Note: remove identifying information from manuscript for anonymous judging.

A confessional for unholy desires.

Shame is an emotional stagnator, a barrier that blocks the capacity to feel. It sits like a heavy layer over the self – quiet, corrosive, and persistent. Sometimes it forms slowly, sedimented over years of silence and secrecy. Other times, it arrives fast, like a slap. Either way, it separates us from the fullness of our erotic, emotional, and creative lives.

To live in truth, shame must be dissolved – or pierced through. It must be broken open so that what lies underneath can be felt, known, and expressed.

What happens when we name it, expose it, and let it breathe?

I am curating a collection of erotic stories that engage directly with shame – stories that either inspire de-shaming in the act of writing and sharing or recount experiences that catalyzed shame or its unraveling. These stories can be heartbreaking, funny, eccentric, or mundane. They can be confessional, poetic, raw, or dreamlike. They can be written in first-person, third-person, or any format that suits your voice.