Also.Also.Also: The Butches Are Back (In Style) (They Never Went Away)

This is such a specific craving, but I want a warm bowl of popcorn and chocolate chip cookies? Why? I do not know!


Queer as in F*ck You

This is such excellent headline work. Tell Me About It, Stud: The Rapturous Return of the Butch Lesbian Scene “With sold-out club nights from Bristol to Birmingham, a long-marginalised subculture is enjoying a brilliant post-pandemic resurgence.” — I sincerely loved this trend piece! (Obviously I don’t agree with “post-pandemic” but beyond that, I mean). It’s about the lesbian and queer party scene in the UK, but also takes you through the history of the word butch in the United States, and really it just all comes together so well. Anytime I get to love on some butches, it’s a good day for me. It’s your must read of the day!

“I always say freedom ain’t free, meaning you still have to deprogram yourself. We’re working in a world where the first response to queerness, or to trans, or to nonbinary is to question its existence or if it’s real, because [people have] been taught heteronormative ways of living. Traditional gender roles are what we see mostly in the media. It’s still shocking when a celebrity comes out as gay. We still live in that kind of world. We live in a world where they’re creating laws that even take out us talking about slavery, that take out us talking about LGBTQIA+ communities — like, literal erasure of our existence is continuing to happen. As upsetting as that is, I try not to allow that part of the world to make me hard, to make me cold, to make me evil. I have to actively give myself mantras and call my therapist about it, talk to people in my community. Community, for us, is everything. To peacefully deal with those sorts of obstacles and find joy, steal joy — it takes daily practice.”

I AM SCREAMING ABOUT THIS HERE QUEER NONBINARY BLACK EXCELLENCE!!! That’s thee Tre’vell Anderson interviewing thee Janelle Monáe for Ebony f*cking Magazine: Inside Janelle Monáe’s Queerest and Freest Era Yet. If you know anything about the history of Black media in the United States, you know Ebony Magazine, an institution and cornerstone. Anytime our institutions center Black queerness in all of its glory (including having a Black nonbinary talent being interviewed by a Black nonbinary writer) — what did I say? I will not stop screaming about it.

There aren’t enough words in the English language for how much I hate this with every bone of my Black feminist body. Alice Walker Defends J.K. Rowling’s Transphobia.

RuPaul Slams  Lawmakers for Legislation Banning Drag Shows. “The Emmy-winning entertainer spoke out in a video against bans and restrictions on drag shows.” That took long enough!


Saw This, Thought of You

A World Without Men. “The women of South Korea’s 4B movement aren’t fighting the patriarchy — they’re leaving it behind entirely.”

I’ve been saying this!! Why ‘Poker Face’ Is the Most Stylish Show on Television Right Now

Grieving On Social Media Made Me Lonelier Than Ever

(Damn. I’m an only child and even I felt the attack) Are You Okay Or Are You An Eldest Daughter?

Haiti’s national women’s soccer team has qualified for the Women’s World Cup!! Haitian Women Make Soccer History


Political Snacks

Now, here’s this week’s round up of terrible news from state legislatures:

Speaking of which, Massive Cache of Leaked Emails Details Coordination Between Anti-trans Groups, Politicians. “Thousands of emails sent and received by conservative lawmakers, activists, doctors, and attorneys that reveal the inner workings of a national anti-trans movement have been leaked online.”


And One More Thing

New Lucy Dacus dropped! with Jasmin Savoy, Phoebe Bridgers, ER Fightmaster, and drag queens! (We have something coming on this that I think you will enjoy)

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle's former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other.  During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Carmen has written 716 articles for us.

6 Comments

  1. I lucky enough to be able to watch the Haitian soccer team playing in the qualification tournament on tv down here and they were so fun and I was stoked to see them qualify. Looking forward to watching them again later in the year.

  2. Bless you Carmen for linking the Tell Me About It, Stud piece, SO good.

    “Bristol Butch Bar now gets about 60 people at its monthly meet-ups, where there is an armwrestling league and crafts.”

    Booking a trip to Bristol, brb.

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