Power: A Letter From the Editor

For the final issue of Gay Magazine, we wanted to explore power, this thing that shapes all our lives. Our contributors did not disappoint. In “As a Sex Worker I Didn’t Feel Exploited,” Kitty Stryker writers about the juxtaposition between sex work and writing and how she felt exploited in only one of those professions. It is an unvarnished look at the challenges of the writing life, the precarity of it for so many freelance writers who write for far too little compensation, with no safety net and few benefits. Sara Schaff explores the vulnerability women face, and how quickly we can learn about safety and the lack thereof, in the hands of men. The line between anger and love, the tenuous relationship between a mother and daughter, the complexities of North Korea, are at the center of Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s powerful essay, “Mother Land.” We often see the word “triggered” used in the most demeaning ways. Molly Ackhurst and Francesca Lee write about the ways in which our culture has co-opted the language of PTSD to the detriment of people who actually suffer from the condition. There are times when people assume you share their prejudices. Isaac Fitzgerald writes about the discomfort of bearing witness to his barber’s racism and misogyny, how he had to confront his own biases, and the ongoing work he does to be a better man. The ways cultural erasure, identity, and language are intertwined are at the heart of Noor Hindi’s essay “Identity Politic Confessional.” She highlights the value of actively choosing to read identity-based and political work and how doing so allows us to fight the erasure inherent to the writing world.

In “I Play With Dolls,” Paul Crenshaw reflects on playing with dolls with his daughter, and what he has learned about gender and identity through fatherhood. Jen Soong writes a companion essay of sorts to her previous essay “Mother: A Dictionary,” in “My Father, Bàba, in Proverbs.” This ruminative essay examines her relationship with her father, how she tries to find common ground with him. There is a great deal of mythology surrounding David Foster Wallace but in “An Impossible Grief,” Amy McDaniel writes about the man instead of the myth, trying to reconcile the competing truths of her experiences with him and the experiences other women had with him. “The Snack Shack Blues,” by Emily Withnall, begins in an unconventional home on the edge of a…