There’s three big reasons to get involved with our unofficial groups or get one off the ground yourself:

You can find meet-up groups and communities related to Autostraddle in our directory here. Find a group near you, join it, and dive right in! Post a short introduction, attend some events, post items of queer interest and chime in to discussions – do it all! Try to set the standard when you’re getting involved: talk andact like a friendly, kind adult (because you are).Feel free to join groupscentered on cities you’re passing through, places you like far from but go to often, and cities you’re moving to. Just because there isn’t a group formed in your hometown doesn’t mean you can’t find a community a little further away or somewhere you visit often! Go ahead and involve yourself wherever it makes sense.

If you want to really commit to an Autostraddle community but can’t find one, just start one yourself! It’s seriously within your realm of possibility, and it’s a lot of fun and very rewarding. Plus, you can put your group on the map in just a few clicks! Click here to start an Autostraddle Social group and go for it! Include the location of your meet-up group in the group name, add a photo, and make it official. (You can also make a group on Facebook, although it will make us a little sad.) Then, email it to carmen [at] autostraddle [dot] com to get it added to our directory. After that, people will start to find you – that is, if you haven’t alkready found them and spammed them with link a dozen times.

To get moving on building community, host a meet-up! In order to do that, you just need to do the following:

When we approve your event, get going on getting the word out! Copy and paste that linkeverywhere:toss it into Facebook groups you belong to, send it to your friends and chosen family, tweet about it, create a short link at bit.ly and direct people to it at the club. Whatever it takes! Just push out your event as much as possible and people will totally come! And don’t forget to invite literally every queer you know.

“Don’t assume you know what the group wants! Ask. Do you think you have a killer idea for a meetup? You probably do! But to get hype around it, post in the group first and ask if people would go to it or if they have any ideas to add to it. People are more willing to go to things if they are invested.” – Whitney, Twin Cities

Variety is key if you wanna attract lots of different people and keep them engaged. The things above require a little planning – you can also just chill at someone’s house, post in the group to meet at a bar or coffee shop, etc. You could also organize a meet-up around a pre-planned event to ease your planning load! Also, sometimes we’ll put out a call for meet-ups of a specifc nature: we’ve encouraged y’all to host brunches, Babe-B-Q’s, and pride parties in the last few years. Those are an awesome opportunity to launch a new group, meet a whole lot of the ‘straddlers in your area at once, or bring a group without many meet-ups back together again.

Some stuff to consider as your group grows: