After releasing Masc Mandate, I was hit with an enormous wave of feedback. Friends, classmates, coworkers, family, professors, and random people on the internet read my work. I was met with an immense outpouring of love, support, and the feeling of finally being seen.

A small subset of this feedback included concern and distaste for what I’d done. A community that is used to being unacknowledged was suddenly one to be reckoned with in Masc Mandate. I had made people like me too visible.

I’ve made an effort to sit with the reactions I received, using them to motivate a second issue of Masc Mandate. In some ways, this issue is a reflection of the large life transition that is the first year after college. I’m eternally grateful for the community that was more or less placed in front of me on a silver platter in college. However, since graduating college, I’ve had to be much more intentional about building my community.

I draw inspiration from my masc counterparts – people who have gone through struggles and successes so similar to myself but whose reactions to these experiences highlight the vast multiplicity of our community. I feel incredibly lucky to interview and learn from these people, particularly because I know from experience the intentional and disruptive nature of our existence.

I am beyond proud to present my community in Masc Mandate 2. I’ll let them do the rest of the talking.

Please remove your mask and enjoy.

Love,

Claire Jensen