Feminism and Mental Health (Call for Submissions)
Call for Submissions:
The lived experience(s) of mental health in feminist communities
Call for submissions from people of any gender who identify with feminism and have lived experiences of a psychiatric diagnosis.
Our upcoming anthology, Feminist’s Navigate Mental Health (working title), will explore the complexities of navigating mental health and how a feminist identity may (or may not) shape those experiences, thoughts and feelings. Submissions are welcomed in the form of personal short stories.
The submissions received will shape the outcome of the book. The final manuscript will be submitted to relevant independent publishers.
Possible themes may include (but are not limited to):
o Coping – what works and what doesn’t
o Any positive aspects of your mental health that are commonly considered deficits
o Treatment preferences and past experiences
o Medication
o Personal/lived understandings of your diagnosis (acceptance or rejection)
o Stigma/tension around mental health issues in the feminist community
o Feminism and well-being/strength/empowerment
o Feminism and distress
Guidelines:
o Remember to take care of yourself while writing about topics that may be distressing;
o Good writing skills are great, but not mandatory! We will work with you to edit your piece;
o Submissions should be saved in .doc or .rtf, size 12 font, Arial or Times New Roman, and double spaced;
o 500 to 4000 words
o Include contact information and a brief biography;
o Only email submissions will be accepted;
o Submission deadline is June 1st, 2010.
Who we are
The women behind this project are Jenna MacKay and Alicia Merchant. Jenna is a psychiatric survivor and community activist who is particularly interested in violence and mental health. Alicia is a freelance writer and contributing editor for various magazines and has been published in CR Magazine, thirdspace and the Globe & Mail. Both self-identify as feminist, are interested in critical perspectives of health and live in Toronto. This project is not
affiliated with any institution or organization.
Comments, concerns, questions and submissions should be directed to:
fnmhsubmissions@gmail.com
This sounds really promising! I’m not sure if I have the (mental or physical) spoons to contribute right now, but I’m certainly looking forward to the end result.
Anji – I wasn’t sure either, but I just e-mailed some questions about something I’d written earlier on my blog, so it needs to be reformatted – but that’s too many spoons unless I know someone’s getting something out of it (not me, them, readers, whomever).
It was a bit hard to write about the subject and to even gather the links! So I need to know if it’s near what they’re going for before I consider… working on it, polishing, spit shining – ie LOOKING at it and remembering.
This sounds very interesting. However, could you please explain what is meant by psychiatric survivor? IME, the term is used by persons who are anti-med and anti-treatment.
Willow329 – I don’t spend much time around anti-med people (or at least vocal ones), so I haven’t heard that.
Of course, some people are opposed to medicating things, and that’s their right.
The thing I sent in (if it doesn’t get accepted, I’d love to share it here after much editing) is probably a “psychiatric survivor” story. Yes, the medication I was on at the time did cause problems, but that was much later. I look at as surviving BAD treatment. Bad is in the eye of the beholder most of the time, but that situation was straight up BAD.
It can also be – how are you treated when you react badly to an SSRI/psych drug? “Oh, you’re on your period? That’s why the SSRI is making you suicidal!” Or just making it through side effects or an ineffectual drug until they listen and change the damn thing.
Er.