THURSDAY!! It’s like Friday! But, in miniature!
Let me congratulate you on making it another week. Laneia will be back to guide you through the headlines on Monday, but I had a wonderful time with each and every one of you. Popsicles! Journaling about Gratitude! We had it all. Thank you for not calling me out about my overindulgence in Beyoncé. Here’s some news from the rest of the week.
Queer as in F*ck You
THIS MOVIE ALREADY LOOKS SO EXCELLENT AND LISTEN I JUST CAN’T WAIT ANYMORE.
The trailer for The Miseducation of Cameron Post dropped yesterday afternoon. The Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner is based on Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel of the same name. It takes place in 1993 and follows teenage Cameron Post (Chloë Moretz) as she’s forced to attend gay conversion therapy after being caught having sex with another girl. Keen eyes will also peep Sasha Lane in the trailer, who you perhaps also saw in this summer’s Hearts Beat Loud? If you haven’t, you definitely should.
We’ve covered Cameron Post a lot at Autostraddle (Check out this time when author Emily Danforth answered 38 of your questions about the book!, Or this time when she returned to talk to us about the movie!, Or this interview with Cameron Post director Desiree Akhavan!), and now the big moment is finally here! Word on the street is Cameron Post will be released in select cities starting August 3.
“I built the GenForward Survey, a nationally representative survey of over 1,750 young adults ages 18-34. The survey is conducted bimonthly and includes oversamples of African-American, Latinx, and Asian-American young adults, ensuring we can accurately represent their positions and the positions of all millennials on important issues facing the country.” — Calling all my queer data nerds! You’re going to enjoy this brief breakdown of an ongoing project conducted black lesbian political scientist Dr. Cathy Cohen.
The Realities of Having A Period As A Transgender Man.
Lez Heat Things Up: The 16 Best Lesbian Movie Kisses Of All Time.
These Activists Used Soccer Jerseys to Protest Homophobia & Anti-LGBTQ Laws in Russia. (The men’s World Cup finals are this Sunday. I have no idea what’s going on. I just root for whatever team has the most people of color in it. That means on Sunday, I’m pulling for France! We have fun.)
In Monday’s column we began a discussion about the attempted “take over” of London Pride by anti-trans protestors. Here’s a deeper dive and a follow up: Why Are Some Feminists In The UK Freaking Out About Trans Rights?
And then on Monday night, Trump selected Brett Kavanaugh to be his choice for the vacated Supreme Court seat. By now you’re probably all caught up on that news. Let’s also pay attention to The Five Court Cases That Could Change the Future of LGBT Rights.
Hey! Did you check out the official launch of Sapphic Lasers’ “Dyke Bars Never Last” music video, because you definitely should!
Yes, Lesbians Do It Better. I feel like we circle back to this every few years, but I’ll still take another victory lap. Statistically speaking, women who are engaging in queer sex are having more a satisfying sex life.
Pat yourself on the back for all the wonderful decisions you’re making.
Saw This, Thought of You
From The New York Times, Why Breast-Feeding Scares Donald Trump.
File this under, “Duh! Things Queer Women Already Knew”: Women Were Pirates, Too.
“Public space belongs to everyone. If racists don’t like hearing Spanish being spoken in a deli, or having Native American teens on a campus tour, or seeing black folks going on about their lives, they should just stay home.” — The Social Shaming of Racists Is Working, by Laila Lalami at The Nation.
Senator Tammy Duckworth on Why Kids Separated at the Border Still Need Your Help. (Speaking of, from The New York Times, For Many LGBT Migrants, North of the Border Is No Refuge. And from The Cut, Exactly How Many Separated Immigrant Families Have Been Reunited? Answer: Not many.)
The summer before I left home for graduate school, I drove down to the rural Louisiana countryside to sit on the porch with my grandma. As I took the four steps up to the house, face scowling at the hot Louisiana sun beating down on my brow, my Gram squinted at me, called me by my nickname, and declared, “It’s time for you to start having sex!”
My grandmother had already developed a pragmatic blend of both feminism and Christianity that worked in the context of her life as a rural poor Southern Black woman born two years before the Great Depression. I was still far too much of a Christian zealot to be either pragmatic or feminist. My grandmother didn’t have all the language for these differing ideological positions, but she had good sense. She looked at me with those laser eyes that Black mamas use to see right through you, and commanded me to “Start having sex.” She meant real good sex. Sex that left you with telltale signs that you had been touched right and handled with care. I didn’t exude sexuality. I didn’t exude grown womanhood. I did not look like a Black girl comfortable in my own skin. Because I wasn’t. I was trapped in a raging battle between my spirit and my flesh.
Grown-Woman Theology: Lessons of Race, Blackness, and Power from a Self-Described Nerdy Black Girl. It’s an excerpt from Dr. Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower.
Well then! Looks like I’ve found my dream job! Q&A with Sorry to Bother You’s Costume Designer on Dressing Tessa Thompson.
Her character in the movie is named “Detroit.” I think that makes her my girlfriend.
For anyone else like me, who just nods along when a cute girl starts complaining about “Mercury in retrograde” or “the eclipse over Mars” or whatever, I have found us a cheat sheet! Your Guide to This Summer’s Astrological Mess of Retrogrades and Eclipses.
Fighting Fascism at the UK’s Feminist Antifa Martial Arts Gym.
How To Sleep When It’s Hot Outside & You Don’t Have AC.
While we’re on the subject of “How To”: 10 Ways How To Quit Your Job Gracefully. (Just in case. You never know.)
More than half a million people went to last weekend’s Essence Festival. That’s more than the annual attendance of Coachella AND SXSW. Hell, it’s almost as much as the attendance of those those festivals combined. And yet, because the Essence Festival primarily is attended by black women, it doesn’t get the same media shine. Well, I’m using my tiny little platform to change some of that. Here’s 25 black women showing out with their best fashion last weekend in New Orleans.
13 Books by Asian and Asian American Authors That You Could Be Reading While We All Wait For Crazy Rich Asians To Hit Theaters Next Month.
Nipple Piercings Aren’t As Scary As You Think They Are. (I think they definitely are, but hey! You do you.)
And finally, have we talked about how much I love our Community Editor Vanessa Friedman? Because I really love her:
the guy who always hits on me at the park just told me my (fake) septum piercing "takes away from the beauty of your face" and when i said "good thing i didn't get it for you" he said "just thought you'd want my opinion" so now i need to get it pierced for real immediately 🔪🔪 pic.twitter.com/yvkehDHnC5
— vanessa 🔪🔪🔪 (@vanessapamela) July 11, 2018
Have a great weekend!
“just thought you’d want my opinion”
“Why? Why would you think that?”
This is an honest question that I have and am seriously waiting with baited breath for someone to say that to me.
Did Autostraddle change its font or is my computer haunted?
It looks different to me, too.
You are both not imagining it! We got a bit of an update with the times!
Time to donate to La Leche League. And speaking of the petulant child, if you’re going to the protest in Manchester’s Albert Square tomorrow,come say hello to the lady in the Love and Rockets t-shirt (comic, not band). I’ll be doing my best to represent.
Good I hope the rest of that conversation about the piercing was, “what specifically made you think that and let’s talk about how you can avoid this error in the future by not sharing opinions you aren’t asked for.”
Also “overindulgence in Beyoncé” does not exist. Fake news.
Also also also so many links I can’t wait to read, thank you!
I was lucky enough to see The Miseducation of Cameron Post at Inside Out LGBT Film Fest in Toronto last month and can confirm that it is EXCELLENT 10/10 A++ WOULD WATCH A MILLION TIMES AGAIN. Chloë Grace Moretz plays a suspiciously convincing lesbian. I cried about ten times but also very happy that I was able to watch it in a cinema full of queer folk because it’s very funny in places too (straight people might not get all the jokes, which makes it even better). Also the costumes and settings are so perfectly done, in the same way movies like Pride and Carol perfectly capture their respective era/setting. My only criticism is that the ending is left so open, which is also the only thing I disliked about the book. It’s hopeful but heartbreaking too. Can’t wait for it to hit cinemas so I can go and watch it again.
Concerning the breastfeeding resolution…
https://groundedparents.com/2018/07/09/actually-im-glad-trump-administration-opposed-breastfeeding-resolution/
So I should’ve said it earlier, but I’ve never had children or breast fed. And I agree that no one — ever — has the right to tell women what do with their bodies. (Also, as an American I have tons of privilege in any situation that’s about global health.)
I know that baby care can be suuuuuper controversial, especially for new moms. It wasn’t my intention to shame anyone by sharing the NYT link! And I hope it didn’t come across that way!
The fact is that there’s also a lot of documented misinformation about breast milk, and the benefits of nursing — even if that’s something that interests you, your body is able, and you want to learn more about it (particularly outside of the United States, Canada, and Europe). When I read the resolution in question, to me that’s what it felt like it was trying to counter. Not forcing women to breast feed, or even coerce them with propaganda. Just to get an agreed upon structure for disseminating correct information that’s at least as globally supported as the misinformation campaign that’s already been going on for decades.
That said, I appreciate you providing a counterpoint!
As someone very uncomfortable with the engorged from weaning boulders currently on my chest I kind of hate breastfeeding too!
But in all seriousness I am so glad to see that discussion of BFHI you linked to. It caused me a lot of stress and pain with both of my kids. Clever marketing is a bitch.
I’m currently a million years pregnant so I feel you. I hated the first few months but ended up nursing my first kid for 3 years. Hoping it’s not as awful this time around and I respect anyone who quits to save their sanity. I have also not completely understood a lot of the stuff that happens under the BFHI. Making birth something you HAVE to do in the hospital, where you’re much more likely to have major surgery (we have the highest c-section rates), and you have to leave home for days, and that our culture which values material support (like going all out on a baby shower) while leaving new parents – particularly mothers – utterly alone and without support for their recovery, sleep, nutrition, etc., and ALSO having the shittiest family leave policies in the developed world, is completely ignored. But let’s get rid of the nursery everyone, that will help.
That said, I imagine that despite the lack of evidence, this was probably motivated by money and lobbyists.
I gathered that the rooming in is to support breastfeeding. My first daughter was in NICU for a few days after birth and her being in a different ward made it next to impossible for my wife to nurse her on demand in those first days. She did end up successfully nursing after the baby came home, but it was not an easy start.
Judgemental randos or people one doesn’t really know aren’t worth our time. My friend many times would just get up and walk away or if it’s online tell the dude(usually a dude) something to the effect see you never. Sometimes gets the point across so they don’t do it again.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing that trailer for a while. Can’t wait! I know this (the book) came first but it sounds similar to But I’m A Cheerleader except more dramatic.
Ugh, that Cameron Post trailer looks so GOOD.
I saw Cam Post at SIFF and I enjoyed it overall. I absolutely adored the book, so was rather nervous about the adaptation. It only adapted the second half of the book, which makes sense since the novel is almost two different stories. I’d give it an 8/10 overall. I didn’t have the the utter emotional connection to the film that I did the book, but was pleasantly satisfied with it.
It’s not just formula companies that could profit from encouraging formula but companies that sell bottled water or having a controlling interest in clean water resources. >_>
Essence Fest is a lovely time of year because all of the stylin people walking around, I don’t even care it’s 90 degress 100% humidity out and I’m in office attire. The original lyrics of Putting On the Ritz referenced Lenox Avenue for a reason.
I’m so looking forward to seeing Cameron Post, so thanks for the trailer!