Submit to the Wave
Let’s start something
Why submit to Fourth Wave?
Fourth Wave is here to create a community where we can talk about things of interest to women and other disempowered groups. We are looking for stories about how to make the world a better place by reducing sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, income inequality, environmental destruction, and other blights. We also like reviews — because media matters — and humor, fiction, and poetry on those themes. And we love submissions from authors of diverse cultures and people who live outside the U.S.
Have you got a story to tell? Submit to the Wave. If it’s a super strong piece, we will nominate it for a Boost, which earns you wider distribution on the platform: 95 percent of boosted stories gain 500 views over the first two weeks. We’re proud to be a member of the Boost Pilot Program! You can learn more about the program and how it works here.
When considering which stories to grant a boost to, curators consider Medium’s Quality Guidelines along with the following:
1. Is the reader’s life enriched by reading the story?
2. Is it original, human-created content?
3. Does the author speak from relevant knowledge and experience?
4. Is the story well-crafted?
5. Does the story have impact?
If your piece is ready to go, drop a draft link in our SUBMISSION FORM. To learn how to get your story ready for publication, watch the instructional video below or read our Stylesheet.
Don’t ask to be added as a contributor in the comments. That’s not how we work. Write a story. Submit a draft link. If we like it, we’ll add you then.
We only accept drafts. We no longer accept published pieces because the algorithm doesn’t give them any love, meaning it might not bring you any more reads if you move your older piece to Fourth Wave. Also, because we spend a lot of time and care on each piece, and want to make sure the author approves of our changes, and wants that kind of attention to detail, before we publish.
Once we accept a piece, we will edit it for grammar etc. if needed and format to match Fourth Wave style. We often make formatting changes to add visual appeal, usually by adding sections with subheads and drop quotes. We sometimes change the headline or subhead if it is too long or doesn’t accurately impart the content of the story. And we always correct for spelling, punctuation, and grammar; and add the Fourth Wave promo at the bottom of each piece (after a 3 dot separator).
We won’t make major changes to the writing without the author’s permission, and you maintain editing power while your story is in FW, including the power to withdraw it from the publication.
That said, while it’s okay to inform editors that you don’t wish to have drop quotes and subheads inserted in your story, it is not okay to use the formatting tools incorrectly, or to make major changes to your story after we’ve edited it without informing us. For more information on how to use the quote formatting function correctly, read this. To learn more about standard formatting style, which we follow, take a look at the linked story or our Stylesheet.
In addition to formatting to match our style, please include one or more of our topics so that your story will place in the right section on our home page and subpages. Those topics are: World, Women, Health, Media (for reviews), and Writing (for poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction or memoir).
If you have questions, send an email to 4thwavesubmissions@gmail.com. If you want more information, see our more detailed Submission Guidelines.
We hope to see your work here soon!
Always give credit to the artist
Our masthead was created by Leila Register. You can find her on Instagram.
Backstory: what does the name “Fourth Wave” mean?
Fourth wave is a feminist term. The banner at the top of our publication is a visual representation of the four waves of the feminist movement.
First Wave: Suffragettes created the first wave of feminism which earned American women the right to vote in 1920 and focused on overturning legal barriers to gender inequality.
Second Wave: The second wave came in the 1960s and ’70s and broadened the movement to include issues of sexuality, family, the workplace, and reproductive rights. It’s represented by Gloria Steinem and a poster promoting the ERA (the Equal Rights Amendment, which never passed) in our banner.
Third Wave: The third wave appeared in the 1990s, provoked by Anita Hill’s testimony to the U.S. Congress about sexual harassment in the workplace by Clarence Thomas. After he was confirmed as a justice on the Supreme Court despite Hill’s brave and credible testimony, women across the U.S. felt betrayed. The start of the third wave is credited to Rebecca Walker (daughter of Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker) who used the term in a piece about the hearings that was published in Steinem’s Ms. Magazine. That’s why both Hill and a portion of Walker’s piece represent the third wave on our banner. Here’s part of what she said:
“So I write this as a plea to all women, especially women of my generation: Let Thomas’ confirmation serve to remind you, as it did me, that the fight is far from over. Let this dismissal of a woman’s experience move you to anger. Turn that outrage into political power. Do not vote for them unless they work for us. Do not have sex with them, do not break bread with them, do not nurture them if they don’t prioritize our freedom to control our bodies and our lives. I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the Third Wave.”
— Rebecca Walker
In addition to expressing righteous anger at a system that ignored women’s right not to be sexually harassed, the third wave sought to redefine the term feminist, arguing for more diversity and individuality.
Fourth Wave: The fourth wave of feminism is the era we are in today. It started around 2012 and focuses on empowering women using internet tools. But the fourth wave isn’t just about gender. It builds on the concept of “intersectionality” introduced in the third wave, which recognizes that most women are oppressed by more than gender. For example, if you are Black and a woman, you are oppressed by both those aspects of your identity. If you are gay, Black, and a woman, you have three intersections of oppression. If you are poor, Black, gay, and a woman, you have four, etc.
The work of the fourth wave is to expand the feminist movement beyond a White middle class woman’s perspective to advocate for equality for ALL types of women, and all types of people, because as Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.”
That’s why the fourth wave is represented in our banner by a Mexican woman holding up a sign during a protest against police mistreatment of women in that country. Written in Spanish, her sign says, “They don’t protect me. They rape me.” These are the kinds of issues we want to discuss in this publication.
Please join us in pushing the world in a positive direction. Help us realize the dream of equal rights for all. Submit a story and/or follow Fourth Wave. Let’s start something!
Please join us in pushing the world in a positive direction. Help us realize the dream of equal rights for all. Submit a story and/or follow Fourth Wave. Let’s start something!
