About The Fem

THE FEM is a magazine of inclusive, diverse, and feminist poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and spoken word. We also publish interviews with writers, editors, and publishers weekly, and book reviews monthly. We seek to create a space for conversation around how literature can be more inclusive, and to constantly challenge the suffocating structures, binaries, and norms that we believe are holding back the literary community.

Learn more about us by reading our philosophy, and by reading the interviews below.

Thank you for joining us.

Get to know us

Review by Maxine Marshall of The Review Review
Interview With Lumen Magazine
Interview with Crab Fat Literary Magazine
Interview with The Pendulum

Our Philosophy

FEMINISM

We define feminism as the inclusive and intersectional demand for equal representation in society.

RESPONSIBILITY

We believe that feminist writing is responsible writing, i.e. writing that recognizes that it does not exist in a vacuum and thus has an influence on society and culture.

BEYOND BINARIES

We seek to challenge the binaries that often come along with sex, gender, race, ability, and sexuality. We want characters who exist between and beyond these binaries, and whose experiences challenge societal norms that reinforce a binaristic system.

REPRESENTATION

We want writing that encompasses a variety of identities and experiences. When we choose to tell someone’s story, we are saying that their experiences are important to the masses, and worth reading about. Literary magazines and journals have been critiqued for privileging the stories of straight, cisgender, able-bodied, heterosexual white males. We seek to aid the typically undersupported and underrepresented by privileging works about marginalized and oppressed individuals.

REDEFINING GOOD LITERATURE

We define good literature as writing that speaks to experience. Good literature is open-minded, well-informed, and ever-changing to reflect shifts across cultures. It is deeply honest and breaks the conventions of privilege. Good literature is emotionally powerful, thought-provoking, and ground-breaking. It is high-quality, well-edited work.

We are eternally grateful to Susannah Betts for our logo.