The Color Code: Underwear, An Invitation For Sexual Misconduct?

“I see London, I see France, I see [child’s name]’s underpants!” (unknown origin) A familiar childhood chant, guaranteed to wreak playground-wide humiliation on the child, usually a girl, whose name was tauntingly inserted into the rhyme as she practiced perfecting her cartwheels on the grass, or flipped somersaults over the Read more

Judith Staff

Judith Staff’s background is in teaching and early years education. She still teaches occasionally, though now her main focus is in child welfare and safeguarding children. Her work includes delivering training, presenting at conferences, and engaging in collaborative projects with schools around child abuse awareness and sexual violence prevention. She enjoys writing blogs and poetry on topics she feels passionate about. Judith loves running, gym classes and karate. She is married to an art lecturer and they live in Northamptonshire, England with their three free-spirited children, a 12- year-old son, and daughters aged 11 and 9.

A Honduran’s Christmas: Then and Now

Christmas – always bring back memories from my childhood, and one of those fondest memories is my father decorating the house while playing Jolly Old St. Nicholas by Ray Caniff’s singers in the background. This memory always makes me nostalgic as those times were simple and innocent, bringing greater pleasure Read more

Stephanie Ortez

Stephanie is a highly caffeinated mother of two wonderful boys. She is hopelessly addicted to non-fiction books and literature that moves her to tears. She is an admissions advisor for George Washington University online where she assists homeschooled students internationally. Stephanie lives with Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. She is a passionate mental health advocate, member of Stigma Fighters. Her writing has been featured on The Elephant Journal, The Mighty, The Organic Coffee Haphazardly and Feminine Collective.

Crocodile

Crocodiles sharpen their teeth on a chainsaw while I sleep and dream of pianos whispering, mixing drinks, and laughing about the economy because it had nothing to do with them. I was raped when I was 16 and he 21. Not gorgeous, just truth. I didn’t even know it was Read more

Megan Coleman

Megan Coleman has been writing from the womb and is an emerging poet in Chattanooga, TN. Five of her poems appear in Elephant Journal (2017), and she is featured in Ordinary Madness Magazine (2017), Vocal Magazine (2017), finalist in the Fortnight Eyewear contest (2017), Visera (2012), and the winner in poetry in Chattanooga Writer's Guild contests in 2003 and 2004. She has given readings at Barking Legs and Mudpie Cafe in Chattanooga. She also has a B.A. in Women's Studies.

female socialisation

let her deal with it but give her some gauze some booze for wounds to rub with burning and catch the colours of her face as her blood betrays her for a gratuity and watch as they find an in beneath a nail and widen the wound with their lips. Read more

Jennifer Wilson

Jennifer Wilson lives in Somerset, England, with her husband and spends her days as a faceless retail drone. Her work has previously appeared in Awkward Mermaid, Chaleur, and Molotov Cocktail, and is forthcoming in Elephants Never and the YANYR anthology from Rhythm & Bones Lit.

The Math of a Princess

is there’s just one of you — more in the corps, a dozen girls who covet the headpiece secured by thirty bobby pins.  Abhor your good fortune. Pretend to be friends. Peace is mathematically sound when it’s ten surrounding one, too terrified, thin.  Learn survival means shopping, invitations — one Read more

Kristin Garth

Kristin Garth is a poet from Pensacola, Florida. She is a knee sock aficionado and a sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked the pages of Luna Luna, Occulum, Anti-Heroin Chic, Ghost City Review, Drunk Monkeys, TERSE, Journal and many other publications. Her chapbook Pink Plastic House is available through maverickduckpress.com

WAR

I can’t keep Them straight in my head anymore- The shootings. The victims. The gunmen. The guns used. Vegas. The hotel. The windows of the hotel. From the window of the hotel. The concert. The nightclub. They were dancing. They were young. They were shot. Hiding in the bathroom. At Read more

We DID Overcome

It started with a sea of “Pink Pussy Hats” in cities across the United States. There were nonbelievers. Unsustainable, the right opined. Some even laughed and said none of the marches would ever make a difference on election day. But the anger and frustration of women appalled at the Trump Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

Jenny Hates Me

Jenny is a YouTube celebrity with thousands of followers. She’s also my roommate and spends most of her days in a ratty bathrobe, reading blogs and watching Fox News. She’s legit the best roommate I’ve ever had. She’s quiet, keeps the bathroom clean and pays her bills. Renting to her Read more

Shelly Lynn Stone

Shelly Lynn Stone lives in Petersham, a small town in Central Massachusetts. She writes short stories, poetry and is currently working on a speculative fiction novel. When not writing, she works a day job, moonlights as a massage therapist, and tries to find more time for tap dancing. Her work has appeared online in Resistance Poetry, CEO Lit Mag, the Same and The Junction.