In 1999, the CAKE website was a single form field and an invitation for women to submit, in writing, a sexual fantasy. Over the next decade CAKE collected thousands of submissions from people who wanted to share their stories. The column was called “Surrender the Pink.”
CAKE readers inherently knew that to seek pleasure was a radical act and the documentation of their thoughts and arousals was a part of the politics.
What makes your hand travel down your body and your head roll to the side?
What words do you repeat over and over in your head until you are screaming out loud?
What scenes flash through your mind while your eyes are squeezed tight?
Tell us a story, write a list, describe one fuckable moment…don’t stop until your hands slip off the keyboard.
The purpose was not to define a right kind and a wrong kind of fantasy. Instead, it was to increase visibility around women who were becoming authors of their own orgasmic narratives.
The topics ranged from threesomes, to sex with other women, to spontaneous sex with strangers, to using sex toys with partners. Some involved dressing up, others were about getting messy. Overall there was no uniform theme except that women got off.
In the tradition of Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden, CAKE published these fantasies on a rolling basis on their website as well as included some of the stories in a hardcover book.
Food for thought:
Is there such a thing as a feminist fantasy? The question of what women want is wrapped up with what we are allowed to ask for. Sometimes it’s other women who most police our desires. Sometimes it’s a part of ourselves that fears some exposure. Surrender The Pink refuted all that and found, in the column, a monthly delight in readers’ stories.