The IQ Quarterly: Call for Submissions

The IQ Quarterly
Statement of Purpose

As community members who are both intersex and queer, we cannot separate these vital, overlapping aspects of ourselves, and we support equality for all LGBTQIA+ people. However, we are aware that the voices, identities, and experiences of intersex people who are also LGBTQIA+ community members are sometimes marginalized within the broader intersex community.

Therefore, we announce the IQ Quarterly, a quarterly publication which highlights queer intersex voices, and all voices which confront heteronormativity and transphobia. We believe that these attitudes are our greatest enemies in the fight against intersex oppression, as they facilitate the discrimination all intersex people are vulnerable to. Hence, it is critical that the perspectives of those most impacted by these types of discrimination be included in our community and its advocacy.
–Hida Viloria and A.J. Odasso, Co-editors, IQ Quarterly

Hida Viloria is our founding E.D., author of the acclaimed Born Both: An Intersex Life (Hachette Book Group), and one of the most widely published intersex writers. He/r work has been featured in the college curriculum textbook, Queer: A Reader for Writers (Oxford University Press), and numerous publications including CNN.com, The Daily Beast, The NY Times, Ms., HuffPost, The Advocate, NewNowNext, The Global Herald, The Hastings Report Bioethics Forum, The American Journal of Bioethics, and the Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics.

A.J. Odasso‘s poetry has appeared in a variety of publications, including Sybil’s Garage, Mythic Delirium, Midnight Echo, Not One of Us, Dreams & Nightmares, Goblin Fruit, Strange Horizons, Stone Telling, Farrago’s Wainscot, Liminality, Battersea Review, Barking Sycamores, and New England Review of Books. Her début collection, Lost Books (Flipped Eye Publishing), was nominated for the 2010 London New Poetry Award and was also a finalist for the 2010/2011 People’s Book Prize. Her second collection with Flipped Eye, The Dishonesty of Dreams, was released in 2014.

Message from A.J.: “I’m absolutely thrilled to join Hida on the IQ Quarterly editorial team, as I’ve never before had the chance to directly combine my passion for editing and my fierce commitment to intersex and queer activism. I look forward to being a part of shaping this publication from its inception, and I hope to make meaningful connections within the LGBTQIA+ community. Send us your work; we hope that this will be a platform where you can share your experiences and make your voice heard!”

We couldn’t be happier to announce our call for submissions on the day observed in honor of Herculine Barbin’s birthday on November 8th. Herculine was an intersex lesbian whose memoirs are the earliest autobiographical account of the institutionalized oppression which all LGBTQIA people still face under the enforced binary system of sex and gender.

Our first issue will be published in early 2018, and we hope that you’ll consider submitting! Please see submission guidelines below:

* We will be open to our first round of submissions from 11/15/17 through 12/31/17. Send submissions as .doc or .rtf files to IQQ@intersexequality.com.

* We are seeking creative nonfiction (essays), fiction, and poetry written from queer intersex perspectives.

* Please limit essays and short fiction to 5,000 words or fewer, and please send no more than 5 poems at a time.

* You will hear from us by the second week of January with regard to acceptance or rejection, as we aim to publish in late-January.