Submit to the Wave!

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 particularly like stories about how to make the world a better place, with an eye towards reducing sexism, racism, classism, homophobia, income inequality, environmental destruction, and other blights. We also like reviews, humor, fiction, and poetry on those themes. And we love submissions from authors of minority cultures and people who live outside the U.S.

Have you got a story to tell? Submit to the Wave! If your piece is ready to go, drop a draft link in our SUBMISSION FORM. Published pieces are also okay if submitted within a day or two of the publication date. If you want to ask a question, send an email to 4thwavesubmissions@gmail.com. If you want more information, see the Submission Guidelines. And if you want to talk with fellow writers and readers, consider coming to our monthly salon.

What does the name mean?

Fourth Wave is a feminist term. The banner of our publication is a visual representation of the four waves of the feminist movement.

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.

The Second Wave, represented by Gloria Steinem, came in the 1960s and ’70s and broadened the movement to include issues of sexuality, family, the workplace, and reproductive rights.

The Third Wave appeared in the 1990s, provoked by Anita Hill’s testimony about sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. The term is credited to Rebecca Walker (daughter of Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker) who used it 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. The Third Wave sought to redefine the term feminist, arguing for more individuality and diversity. Here’s a quote about it from Wikipedia:ac

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