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The Parlor publishes rigorous, feminist, politically engaged writing that interrogates power—especially where it intersects with gender, labor, technology, motherhood, migration, and body politics.

 

We are interested in work that is intellectually grounded, emotionally precise, and structurally aware. We value clarity over jargon, analysis over hot takes, and accountability over virality.

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What We Publish

 

We are currently open to:

• Cultural critique & op-eds
  Sharp, well-argued pieces that connect cultural phenomena to broader political, economic, or social systems.

• Personal essays & reported profiles
  First-person work that moves beyond confession to insight, context, and meaning. Lived experience should illuminate a larger question, not stand in for analysis.

• Investigative reporting & longform interviews
  Deeply researched work, reported features, and extended Q&As that surface under-examined stories, systems, or abuses of power.

• Dispatches
  Short-form, timely writing grounded in place, moment, or movement—especially from writers embedded in communities or regions often flattened by mainstream media.

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Across all formats, we prioritize:

• Feminist analysis (broadly defined, materially grounded)

• Anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and anti-authoritarian perspectives

• Work that challenges dominant narratives rather than reinforces them

• Original reporting, thinking, or synthesis

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What We Don’t Publish

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To be explicit, The Parlor does not publish:

• AI-generated or AI-assisted writing (including lightly edited outputs)

• Lifestyle content, listicles, or trend recaps without critical framing

• Brand-forward personal essays or influencer-style narratives

• Therapy speak without political or structural analysis

• Pieces that punch down, traffic in moral panic, or recycle culture-war talking points

• Unsubstantiated claims, speculative accusations, or rumor-based reporting

• Submissions that are primarily promotional (books, products, services)

We also do not publish work that reproduces harm toward marginalized communities or frames oppression as an abstract “difference of opinion.”

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Editorial Standards

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All published work at The Parlor is edited.

Our editorial process includes:

• Structural and line editing for clarity, coherence, and rigor

• Fact-checking for all claims that are not clearly framed as opinion or personal experience

• Required sourcing for statistics, historical references, and institutional claims

• Collaborative edits that respect the writer’s voice while strengthening the argument

We may decline work that is strong in premise but underdeveloped in execution. A decline is not a judgment of a writer’s ability—it is an assessment of fit, readiness, and capacity.

We reserve the right to edit headlines and subheads prior to publication.

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Payment & Rates

 

We believe writers should be paid for their labor. Our current rates are:

• $50 — Short-form dispatch
  600–900 words

• $100 — Short–medium cultural critique / op-ed
  900–1,000 words

• $150 — Personal essays, profiles
  1,000–1,500 words

• $200–$250 — Investigative pieces, longform Q&As, deep interviews
  Length varies based on scope and reporting

Rates are agreed upon before work begins. Payment is issued upon publication.

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A Final Note

 

The Parlor is not a content mill, a branding platform, or a space for ideological neutrality. We publish writing that takes risks, makes arguments, and understands that words have consequences.

If that excites you, we’d love to hear from you.

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