community guidelines

these are not a list of punishments. they are an agreement about how we behave so that the next woman to walk in can sit down and tell the truth.

this space is for women, in the broadest and most inclusive sense of that word. trans women, non-binary people who experience the weight of being read as women, anyone for whom this language describes a part of their life. the door is wide. it is not the door for everyone, and that is okay.

writers must be 18 or older. seen&heard is not designed for younger writers. we know that the things people carry start much earlier than 18 - but a public, moderated space for adult women is not the right room for a younger person to first put those things down.

write your own experience

write about what happened to you, what you feel, what you noticed, what you have not been able to say out loud. write your own life. this is not the room for analysing what happened to a friend, criticising someone you know or speculating about a public figure's private life.

protect the people in your story

even when something happened to you, other people are usually part of it. do not name them. do not include details - workplaces, addresses, social handles, specific dates - that would let a reader identify them. abstract is fine. specific is fine. identifying is not.

the test we use: could a stranger read this and figure out who the other person is?
if yes, abstract it further.

anonymity is not a shield

you are anonymous because anonymity is what makes the truth possible here. it is not permission to attack, harass or expose someone. the protection is for the writer. it does not extend to using the writer's voice as a weapon.

no performance, no audience demands

you do not need to be eloquent, articulate or okay. there is no minimum length. there is no expected tone. write a sentence. write a paragraph. write the worst version. this is not a writing competition. it is a place to put something down.

equally, do not write at an imagined audience. do not ask for reactions. do not ask for help. there are no replies, no comments, and no follow-up. the response is the silent acknowledgement of women reading and recognising.

no advice, no advertising, no fundraising

no commercial content. no links. no promotional material. no campaigns. no requests for money, services or platform amplification. anything that turns this into a market gets removed.

posts will be removed if they include any of the following:

• real names, contact details, or identifying information about another person
• threats, harassment, or coordinated targeting of any individual or group
• hate speech against people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, disability or any protected characteristic
• content that sexualises, depicts, or in any way involves minors
• graphic descriptions of self-harm, suicide or violence written in a way that instructs, glorifies or encourages the same in others
• promotion of self-harm, eating disorders, addiction or any behaviour that endangers the writer or the reader
• unlawful content under Israeli law or the law of the place from which the post is submitted
• spam, advertising, automated submissions, or commercial use of any kind
• impersonation of another person, real or known
• attempts to game, manipulate or coordinate posts across the platform

the absence of an item from this list does not make it acceptable. moderation is human and we use judgement.

posts are reviewed by people. some posts are reviewed before they appear in the space; others may be reviewed after publication if something is flagged. removal decisions are not appealed to a panel - they are made by the team and they are final.

if your post is removed, it is because it crossed one of the lines above. removal is not a judgement on what you feel. it is a judgement on what is safe to publish.

we may also lightly edit a post to remove an identifying detail (preserving everything else) or decline to publish a submission without giving a reason.

some of what is written here is heavy. grief, abuse, illness, loss, fear, rage. we believe in publishing difficult things, because the silence around them is what makes them heavier.

we also believe in your wellbeing while you read and write here. if a post you are reading is too much, close the panel. step away. the space will hold what is in it without you.

if you are in crisis, please reach out to a professional support service.
seen&heard is not a crisis service and cannot respond in the way you may need. resources are below.

if you see a post that includes identifying details about a real person, threatens someone, sexualises a minor, or otherwise breaks these guidelines, please tell us through contact & requests. include enough detail for us to find the post - the text, an approximate publication time, the URL if you have it.

we read every report. we will not always reply, but we will act.

if you are in crisis, please reach a professional service. the lines below are vetted and free.

we keep this list short on purpose. one well-maintained directory you can trust is more useful than a long list that goes stale. if you know of a service that should be here, tell us through contact & requests.

this is a public space, but it is built like a private one. it stays that way because of how we all behave inside it. thank you for reading carefully and writing honestly.