Are You Dirty?

We want to hear what you think about that too.

Why a zine?  With the recent closing of $pread magazine, which was one of our favorite sex industry publications, it’s more important than ever to keep creating our own media and getting our message out there. Zines are a fun and creative form of expression, they’re handmade and sometimes its nice to hold something physical in your hands rather than just read about it online, yanno?

We are accepting art, writing and photography submissions from former and current sex workers of all genders at dirtygirlzine [at] gmail dot com

We settled on the name Dirty Girl because at a time when our topsoil is being depleted and you can go to jail for carrying condoms, we want to explore and celebrate the dirt and sex that stains us. Davka (of www.davkadeergirl.com) said:

“The more I think of it, the more I want the title to be Dirty Girl. I mean- how many times have we all had to live with that title? Work through it? reclaim it and reinvent it? Some of us lived feeling like it or SLUT was branded on our foreheads. I just feel it wasn’t some faux paus to name it that! We have had to identify with the generic male pronoun for ages, so all potential contributors are invited to now find themselves in the Girl, irregardless of gender.”

Both of us grew up with that loaded phrase, Dirty Girl, being slung at us and bouncing around our heads. As adults what we were stigmatized for something that has become valuable. That is what we want to explore in this zine – the ways we have internalized, reclaimed, rejected, and worked through the stigma and hate that’s embodied in “Dirty Girl.” Or, to quote Davka again,

“I do not feel these words “Dirty Girl,” and other such COMMON gender specific phrases that we have had to deal with our entire lives have yet to be deconstructed enough for us to find healing and liberation within that process and until that happens I don’t at all feel comfortable just discarding them for more gender neutral/inclusive terms.”

Neither of us have experienced being a male sex worker, and we haven’t had the benefit of hearing other gendered people’s experiences of slut stigma. It’s been suggested that perhaps male sex workers experience homophobia more than slut stigma? We don’t know, but whatever your gender we are eager to receive your submission and hear your experiences.

The submission deadline is November 30 and we’re hoping to have the zine done by the Winter Solstice (December 21, 2010). Please include your name (can be stage name or pseudonym or whatever you feel comfortable with), website or some place on the web where we can find more of you (if you want us to), what kind of sex worker you were/are (if you feel comfortable sharing of course) and tell us a little about yourself! This info will accompany your piece.

Art: submit in .jpeg format in the highest quality possible, include a title too if you can.

Writing: submit in word documents or just copy and paste the text inside an email. Writing can be poetry, prose, essays, haiku, etc…you get the idea!  We won’t edit your pieces without your permission.

Photography: .jpeg as well and if you photographed someone else, please provide a model release and I.D. of the subject, title would be great as well.