At this point, our only monetary goal is to raise funds for advertising, so that’s where your money will go. If we decide to move into different areas, we will let you know immediately.

Please: give generously and give this conversation the time and space to blossom!

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This issue will address themes of sex and sexuality as they interact with the daily politics of human life. We are looking for feature articles and non-fiction that deal with

1.    Gender Roles

-    gender roles and gender expectations in the family and society in general
-    socialization at home and at school
-    gender role education in single gender schools and co-educational schools
-    gender role education in private schools and government schools
-    gender roles in the curriculum
-    the teaching of marriage as the final or one of the final destinations of a person, particularly a woman
-    gender roles and class variations
-    female and male autonomy from familial and other social institutions in different class strata

2.    Sex/Sexuality, Feminism and Activism in Pakistan & Abroad

-    the feminist movement in Pakistan – its history and its attention to sex and sexuality
-    what feminism means in the Pakistani context
-    women’s groups in Pakistan, their missions, agendas, histories
-    Pakistani feminism in comparison to other regional or international feminisms
-    sexual violence and the feminist movement in Pakistan
-    sexual rights movement in Pakistan, South Asia and globally
-    gender diversity activism in Pakistan, South Asia and globally
-    sexual orientation and queer activism in Pakistan
-    non-“feminist” activism on issues of sex and sexuality in Pakistan, South Asia and abroad
-    transnational feminism and sex and sexuality activism

Please submit features, non-fiction and fiction of between 500-1200 words; no more than 3 poems; no more than 3 pieces of visual art (min. resolution 300dpi) to CHAYMAGAZINE AT GMAIL DOT COM .

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DEADLINE:  December 15, 2008

Well, the wait is nearly over. Come back on August 1, 2008, and you will find an exciting and packed first issue available for your reading pleasure!

Like every human being on this earth and every piece of writing they may produce, Chay magazine has its own perspective and agenda. And their agenda is clear - sex and sexuality are normal. Everyone experiences them. Not talking about such a central aspect of our lives is detrimental to the health of our society. Talking about the issues surrounding sex and our sexualities will make us better as a society. Considering Pakistani society has increasingly higher rates of violence against women perhaps confronting and talking about the issues in an open and frank forum will help stop and reverse the increasing numbers. Anything that can help at this point should be welcomed. Additionally, it would be welcoming to see this be a friendly arena for those of alternate sexualities to gain support from and educate others.

We are excited for the attention to our project as well as the discussion it has fostered on their own site. Check it out here. Particularly, take a look at their riff on why we called it “Chay”. Thanks for pointing to us, folks! And stay tuned.

These are the questions we would like to address:

• Why engage sex and sexuality in our conversations, and in Pakistan?
• What are the different conceptions of sex and sexuality?
• Conceptions of sex and sexuality
  - alternative sexualities: heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender, transsexuality, interesexuality, questioning sexualities.
  - awareness of sexual drive and desire
  - value attached to sexual desire (usually negative - why negative?)
  - sex as socially and religiously sanctioned
  - sex as legally regulated, criminally and Islamically prosecuted outside of marriage.
  - how are ideas of sex, gender and sexuality are based on constructed binaries: male and female with male and female roles that are specific, hierarchical and often mutually exclusive.
  - gender roles and binaries naturalized and explained with medicine and biology when in fact they are socially constructed
  - questioning binaries of sex (male/female), gender (masculine/feminine), sexuality (homo/heterosexual)
• What are the taboos and why do they exist?
• Why is there a need to explore the taboos and open the discourse?
• How do taboos and silences affect the lives of everyday people?
• - young people in romantic relationships
  - marriage proposals, love marriages
  - sexual autonomy in love relationships, marriages

If you would like to write on one or a few of these topics, please submit essays of 500-1000 words with a short author bio by June 1, 2008. Please send your submission as an email attachment with an .rtf or .doc extension (we cannot accept .docx extensions).

We are also accepting, poetry, fiction and artwork related to the above themes. Please see the call for submissions page for details.