OUR VOICE IS OUR WEAPON
They Call Us is a feminist literary and art magazine meant to showcase the talents of writers, designers, and artists. However, our goal first and foremost is to tell the stories of people who feel like they often don't have a voice.
Interested in submitting to They Call Us? Read our submission guidelines below for more information on how to submit.
THEY CALL US FLOOZIES
Women exploring their bodies and sexuality has always been coated in shame. Any work to perfect our image and sexual viability should appear effortless and done with the sole intention of pleasing men. We should want only men, and live for their pleasure. When we want pleasure for ourselves, when we are too liberated, we are labeled as floozy, promiscuous and loose. But it is not loose morals that make skirts short or pictures too thirsty, it is freedom. It is gender minorities boldly claiming our desires, our joy, and our pleasure. They Call Us Floozies explores the freedom in claiming our sexual energy and liberation. We are embracing ourselves.
THEY CALL US CATTY
Women’s anger carries a certain social stigma. If we vent, we gossip. If we complain, we bitch. If we get sassy, we get catty. Yet, throughout history, gossip and catty remarks have been a means of reclaiming power, from outing dangerous men in charge to giving side eye to whoever wore white to my best friend’s wedding. Unfortunately, that same anger can be directed toward each other. We were all raised in a misogynistic society and sometimes we weaponize our anger and are taught sexism to harm our fellow women. They Call Us Catty is a place for gender minorities to let out their claws, challenge the stigma of our anger, and explore the complexities of our relationships.
THEY CALL US MURDERERS
On June 24, 2022, the supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade and limited access to safe healthcare across the country. They call us murderers for making the hard choice of protecting our bodies and futures. There is a myriad of reasons why people might choose to get an abortion, and this edition aims to tell those stories.
THEY CALL US EVE
From sinful witches to miracle bearing mothers, women hold an essential role in religious texts. They Call Us Eve will explore the roles women hold in religions from around the world. We accept analysis, retellings, and creative depictions of how you see these women emboldened in spiritual status. Let’s talk about what Eve started.
THEY CALL US BATTERED
Domestic violence is a pandemic in of itself. It has infected communities and cultures around the world. Mainly women are subjected to abuse and all too often fear for their lives, but when the new stories come out, women are called one thing: “battered”. We are so much more than what abusers inflict on us. We have lessons to share, images to portray, and stories to tell.
THEY CALL US Matrons
From the moment little girls are born, they are told that one day they will be a mother. We are given dolls to mimic our future children and pressured to design our careers around kids. Mothers are held to the highest standards imaginable — standards that are impossible to meet. And for so many of us this motherhood is undesirable, unfeasible, or covered in complications. When did this one gift become our sole purpose?
THEY CALL US BRIDEZILLAS
Before it was about religion or love, marriage was about the purchase of a woman. Centuries have gone by and women’s rights progressed, but to what extent? This edition unpacks the patriarchal history, heteronormative traditions, and societal pressures of weddings past while discussing how modern women view weddings and its place in love today. They call us Bridezillas, while we ask what torment made monsters of the bride to be.
THEY CALL US DYKES
Some people choose to show the world they are queer. And some don’t. And some people choose to dress masc or femme because they want to. There are countless reasons people dress the way they do. All of these choices are okay.
In this pamphlet, featuring two guest artists Dean March and Can.s.m., we show the living experience of being queer, being proud, and the effects of being deemed an "outsider".
THEY CALL US DAMSELS
When men tell our stories we become nothing but side characters. We are written as quiet, meek, trapped in a tower and waiting to be saved - but we know better. We see the Joan of Arc in our day to day lives and we find ways to tell her story. So, they call us damsels? We rewrite the stories and this time we play the heroes.
THEY CALL US BOSSY
Think of a powerful womxn in your life, and how would you describe her/them? Confident, decisive, assertive or simply bossy? When describing womxn in positions of power, people often use the term “bossy” to negate authority, whereas men displaying the same behaviors are considered strong and confident. Despite the adjective not being outwardly gendered, it is predominantly used in a negative way to describe womxn in leadership. They Call Us Bossy highlights the discrimination towards womxn leaders, giving light to the gender stereotypes faced in the workplace.
THEY CALL US WITCHES
“We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn.”
This pamphlet was made entirely in house by the They Call Us team. They Call Us Witches explores the intricacies of the label and tradition of witchcraft as it relates to feminism and sexuality. Witches combines research with creative storytelling and artwork published on Halloween. Inspired by the Wiccan spirit of our quarterly Coven Congresses, the pamphlet reclaims the label “witch” from villainous to empowering.
THEY CALL US FLAWED
No one looks like the womxn sprawled out on the cover of magazines. We stand in front of the mirror pinching at all our soft spots, wishing to be taller or shorter, burning our hair so it will lay differently, tinting our lips and hating our flesh.
No matter what you look like, at some point, you’ve thought your body was wrong. They Call Us Flawed attempts to unravel our unrealistic beauty standards and the detrimental effects they have on our minds and bodies. We picked this topic to argue that we are not perfect, and that is perfectly okay.
THEY CALL US THEIRS
"I never felt like my body belonged to me. I thought I was completely nuts for feeling trapped, for always struggling for freedom as though it was oxygen and the world was underwater. Every time I got a taste of freedom, someone pulled me back under."
They Call Us Theirs is a collection of short stories, poems, and artwork that discuss when we’ve felt like our bodies were not our own or objectified in the eyes of others.