it’ll be paid shortly after we launch.

DEADLINE

WHEN – 2ND JULY 2017

WHERE -  [email protected]

Hey cutie pies! Issue #6 is launching shortly at Junky Comics. 

Come! Be merry! 

Event pic is a preview of the #6 cover by @dashurie !

For the woolf-pack babes that were at this year’s Galentine’s Day.

From left to right: dashurie, Louisa, Rebecca, feminerds, absurdabsurd

Hey Everyone! Look how cute we are, cute af that’s how cute! Art by the incomparable dashurie! Woolfies <3 <3 <3

Tarot spread from Woolf Pack Issue #4 by Contributor Rebecca.

Rape joke waiver.

I have expressed interest in performing humour reliant on rape and sexual assault. The following waiver out lines, not exhaustively, the potential consequences, and upon signing I confirm my understanding of them before proceeding.

Upon making a rape joke I accept that my comments may offend, trigger or bring about an argument.

I understand that 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 20 men have in their life time have reported an incidence of sex assault and that only 19% of female victims ever report an assault [1]. I understand that the likelihood of these instances of sexual violence increases for gay, lesbian and people of non-binary gender identity [2]. I understand that my joke may bring about the recollection of trauma in those who have experienced rape and sexual assault. I understand that my joke will not only make them recall this moment or moments, it may lead to the victim feeling further ashamed, victimised or traumatised by the event [3]. I understand that upwards of 35% of rape victims suffer from PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) from the assault at some point in their lifetime [3]. In making a rape joke I accept that the disturbance inflicted upon a victim of rape by my joke is a direct result of my actions.

I understand that sexual assault is 4 times more likely to be perpetrated by someone the victim knows and may still know [1]. I understand that my joke will normalise and trivialise rape, thus confirming to rapists who may be in my presence that I find their actions normal, reasonable or excusable. I accept that a lack of victims or assailants in the audience for my joke does not exempt me from propagating harmful trivialisation of sexual violence and violation.

I understand that ‘freedom of speech’ gives me the right to say something without institutional reprisals, but does not exempt me from criticism for my comments. I accept that a rape victim, sexual assault victim or the family and friends of a victim, or just people who doesn’t think rape and sexual assault is funny may also exercise their right to ‘freedom of speech’ to point out that my joke is insensitive, cruel and trivialising. I understand that neither an imagined absence of freedom of speech, nor ‘political correctness’, can be held accountable in the event that I feel that my joke did not go over well.

In full knowledge of the above, I elect to tell my joke as I prioritise the fleeting, cruel and misogynistic laughter that this joke may glean over the safety and comfort of survivors. I understand that my joke exists in a continuum of rape culture, of which it perpetuates.

I understand the above and still wish to proceed with the joke.

_ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Signed. _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Name printed. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _. Dated

[1]. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006, Personal Safety, Australia, 2005, cat. no. 4606.0, ABS, Canberra. [2]. Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2012, Sexual violence and gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, intersex, & queer communities, AIF, Canberra [3]. Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2011, The impacts of sexual assault on women, AIF, Canberra. Written piece from Issue #4 by contributor Talia. 

Woolf Pack #4 Launch party is fully confirm. This time we’re launching in Melbourne as part of the Festival of the Photocopier at the sticky-institute Oh mi goodness! Here’s the program for the whole festival. If you’re in Melbourne, please join us for our 1st birthday! There will be cake. Link to the fb event in the picture above.

Also: Cover art teaser!

The below is an excerpt of “Monsters of Feminism” from WoolfPack Issue #3 by Contributor Kendra.

Artwork by Contributor Dashurie. 

This is a TEENY TINY feminist annotated bibliography and it is curated solely by moi (a cis-gendered, white, middle-class woman). The feminist authors listed have been therefore selected because I have ‘determined’ them to be interesting, influential and important feminist thinkers. In saying that, it is important to remember there are TONNES of other feminists in the league of the grrrls. Nonetheless, these women are presently particularly resonating with me and where I am in my academic and activist feminist ‘journey’.

One of my personal FAVE Feminists, bell hooks’ writing and activism largely focuses on the interconnectivity of capitalism, gender and race and their ability to reproduce system of oppression in art, education, feminism, history, mass media and sexuality. Being the badass that she is, hooks has published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films and participated in various public lectures (see hooks debate feminist/transgender activist Janet Mock in the NewSchool public lecture ‘Are you Still a Slave’ where they debate the question ‘is Beyonce a Terrorist?’). Personally, my favourite hooks publication is her book ‘Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism’ (1981). Although now a little dated, this book examines the effect of racism and sexism on black women. It broadly argues that the convergence of sexism and racism during slavery contributed to black women having the lowest status and worst conditions of any group in American society.  Admittedly, despite hooks’ amazing contribution to feminist/critical whiteness theory, one of my ultimate rationales for LOVING her work is hooks’ reassuringly hopeful belief in the emergence of an inevitable feminist utopia. It makes me feel warm and nice inside. 

Awww yiss, art by dashurie

Truths

hard truths