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The oppressive systems under which we all live make our every experience one of transaction, production, or accumulation. These experiences have convinced us to believe that only certain people鈥攖hose who identify as White or wealthy or able-bodied or male鈥攁re deserving of or entitled to experience pleasure. Likewise, these systems insist that pleasure is a luxury, only rightfully enjoyed as a reward for narrowly defined, capitalistic 鈥渟uccess,鈥� rather than an inherent鈥攁nd necessary鈥攈uman experience.

In our work toward transformation, equity, and justice for all, many of us deny ourselves the actual experiences of aliveness that we鈥檙e fighting for. In the face of urgent crises, we exalt the struggle, believing pleasure is something that is either inaccessible to us or that we don鈥檛 deserve until we win our collective liberation.

But without pleasure, there is no true liberation. The more just, equitable, compassionate world that we seek to build must include the experience of pleasure by all.

In the 2022 summer issue of YES! Magazine, The Pleasure Issue, we will interrogate the underlying beliefs that keep us from feeling joy and satisfaction in our lives, including the beliefs that we don鈥檛 deserve pleasure, that we can鈥檛 access pleasure without money, that it鈥檚 impossible for justice and pleasure to coexist, that 鈥渄oing the work鈥� has to be centered in pain and suffering, and that we can鈥檛 take time for joy amid our struggles.

The solutions we鈥檒l explore will include unlearning individualism in favor of a collective worldview rooted in pleasure. At a collective level, this may include following the impulse of yes, seeking the experience of belonging, and leaning into feelings of delight, wonder, joy, and contentment. At the individual level, it may include discovering how to find balance in the things that give us pleasure, learning to harness the power and wisdom of pleasure, organizing with a focus on what we long for and love rather than what we are resisting, and listening to and living from the body. 

Where are there compelling stories on these topics in your communities?听Send us your leads and pitches for reported stories on initiatives or groups that cultivate pleasure as a possibility for transformational change.

All of the stories we seek will be examples of excellent journalism and storytelling: stories鈥痶hat are well-researched with compelling characters and that demonstrate struggle and resolution. Hurry and send your pitches to [email protected] by鈥疛an. 23 to be considered for the summer issue. (After that, you can continue to send them to [email protected].)