Our Stories, Ourselves; an Interview with Alexis Santi

The recently released Vida report, tallying the disparity between men and women being published today is a sobering reminder of how much work we have ahead of us.

Today I had a chat with Alexis Santi, founder of Our Stories Literary Journal on the subject. Santi earned his MFA from George Mason and his MSW from Washington University at St. Louis. He’s edited four anthologies of fiction and interviews and his own work has appeared in a number of literary journals.

As a small press publisher what do you think about the recent Vida study which has revealed sexist publishing practices at several major magazines?

The study proved to eliminate any doubt that the publishing industry is ruthlessly interested in perpetuating a cycle of discrimination against women. However, I would like to add that this cycle of discrimination does not end at women, that the lack of representation of all of us in any excluded groups: Latinos, African Americans, Asians, Gays, Transgender, etc... is troubling and as of yet, undocumented.

Publishing is a reflection of the inequities of society. To be ignorant of this fact is to be ignorant of the inequities inherent in society itself. In the same way that history is not only written by the victors, those who are chosen to write those histories must themselves reflect the power structure. So for example, to me, the story of JT LeRoy aka Laura Albert, the woman who wrote as a man and fooled the industry is much more instructive than the lampooned James Frey and how he fooled himself into thinking he was a writer. Whether it’s the editor never culling fresh writing without connections or it is they’re not taking the calls of particular agents, I wish I knew. In the end, it’s the entire system that I find alienating not just a single aspect of it.

What are the stats for men and women being published in Our Stories?

In the past five years we published 45 men and 38 women. That’s 54% men to 46% women.

Do more men submit more work to OS than women?

We collectively don’t have the data to answer this in any way. Short of counting on our fingers. The arts as a field are notoriously shoddy in all things data or research driven. It’s our Achilles heel and what makes us sound clueless when asked for proof as to whether what we “do” adds value to society. What makes this truly sad, is what data that does exists out there, success in the arts, etc.. is shoddy academic work dittoed without adequate peer review.

Do you consider yourself a feminist?

I am a humanist and that title includes being a male feminist. I am a believer that there is no hierarchy of oppression. The only way to change this system is by changing ourselves and breaking this cycle.