Call for Submissions: HOLES

An Eros Study Zine

Hello!

After what feels like many months of ideating and dreaming, it feels amazing to announce this open call for submissions for HOLES, the first edition of an experimental fetish magazine launching as part of the Eros Study research series.

After the first Eros Study on Glory Holes back in June 2023, there were a lot of desires to go even deeper and to also include more people in the conversation who were unable to attend live. I carried this seed of an idea to Mexico and then to Spain and finally as part of my fellowship with Public Assistants x Eureka Press, it feels ready to grow to a more tangible form.

Many thank you to everyone who has been a part of this work already in ways large and small. Every conversation had, meme sent, post shared, and event attended are all meaningful.

CALL FOR SUBMISSION: Submit Abstract + Ideas + Inquires by May 15th, 2024 to clio.cyborg@gmail.com

We cannot escape holes. They are all around us and they are us. Some holes we are born with, some others we create. They may arouse within us a case of curiosity, fear, or hope! Not all are glorious, but goddex bless the ones that carry us to the realms of ecstatic bliss. Eros Study is interested in how holes can become the portal we need to traverse to the edges of our many selves, each other, and the world and how the primordial image of the hole can help us think through questions surrounding erotic architecture, perverted design, surveillance, control, and queer intimacies.

The publication borrows its form from the fetish magazine, which has historically been a space for sharing community resources, highlighting queer and kinky community members, exploring queer embodied possibilities, and providing a sense of belonging to a sub-community that was not represented in the general public. My interest in working with the affordances of this form is to be in conversation with past archival print material and to once again bring conversations about the erotic away from social media and the internet, digital places that continue to rapidly increase in their censorship practices.

a few keywords: glory holes, urethra, sounding, fisting, hole deprivation, being stuffed, ball gags, piercing, pocket pussies, black holes, dolls, ear play, nostril fetish, sneezing fetishes, poppers, hole dilation, swiss cheese plants.

Show us your holes!

SUBMISSION TYPES

This fetish magazine will initially be a small run (200 max copies) available in printed formats. I am interested in bridging the worlds of creative nonfiction, research, and smut. We can accept your research, hot takes, poetry, archival material, photos, movement scores, recipes, illustrations, interviews, documentation of erotic escapades, and more.

This is an experiment and a passion project done with zero funding really taking on the ethos and energy of DIY zines and fetish magazines. At this time, I can offer $50 honorarium as a thank you to accepted collaborators upon submission and 1 free copy once printed.

PROCESS

1. If you’re interested in participating and are curious if something would be a good fit, reach out with an abstract and let’s chat. Here’s a mood board to get inspiration from old fetish magazines. Please email all submissions and inquiries with the subject “Eros Study 1.0 Response” to clio.cyborg@gmail dot com by May 15th, 2024.

2. If there’s an interest, Cy or a collaborator will reach out to schedule a casual 20-30 minute chat to workshop ideas and align on a vision. The goal is really to help you find a contribution that you’re excited about and willing to share considering the constraints of this project. There’s no pressure to submit new work.

3. We can move through 1-3 draft rounds and check-ins if needed throughout the process. All work should be submitted by June 1, 2024.

TIMELINE AND BUDGET

This is an experiment and a passion project done with zero starter funding but its production / print is graciously supported by my fellowship with Public Assistants and our partnership with Eureka Press.

I would like to have all contributors finalized by May 15, 2024. If you have someone you’d like to invite, you’re welcome to pass this invitation to them and they can follow the process documented above. I’m prioritizing submissions from people of color and queer and trans folk as well as sex workers and people deeply involved in fetish and BDSM community.

The design and editorial work will take place May-June 2024 with the goal of having the book complete by August 2024.

The plan is to release the magazine in an in-person multimedia / participatory event in NYC (info tbd). Potentially, a very small portion of the zines will be sold online for those interested outside of NYC or for those who could not make it to the event. Any profit made will go toward funding a second publication on a future theme.

Other Notes and News ～♥～★ ～♡～★ ～♥～

❣️ Tamara Santibañez is hosting a 24-hour flash raffle for a tattoo valued at $500 to support the work of some amazing folks from NYC who flew to Cairo aiding in evacuating people from Gaza.

❣️ Some wonderful sex workers, sexological bodyworkers, and somatic sex educators wrote a solidarity statement standing against all state sanctioned and imperialist violence against Palestinian people as well as those in the Congo, Sudan, and Armenia.

❣️ On April 26th, the movie Old Narcissus (2023) is screening as part of Narrow Rooms (a series of weird gay films curated by Adam Baran) at Anthology Film Archives. When elderly children’s book author Yamazaki hires young sex worker Leo for a BDSM session, the paddling he receives impacts him in a much deeper way than he expects.

❣️ On May 8th in Chinatown (Manhattan) Decrim NY is hosting a fundraiser movie night! They’ll be screening Frankenhooker along with some fun extras from AORTA Films.

Also major thank you to everyone who came to CPR Open Studios last Tuesday!