Comment Policy

HARLOT Magazine strives to be more than a content platform. We want to cultivate a community—and that means setting standards and expectations of behavior that create a safe and inclusive environment. We don’t expect everyone to come into these discussions to agree with us; these rules aren’t to weed out dissenting opinion, but prevent those this site was founded to service and represent from feeling unsafe or unseen.

  1. The ambiguity of presenting one’s self online makes deciphering who is using a slur to describe their marginalization and who is using it because they find it fun to be a troll difficult. The use of slurs towards other commenters or the authors is outright prohibited—these include words meant to degrade PoC, indigenous people, LGBT people, sex workers, disabled people, fat people, and immigrants. Such comments will be deleted, edited, and, if necessary, the user banned at the mod's discretion. If we feel that you are using a slur in reference to yourself as a means of trolling or bringing undue attention to yourself in a conversation you needn’t be a part in, we will delete and possibly ban. Rudeness is decreed by the mod, so play nice!
  2. When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Deliberate misgendering or misidentifying another commenter or author’s race, country of origin, disability, religion, or other axis of their identity and marginalization will also warrant deletion and possible banning. If you feel someone is misrepresenting their identity/marginalization for the purposes of shutting down conversation, report the comment to the moderator.
  3. Do not post the personal information of others—this includes other commenters and any information about the authors themselves that they haven’t volunteered themselves in the corresponding article. This includes addresses, spaces they frequent, names of friends/family, non-public/professional social media profiles, pictures, etc.
  4. While we understand and acknowledge the occasional benefit social media callouts provide in holding some abusive and oppressive behavior accountable, we are not a space to arbitrate allegations and callouts.This includes comment threads for any article dealing with callout culture itself or a writer’s experience with callouts.
  5. It’s disheartening to think we have to say this in an official capacity, but here it is: do not post pictures depicting graphic violence, slurs, or which are disruptively off-topic. If you wish to post reaction faces, we prefer you do it through a hyperlink.
  6. Unsolicited “advice” on how another person can minimize their marginalization can itself be a form of violence. If the article is about passing and trans women are discussing various social cues that allow them to easier navigate public space, constructive discussion is welcome. Do not critique trans women’s appearances, do not tell fat folk to lose weight, do not tell PoC how to appear “less threatening”, do not offer advice on how disabled people can “work through the pain”. Providing links to resources and relative articles good; advice without actual experience or expertise bad.
  7. If you wish to link to another article or comment thread on another site for the purposes of critiquing it, we ask that you either use DoNotLink or, in the case of Reddit, NoParticipation links. This allows those articles and comment threads to exist and be viewed from a distance in peace without encouraging or enabling brigades.