We love writing about love. Found in poems, essays, novels, songs, films, paintings, reels, Tumblr posts, and Twitter, love and its carnal twin, sex, never fail to weave their way into our daily lives. And yet, while horny humans are never in short supply, love itself proves an elusive find. When taking up this issue’s theme, release your exasperation, boredom, disgust, appreciation, adoration, obsession and paste it down on the page. Consider—how does an increasing trend towards abstinence reflect frustrations with modern dating culture? Have Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and other mimics warped our expectations, our hopes, our fantasies of falling in love the “old-fashioned” way? How do flies copulate? Is Galentine’s Day still alive and well? What are the latest international affairs? When’s the right time to say “I love you,” to friends and lovers alike? Must we, like Sappho centuries ago, plead to Aphrodite for guidance in the era of casual copulation, when so many single souls yearn for sincere connection?
Tell us, in an age of abhorrence, would you abstain?
Feel free to review the pitches from each of our sections, and claim any you’re interested in by emailing the attached section editor. Go to our How to Pitch guide to learn how to submit pitches!
Our pitch list is meant to be guiding and generative, not prohibitive; if you have an idea not listed, feel free to reach out to the section editor or email [email protected] with any questions.
Pitches are open to all students regardless of any level of experience, confidence, and access (or lack thereof). The Masthead and Section Editors will readily and enthusiastically help contributors in reaching out for interviews, guiding their article structure, finding resources, and solving any other relevant issues!
When emailing a section editor to claim a pitch, make sure to include:
- HED (the main title)
- DEK (the subtitle)
- Description (let them know what you want to write / the angle you will take with the article)
- Visual Request (what photo or illustration you would like attached to the article)
- Word Count (how many words you plan to write)
Pitches are due Wednesday, February 11th.
Opinions
- Abstinence: Choice or reaction?
- As more people opt out of sex and dating nowadays, does abstinence reflect empowerment and intentionality, or is it shaped by frustration with modern relationship culture?
- Is having a boyfriend really embarrassing (or alternatively: Is Romance Out of Fashion?)
- Personal reflection on whether you believe relationships have become cringe or countercultural today (exploring the reasons why).
- The modern fear of being earnest
- When did being sincere start to feel awkward or embarrassing, especially in love? This piece asks the writers to reflect on why showing genuine care, commitment, or emotion is often met with irony or discomfort, and whether that hesitation protects people or holds them back somehow.
Claim a pitch or send your own to Romina at [email protected]
Features
- Date the Strand
- Valentine’s Day-themed, Masthead-only Q&A! Nevertheless, if you’d like to pitch to Features for the NEXT issue, don’t hesitate to reach out to Lia :)
Claim a pitch or send your own to Lia at [email protected]
Arts & Culture
- Twisted Romance
- What do you think about the increase in dark romances, especially ones that are often criticized for glamorizing abusive relationships? How should these relationships be depicted in art? What does this romanticization say about society? What about the prominence of Colleen Hoover books? Or the new Wuthering Heights (2026) movie?
- The Art of the Valentine
- Valentine’s Day is associated with homemade crafts and gifts for one’s beloved – from scrapbooks, to origami, to the classic Valentine. Do you think that this tradition is still alive today? What is the role of crafting in romance? Are homemade gifts as valuable as expensive ones? Is the art of the Valentine dead?
- The word known to all men
- James Joyce published Ulysses in 1922 with enough errata that it warranted two complete revisions by 1936. Famously, the answer to the question Stephen Dedalus asks his mother’s ghost, “Tell me the word, mother, if you know. The word known to all men,” is omitted; it wouldn’t be until 1984 that that word was discovered in another revision to be love. Why is it that, like the time it took to discover the word known to all men—love—we’re so afraid to say it, normalising its delay even though it is ubiquitously known? How is love depicted in this intimate yet terrifying way?
- Dating apps and terrible dates
- With the influx of dating apps and algorithmic ‘matchmaking’ (a term now seemingly antiquated, though precise), many people within the last decade are asking themselves, “Who let this guy on here, anyway?!” The dating pool, on apps like Hinge, Bumble, and the grandfatherly Tinder, is sinisterly garbage, resulting in what seems to be bad date followed by worse. But what does the heightened reliance on dating apps, especially since the COVID years, say about our contemporary dating culture? What does it say about people’s expectations of each other, depictions of persona, its contributions to what is becoming known as Gen Z’s ‘loneliness epidemic’, and people’s choices to give up altogether—or are such concerns overblown? (Feel free to reflect on your own poor online-dating experiences and connect them to broader, cultural trends you’re witnessing.)
Claim a pitch or send your own to Bosko at [email protected]
Science
- Sex change is next week!
- Sex change in the animal world. Why do they exist, how do they confer evolutionary advantage?
- How to do sex change? Ex: how to do it in yeast
- Worm/Yeast/Fly pornography
- How do geneticist’s favourite model organisms have sex? How do they sense the opposite sex’s presence?
- Why do we isolate virgins in fly?
- Masturbation or auto-procreation
- Talk about living organisms capable of meiotic offspring with self. Compare with mitotic offspring yielding organisms. Why sex with self?
- Puppy Love
- Talk about the biology, chemistry, and psychology behind the unique bond between dogs and humans that has developed over the centuries. For example, cognitive studies have shown that canines make humans produce more ‘trust hormone,’ and vice versa. Why is it that humans and dogs share this special connection? You can discuss service dogs, cases of dogs saving owners, etc.
- Love vs. Time vs. Space
- Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar contains an interesting quote: “Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.” From a scientific point of view, and supported by physicists’ current theories about time and space, does this quote have any substance? Are our feelings emotions just meaningless chemical reactions in the grand scheme of the universe, or do they mean something greater?
Claim a pitch or send your own to Yaocheng at [email protected]
Stranded (Humour)
- U of T Colleges Ranked By Sex Appeal
- Will Woodsworth show you what its wood’s worth? Will Trinity give you a heavenly threesome? You tell us. Rank the U of T colleges by how well you think they’d lay you if anthropomorphized.
- How To Sext Without Sounding Like Adam Levine
- Holy fuck. Holy fucking fuck. That sexting technique of yours is absurd. It’s a simple fact that most people cannot sext without sounding incredibly lame. Teach us how to do some digital lovin’ without sounding like a chatbot trained on Love Is Blind.
- Help! My Partner Is In Love With An AI!
- It’s an all-too-common tale of modernity. Your beloved partner would rather spend time being insipidly complimented by a large language model than hang out with you. Lament this sad state, and give us some ideas on how to pry your partner out of the hands of that technological temptress.
- Divorce The Strand
- You saw the Date The Strand section. Just in case that goes wrong, give us a primer on how to win a hostile family law case against each section of the Strand, poking holes in their ethos as you do so. Trust me, we deserve it.
- Sports that Wouldn’t Lend Themselves to A Heated Rivalry
- Hockey makes complete sense as a framing device for gay smut — masculine ethos, lots of grunting and physical contact, et cetera. However, you probably wouldn’t be able to convey as much heat in the world of, say, professional darts. Give us some sports that would probably make for a disappointing locus of gay eroticism.
Claim a pitch or send your own to Max at [email protected]