Writer’s Alert: This Feminist Competition Targets Prejudice against Men

Dancers as a shame. Dancers as a lustful facade. Dancing as a feminine activity. These stereotypes are the prime material of a newly released short story competition, aimed at breaking prejudice against men who dance.

Organized by the Forgotten Writers Foundation, and entitled “Mind of a Dancer,” the competition invites budding writers in Egypt and beyond to enter their stories before May 1, 2015. The proposal consists in writing a short story where the protagonist is a dancer, aiming at revealing how dancers from different cultures, backgrounds, social classes and genders feel, think, and dream.

“We can inspire writers to create new perceptions, and also allow dancers to reveal to the world who they really are, since not everyone understands the language of dancing,” says the organization’s founder Mahmoud Mansi. A writer himself, Mansi says the competition, which also includes strippers as a form of dance, will offer dancers a chance to share their passion and views in life, men, women, fashion, politics, and media.

For more information: Visit the Foundation’s website, or send your entry to dancer_writing_competition@hotmail.com.