Hooksexup is always looking for smart and well-crafted writing. We are a culture, sex, and love website that caters to a young, educated readership of over a million people. Send us your stories!
True Stories
True Stories are honest, entertaining, and provocative essays about dating, sex, and relationships, about 1200-1800 words long. These are events that actually happened; you can change names to protect the innocent (or guilty), but this is not fiction. Be prepared to tell the world the whole story, including the sexiest or darkest or most embarrassing parts. No erotica or fan fiction, please. Send a brief summary to .
“Don’t Kiss Anyone Or Your Dick’ll Fall Off,” and More Dating Advice From My Father
Confessions of an Awkward Teen Girl
Having a Huge Penis Is a Lot Harder than It Looks
What It’s Actually Like to Be Sober at Atlantic City’s Porn Awards Show
Why Sleeping with My Couchsurfing Host Was a Huge Mistake
Talking to Strangers
We always need interviewer/photographers for our interview series Talking to Strangers, in which we ask people we just met totally inappropriate questions about love, sex, and life. It’s a really fun excuse to start conversations with good-looking strangers, and we’re always excited to bring the series to new cities and events. If you’re interested in becoming a Talking to Strangers interviewer, the first step is to do a sample interview. There are a lot of guidelines for the format and content of these interviews — too many to list here — so contact and we’ll tell you everything you need to know.
Talking to Strangers: Inside a Confessional Booth
Talking to Strangers: Portland, OR
Talking to Strangers: Mardi Gras Edition
Talking to Strangers: New Delhi, India
Ranked
Ranked assesses the complete work of an individual band or director, listing every work from worst to best, with commentary. For it to work, the artist has to have a new work coming out (or be in the news for some reason); the set of items has to be between 7 and 40 in number; the work has to be reasonably well-known, such that readers will be interested in debating it; and there has to be a range in quality, so it’s not just a ranking from “great” to “amazing.” People sometimes have trouble with the conceit of Ranked, so just remember that the ranking has to be complete within certain boundaries; “Top Ten R.E.M. Albums” doesn’t work; “All Fourteen R.E.M. Albums from Worst to Best” works. “Best Horror Movies” is not a valid Ranked pitch; “Ranked: John Carpenter” is. More inventive ideas are welcome: “Don Draper’s Relationships from Most to Least Dysfunctional” was a good one. Send a brief description of what you want to do to .
Ranked: Paul Thomas Anderson Films From Worst to Best
Ranked: ’90s Movies Soundtracks in Order of Awesomeness
Ranked: Disney Princesses From Least To Most Feminist
Pop-culture/political editorials
If you have strong, counterintuitive, insightful opinions about all things culture, we’d love to hear them, in about 750-900 words. These have to be really timely, so if a movie or album’s coming out — or an artist made a provocative public statement, or another publication ran a strong opinion that you disagree with — and you have something to say about it, let us know quickly. Think “How Zooey Deschanel Ruined My Love Life,” “Disney Princesses from Least to Most Feminist,” or “Why I Never Want to Watch ‘Louie’ Again.” We love writing about smart culture, and if your points about dumb culture are smart and interesting, we like those too. Generally we prefer to cover stuff that’s a little more indie, though we like some mainstream stuff too. The best way to get an idea of our sensibilities is to read the site. Please send a quick summary of your argument to , and if we like it, we’ll give you the go-ahead. We’re also interested in your political opinions, especially as they pertain to what you might call “human” issues – political figures, abortion, gay rights, gun control, etc. Not so much tax codes.
Embracing JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out of Everyone’s Pop Culture Obsessions
The Republican Guide to Female Anatomy
I See All These Buck Hats and I Don’t Like It
Why Is Batman So Sexless?
I Did It For Science
I Did It For Science finds Hooksexup writers experimenting with love and sex. An experiment can be something you’ve always heard about but never been brave enough to try (“Can I pay my bar tab by selling my underwear on Craigslist?”) or a more diabolical idea (“What happens when a girl uses male pick-up-artist techniques on guys?”) For it to work, there has to be some human interest; just finding a fetish that very few people have heard of and trying it out isn’t going to work, because there’s very little actually at stake. We’ve done a lot of these, so it can be hard to find something new, but we’d love to hear your ideas. Send a pitch to .
I Did It For Science: Sex on Acid
I Did It For Science: Remote-Control Panties
I Did It For Science: Boob Power
I Did It For Science: Selling Panties on Craigslist
My First Time
Tell us the story (500-1000 words) of the first time you had sex. Include nuance and specifics that make your story interesting. My First Time submissions are published anonymously, but please include your gender, your age (at the time), and your location. Send your 500-1000 word storyto with “My First Time” in the subject line.
My First Time: Female, 17, Hong Kong
My First Time: Male, 17, Philadelphia, PA
My First Time: Female, 24, New York
My First Time: Male, 17, Bronx, NY
Everyone I’ve Ever Had Sex With
Ever written a sex list? Want to catalog your sex life for Hooksexup? Send your complete list of bedpost notches, along with your age and location, to . Don’t worry — we won’t print your name.
Everyone I’ve Ever Had Sex With: Female, 26, California
Everyone I’ve Ever Had Sex With: Female, 21, Washington D.C.
Everyone I’ve Ever Had Sex With: Male, 22, New York
First Encounters
First Encounters is a series in which writers explore the media that inspired their first brush with their sexuality. Whether it was a book, a cartoon character, a film, or a painting, we all have one cultural artifact from our adolescence which informs how we think about our bodies and desires for the rest of our lives. Have a First Encounter you’d like to share? Send your story to .
How Seeing Titanic 16 Times in the Theater Transformed My First Sexual Encounter
First Encounters: Revenge of the Nerds
My Sexual Awakening Came from Watching an Osmond Reenact the Bible
Before You Were Born
When you look at old photos of your parents, do you ever get the feeling that they used to be cooler than you? Are the stories of how they met, or their wild youth before you were born, the stuff of family legend? Tell us about it. Before You Were Born is a Hooksexup feature where writers sit down with their parents and interview them about their awesome lives back in the good old days, and write it up in Q&A format. Send a brief description of your parents and the story you’d get them to tell to with the subject line “Before You Were Born.”
Before You Were Born: “We both had weird families…”
Before You Were Born: “We baked out of our house, which was illegal…”
Before You Were Born: Hot love at the pot-brownie factory.
All submissions may be edited for content, clarity, and length.