This is the official and updated
14valentines FAQ. Last revised November 18, 2012.2013 FAQ
1. What is 14 Valentines?
14 Valentines is a concept/project pioneered in 2006 going into its eighth year year, based on the idea of fandom as a community of women and the power of the relationships there. It's meant to raise awareness of women's issues -- and hopefully as a result increase participation in community women's groups. 14 Valentines will run for two weeks (14 days) for the first half of February, ending on Valentine's Day, also Vagina Day, Victory Against Violence Day and is in a large part inspired by Eve Ensler, her amazing Vagina Monologues, and the organization that grew out of that movement, the V-Day foundation.
2. What is the purpose of 14 Valentines?
The mission of 14 Valentines isn't to solicit money for the cause -- as anybody who has worked at a nonprofit knows, money does not fix all or even some of the problems -- but instead of remind everybody that there is a cause, that it touches each of us every day and that we should embrace the agency we're lucky enough to have and do something good with it. We're all global citizens -- we're a global sisterhood, too.
Please keep in mind that when we say women we are not restricting this to the issues of cis white straight able women in in the West. We understand the different experiences and struggles that come along with intersectionality, and we welcome focus on and representation of women in relation to varied gender identities, races, sexualities, cultures, religions, socioeconomic statuses, etc.
3. How does it work?
Basically, every day for the first 14 days of February an essay at least 1,000 words will be posted to the comm/tumblr that focuses on the theme of that day and talks about the issue. Essays will be written by volunteers who sign up for a particular day/topic.
Participation is not limited to the “official” comm essays, however. You can write your own essays on topical issues, be they personal or informational or activist. Given that this is a project for the fannish community, you can also contribute by the creation of women-centric fanworks of any kind (fiction, fanart, graphics, manipulations, etc.), as well as rec lists (of fanworks or professional works), music mixes, or whatever you can think to do. These fanworks or rec lists do not have to incorporate the daily topic.
Typically, participants include a link back to the official 14Valentines community/tumblr and the essay of the day on whatever contribution they post. All contributions are linked to on a daily round up post which presents all contributions for the day in one place.
4. What fandoms are allowed when contributing fanworks?
14 Valentines is a panfandom community, meaning that any fandom is welcome.
5. Do my fanwork contributions have to align with the community's daily topic?
No, they do not. You are welcome to use the topics as inspiration and focus for contributions, if you so choose, but we don't want anyone to feel restricted in the subject matter they want to discuss or create fanworks about. Additionally, we have 14 days, which means a mere 14 topics. That's incredibly limiting when one considers the scope of women's issues, especially when you take into account intersectionality. We also recognize that not everyone will be creating content that is issue-based, which is absolutely fine.
6. What are the rules for contributions?
Early on in the community, there were no rules for contributions. This has changed in recent years to keep the purpose and focus of the community on women.
a. All contributions must be women-centric in some way. Meaning, fanworks must focus on female characters, rec lists should focus on female-centric media, essays should focus on women's issues/experiences, and so forth. Again, keep in mind that we're not restricting this to cis women, and we actively encourage contributions and participation that steps outside of binary views of gender.
For example, women-centric fanworks can involve the R63ing of canonically male characters; transgender, intersex, genderqueer, transsexual, etc. portrayals of canonically cis characters; and focusing on canonically transgender, intersex, genderqueer, transsexual, etc. characters.
We also encourage intersectional examination and discussion of topics and issues, since the experiences of women vary depending on a number of factors, including gender identity, race, sexuality, culture, socioeconomics, religion, etc.
(Trigger Warning – Mention of a number of triggers below to exemplify some common triggers that need to be warned for in contributed content.)
b. Trigger warnings must be used. They should be placed before your content, and made noticeable, so that people can avoid potentially triggering content. This cannot be stressed enough. We're not here to kink shame, or to derail discussion, but we are a community of women and we should respect one another in this regard. If your content might, in any way, be triggering, you need to warn for it. Common triggers include, but are not limited to:
Rape/Non-Con
Consent Issues of Any Kind
Violence Against Women
Ableist Language
Homophobic Language
Racism
Child Abuse of Any Kind
Bullying
Suicide/Suicidal Thoughts
Panic Attacks
Transphobic Language
Hate Speech
This is NOT an inclusive list. Please be mindful of your content and your audience. If you're unsure if you should warn for something or not, you can always check in with our mods.
If you are asked to add a trigger warning—by either someone in the comm audience, or the comm mods—then you must add the warning without argument . If one person finds it triggering, it's a guarantee that others do, so adding the warning is necessary.
c. Examination of women's issues sometimes requires the inclusion of upsetting content to demonstrate and highlight our experiences, which we recognize (hence the rule for trigger warnings). However, 14valentines is not the place for content that makes light of/encourages/ignores/normalizes problematic views and actions involving gender identity, race, sexuality, ableness, mental health, body image, consent, sex, violence, etc.
This isn't a matter of kink shaming, and it's not a requirement that contributed content be issue-based in nature. But, since our goal here is to raise awareness for women's issues (inclusively and intersectionally), it would be counter productive to have content that makes light of/encourages/ignores/normalizes those same issues.
7. Do I have to sign up to participate?
No. In previous years this was a per-requisite, but now there is no sign-up required. Participate in all or some of the 14 Valentines days/topics as you see fit.
8. How do I submit content to the community?
On Livejournal – Comment on the day's comm essay with a link to your content. It will then be included in the daily round up post.
On Tumblr – 1. Post your content to your own blog and tag it with 14Valentines or 14 Valentines, and it will be included on the daily round up post. 2. Submit a cleverly disguised link to you content via ask to the 14 Valentines community (fourteenvalentines.tumblr.com/ask).
9. Can I sign up to contribute a community essay?
Yes. Each year, a sign up post is made on all platforms. It's first come, first pick.
10. Is there a prompt post for inspiration?
No. We attempted this last year and didn't get much activity on this. However, we have set up a prompt list for inspiration. The word/phrase prompts vary from topical, to generic.
11. I have a question not listed on the FAQ, who can I contact with it?
You can contact Idyll, comm runner, via the following methods:
email – tonguesandtales@gmail.com
tumblr ask – fourteenvalentines.tumblr.com/ask
Source:
http://14valentines.livejournal.com/139151.html