Also.Also.Also: May We Drink the Tears of the “Horny Older Men” Who’ve Been Heartbroken Over Elvira’s Coming Out

Feature image by Barry King/WireImage

This is my 400th post.

Every day that I get to wake up and turn on my laptop with the broken “i” key and write for this website is quite literally a gift. For ten years, Autostraddle has been the first thing I read when I woke up in the morning. Now I get to help to create it. Thank you for giving me that chance. Thank you for reading this round up. Thank you for being here.

Queer as in F*ck You

Elvira was on the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast and reflected on the last few months since she’s come out. Just as she predicted, “I knew that there was going to be some horny old men out there who, who were just not going to like the fact that they didn’t have a chance with me anymore…. In one day, the day after the book came out, I lost 11,000 people just said, ‘Elvira, you lied to me. I don’t respect you anymore. Goodbye.’ But I got 60,000 new followers the same day. It was funny. I know it was mostly straight older guys who just felt lied to, you know, I don’t know. So you can’t please everybody!”

Empowered After Coming Out, Trans Woman Erin Parisi Climbs Seven of World’s Highest Summits

American Figure Skater Timothy LeDuc Could Become 1st Out Nonbinary Winter Olympian

Saw This, Thought of You

Toys Are Us: Unlocking Trauma Through Classic Trinkets. I found the premise of this to be very interesting!

I Set Out to Photograph 21 Women Voting Rights Activists. Here’s What They Taught Me.

The Grammys have officially been postponed indefinitely due to Coronavirus-related concerns. No new date has been confirmed as of yet.

You know what? An A+ member reminded me this week of the vital work being done over at Indian County Today, and I’m really glad to be working them back into my media diet for the new year. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, you should do the same! This one was great: Will Indigenous People Get Apology From US?

When Girl Power Meets Sobriety

This is definitely where I’m still at with my New Year energy, and I invite you to join me: 10 Insightful Tips From People Who Prove It’s Never Too Late

And continuing on those same vibes of grand possibility, some genuinely good news!

Political Snacks

Today is the one year anniversary of the insurrection that happened last year in Washington DC in a pointed, public display of white supremacist violence squarely aimed to disrupt democracy and stop a national election. So! Some retro reading, from us, last year:

“The conversation we are all a part of, whether we wish to be or not, is one about power. The assault on the capitol is an action of white power, not white privilege. The people who enacted and enabled it do have the privilege of experiencing the world differently on an internal level as well as preferable treatment in the outside world; beyond that, however, they have the power to harm and to do so without consequences, and will continue to use it.”

The Quiet Parts Get Louder and Louder by Rachel Kincaid for Autostraddle (I miss you Rachel! And I’m thinking of you, today in particular.)

Also.Also.Also: White Supremacist Violence and Insurrection

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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.

13 Comments

  1. Carmen, thank you for all the work you’ve put into Autostraddle. We’re thankful for you too. ❤️

  2. Congratulations on 400 posts Carmen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so grateful to be able to work with you!

  3. Congratulations on 400 articles, Carmen! I hope you’ve got a tasty dinner planned to go with it.

  7. You know what they say, Dr. Phillips… after the 1st 400 posts, there’s 400 more. looking forward to it. thank you.

  12. Without even looking at the Cut’s comments, I predict that they will be full of people spouting AA aphorisms; people that women should just tolerate the endemic sexism and sexual harassment / abuse in the rooms; that Holly is suss because she’s charging; that women who like Tempest are ego driven, and possibly at least one person calling Holly a murderer for critiquing AA.

  13. Happy 400th Carmen!

    That article on sobriety was quite interesting. The amount of alcohol they describe as still being okay is already quite high. From the research I’ve read the best thing for your health would be no alcohol. If you do drink, no more then one (standard) glass a day, and no more then 5 days a week.

    There’s still time to join in with dry january – if you want to give it a try!

    Personally I drink very little and it get’s annoying if people say I’m being a bore because I’m not drinking. I’m plenty fun with some sparkling water.

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