the speakeasy Archives

audre lorde

queer theory

Year of Our (Audre) Lorde: September’s Afterimages

I am safe nowhere, the Black women in my family of origin and family of choice are safe nowhere. It’s a fact we’ve known but one that feels all the…

Jehan —

Sep 28, 2020

janelle monae

the speakeasy

film

“Antebellum” Forgot That Black Women Can’t Save the World From Fascism, We Only Must Save Ourselves

Seeing as the modern police force is an evolution of slave catchers, for a film trying to make a point about how the horrors of the past still exist in…

danijanae —

Sep 25, 2020

interview

literary fiction

on the left, Zaina Arafat, a Palestinian American woman in a light blue tank top looks at the camera. on the left the cover of her book, You Exist Too Much — a typographic cover on top of an abstract painting with swipes of lavender, green, blue, and gold

literature

Queer Arabs Taking Up Space: An Interview With Zaina Arafat

Zaina Arafat’s You Exist Too Much is the bi Arab romance novel l didn’t know I needed. We chat about the book, first-gen traumas, sexual ambiguity and Arab parents.

Sarah Yanni —

Sep 21, 2020

gender identity

the speakeasy

A short-haired dyke sits on a mud spattered floor with one leg folded under them and the other extended. They smile an easy grin into the camera and place a hand on their extended knee. Behind them a blue graphic ribbon runs behind them and across another mud covered person sitting behind them.

first person

Mud Wrestling Showed Me How To Want

Our thighs slapped against the tarp as we threw each other across the floor. Our eyes and ears were painted in mud like two casts of the human form. The…

Lillian Kalish —

Sep 9, 2020

lost movie reviews from the Autostraddle archives

queen latifah

film

“Set It Off” Is the Queer Tribute to Black Women’s Friendship We Need After a Summer of Black Mourning

As Cleo, Queen Latifah had never been better. Young, mighty, unadulterated, sweet to her friends, sexy in the way that only studs can be — an energy that radiates beneath…

Carmen Phillips —

Sep 2, 2020

Anatomy Of A Mango

qpoc

collage image of orange marigold flowers carpeting the space between two thighs, smaller flowers scattered up on the thighs. a dewy green mango leaf in the background.

love + sex

Anatomy Of A Mango: Seed

Because of the positive affirmation I received during sex, I began to believe it was all I was good for. When people wanted me, I assumed it was my job…

danijanae —

Sep 2, 2020

love is sometimes not a lie

niecy nash

celebrities (vapid fluff)

NIECY NASH DONE WENT AND GOT GAY MARRIED

Yes. Niecy Nash got gay married. Love wins!!

Ari —

Aug 31, 2020

14 Knuckles

femmes

mirror image split screen of a femme of color sitting on their knees in a sexy floral robe, hair down, leaning to the right. there's a red treatment over the photo for a little extra erotic style.

love + sex

14 Knuckles: Femme Top Revolution

There’s a difference between domination as a way to take control or claim power over another person — the way certain lovers have done with me — versus domination as…

Mat —

Aug 27, 2020

audre lorde

queer theory

book features

Year of Our (Audre) Lorde: August’s New Spelling of My Name

In my own myth, New York has been the cornerstone of what shaped me, finally allowing myself to be in my queerness. While the New York I inhabited and the…

Jehan —

Aug 27, 2020

foolish child

Saturday Morning Cartoons

visual art

Foolish Child #79: Comply

“I really don’t need to be in my house simmering over the racist comments on violence against Black people.”

Dickens —

Aug 26, 2020

showtime

the chi

tv reviews

“The Chi” Season Three: Easy on the Eyes as a Queer Woman, Hard on the Heart as a Black Woman

With a total of five lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans Black women characters in the main cast, Lena Waithe’s “The Chi” certainly made history this summer. But did making “The…

Natalie —

Aug 25, 2020

femme fashion

femmes

A tough and pretty chola woman, with the top of her hair teased and dark lipstick, places both of her hands on a huge painted mural banner and looks over her shoulder with anguish and "don't fuck with me" energy. She is looking over her shoulder and the top of her white tank top is pulled to the side showing off a tattoo. The banner, in a stylized script reads: "Dedicated to Ronnie ..anes Dwayne Walker."

style

The Allure of Chola Femininity

This is precisely what I admire about cholas, and what I wanted to emulate for myself as a femme. These women were highly feminine, but not the dainty kind, the…

Cortez —

Aug 24, 2020

the speakeasy

Most Popular

P-Valley Has Changed the Rules of Black Queer Storytelling

No Filter: Simply the Betts! Happy First Anniversary to Niecy Nash, Jessica Betts, and the Greatest Day of Our Gay Lives

It’s Time to Talk about It, “Never Have I Ever” Has a Race Problem

Somebody Loves You Baby: When Patti LaBelle Taught Me Black Femme Desire

Whatever You Thought “We Are Lady Parts” Was Going to Be, This Ain’t It

Queen Latifah Honors Eboni, Her Love, and for a Moment Heals the Black Queer Kids BET Never Loved

Exclusive Trailer Drop! Con Todo Netflix’s “Visions of Us” Is an Absolute Love Letter to Queer Latinx TV and Film

Building An Altar to Honor Pulse on Its Fifth Anniversary

Five Years After Pulse, Queer Nightclubs Still Bring Both Freedom and Fear

Stephanie Beatriz and Daphne Rubin-Vega on “In the Heights” and Queer Latinas Finding Love in the Everyday

P-Valley Has Changed the Rules of Black Queer Storytelling

No Filter: Simply the Betts! Happy First Anniversary to Niecy Nash, Jessica Betts, and the Greatest Day of Our Gay Lives

It’s Time to Talk about It, “Never Have I Ever” Has a Race Problem

Somebody Loves You Baby: When Patti LaBelle Taught Me Black Femme Desire

Whatever You Thought “We Are Lady Parts” Was Going to Be, This Ain’t It

Queen Latifah Honors Eboni, Her Love, and for a Moment Heals the Black Queer Kids BET Never Loved

Exclusive Trailer Drop! Con Todo Netflix’s “Visions of Us” Is an Absolute Love Letter to Queer Latinx TV and Film

Building An Altar to Honor Pulse on Its Fifth Anniversary

Five Years After Pulse, Queer Nightclubs Still Bring Both Freedom and Fear

Stephanie Beatriz and Daphne Rubin-Vega on “In the Heights” and Queer Latinas Finding Love in the Everyday

Year of Our (Audre) Lorde: September’s Afterimages

“Antebellum” Forgot That Black Women Can’t Save the World From Fascism, We Only Must Save Ourselves

Queer Arabs Taking Up Space: An Interview With Zaina Arafat

Mud Wrestling Showed Me How To Want

“Set It Off” Is the Queer Tribute to Black Women’s Friendship We Need After a Summer of Black Mourning

Anatomy Of A Mango: Seed

NIECY NASH DONE WENT AND GOT GAY MARRIED

14 Knuckles: Femme Top Revolution

Year of Our (Audre) Lorde: August’s New Spelling of My Name

Foolish Child #79: Comply

“The Chi” Season Three: Easy on the Eyes as a Queer Woman, Hard on the Heart as a Black Woman

The Allure of Chola Femininity