Majority Rules: Process and Procedures

We are very pleased to introduce...

THE MAJORITY RULES CHALLENGE-A-THON!

To celebrate the possibility that (at long, long last) either a woman or a person of color will be the next American president by producing fanworks about people of color and women in positions of political power.

This could include:

1. Slash, het or gen fic about a woman and/or person of color in any fandom who holds elected or appointed civil office, or who governs or rules a country, planet or federation.
2. RPF about a historical or contemporary person of color and/or woman who holds elected or appointed civil office, or who governs or rules a country or sovereign territory.
3. Icons, graphics and vids about any of the above.

Rules, dates and other business:

1. The claims post will be open for sign-ups until April 12. To participate in the challenge, leave a comment with the name of the character or person of your choice that you're committing to create a fic, artwork, or vid about.
2. The prompts post will be open for submissions until April 12. Comment there with provocations for fanworks in the form of a LINK to a song, poem, image, wiki entry, web page, video, etc. Contributing prompts does NOT obligate you to sign-up for the challenge.
3. By April 15, we will assign each participant three prompts to choose from as the basis for their submission.
4. Stories, vids, icons and graphics are due on June 3 (the date of the final Democratic primary).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why are you doing this?
In response to sexism and racism in politics throughout time and space, and particularly in response to the ongoing US election campaign, which is spreading negativity about women and people of color in power, we crave positive stories and images of them.

Why the title?
While US Democratic voters' choice between a white woman and an African American man represents progress, it is also proving divisive. Together, women and people of color make up a majority, and here at the Majority Rules Challenge, the majority stands united.

Can I participate if I am a Republican?
Please do! Feel free to write RPF about Condoleeza Rice or other Republicans, we'd sure like to see it.

Can I participate if I am not American?
Again, please do, and feel free to write RPF about Maxine McKew, Benazir Bhutto, or other non-US politicians.

Can I write a fic in which Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is EEVIL and destroys the world through EEVILNESS?
Um, please don't. Moral ambiguity is good, exciting, and encouraged. Character bashing is not. If you want to write a fic in which one candidate defeats the other, fine, but please treat the defeated character with respect. In other words: negative campaigning is not welcome here.

Can I write Clinton/Obama BDSM porn?
Yes, we think that would be an excellent idea, and good for the American people.

For the purposes of this challenge, does X, Y, or Z count as a woman and/or person of color in a position of political power?
That's open to debate -- please post the question in comments on the brainstorming post, and we'll try to arrive at an official mod-approved answer. Our focus is civil government, excluding authorities whose position is solely military or solely staff. But the taxonomy is necessarily elastic, and in the case of borderline characters, if you plan to write about them in their capacity as political leaders, we wouldn't turn you down!

In general, we prefer to use self-identification as the primary mode of categorization: that is, if X presents themselves as a woman and/or person of color, they count. In the case of science fiction, either racial or ethnic "others" as rendered in the universe's own terms (e.g. Mister Spock counts as a "person of color") OR characters played by non-white actors in our world's terms (e.g. Admiral Adama counts as a "person of color") are acceptable.

PLEASE PIMP THIS FICATHON FAR AND WIDE, IN ANY FANDOM THAT HAS PEOPLE OF COLOR AND/OR WOMEN IN POSITIONS OF POLITICAL POWER.

Sincerely, your mods:
projectcyborg
deborah_judge