Letter From Your Editors

HELLO OH MY LORD HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING

Look, it’s a new year! This month’s collage theme is “new year, new ____.” Here are some pictures of us with new things!

Where do I begin/end. What can I say/do. I don’t know. Literally nothing about my personal life or the life of this world looks like I thought it would — like I thought it could, really. Can anything surprise me anymore? Every day, both personally and politically, the answer turns out to be “yes.”

But we are here with you and we will stay here with you for as long as we have the financial means to do so, which I hope will be a very long time.

This is where we are: we’re focusing hard on keeping you updated on direct actions you can take because we have to do something. We’re focusing hard on making you laugh as often as possible because that’s an escape we can all get behind, from garlic cloves lost in vaginal canals to unfortunate headwear to bad ’90s lesbian movies. We’re still trying to bring you more international voices (like Heather Davidson, our new UK writer!) and also realize that not all of our readers are as invested in the Trump situation as United States residents are. We want to connect with you as humans as often as possible, so we’re venturing into Facebook Live territories with our new weekly broadcasts of Getting In Bed With Kristin, which have been so much fun so far! (If you missed any, the videos from the livecasts are uploaded for A+ users every Sunday!) I have loved them so far and will be a special guest next week, talking about mental health, which is good because I have officially lost my shit and am in a great place to tell you what to do about yours.

I’ve been working every day with Kristin, Marni and Sarah to get registration ready for our next A-Camp session, which’s happening May 18th-23rd in Wisconsin and will be huge and extraordinary and hopefully healing and productive for us all.

We’re also ramping up for Black History Month with the goal of building things and connecting with new writers who’ll hopefully keep contributing for many many months. Look out for a call for submissions today.

We hope you’ve enjoyed your A+ Content this month: VIDEO! Getting In Bed With Kristin #1: Ask Me Anything, Some Answers to Some Things You’ve Been Asking Us #11, Getting In Bed With Kristin #2: Doomsday, If You Show Me Yours I’ll Show You Mine: Autostraddle Staffers’ Tinder Profiles, A Guide To Falling In Love For Hopeless Fools Who Can’t Read Maps and the very epic 2016 By The Numbers: An A+ Member Exclusive.

Look at that. I wrote this letter!

Love,

Riese

co-signed by Laneia / Rachel / Yvonne / Heather

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Top 10 Most Popular Posts From December

These posts were hella popular last month.

1. Oakland Ghost Ship Fire Kills Artists, Queers, Weirdos, Dreamers and Dreams, by Riese
2. The 100 Most Lesbianish First Names, Ranked By Lesbianism, by Riese
3. 43 Women Who Came Out as LGBT, Showed Up or Got Girlfriends In 2016, by Riese
4. “Gilmore Girls” Doubles Down On Its Heteronormativity By Turning It Into a Joke, by Kayla
5. BREAKING: Kristen Stewart Spotted Walking Next To Stella Maxwell, Ring The Alarm, by Stef
6. Satellite of Love: Queer Horoscopes for December 2016, by Corina
7. All 86 New iOS Emoji, Ranked by Lesbianism, by Mey
8. Pop Culture Fix: Lesbian Bachelor Contestant Couple Insist Maxim Cover Isn’t “Fake Anti-Feminist Lesbianised Male Fantasy”, by Riese
9. Year-End Roundup: Celebrity Breakups That Remind Us That Love Is Still A Lie, by Stef
10. “San Junipero” Is A Beautiful, Haunting Queer Love Story With Mixed Messages About Disability, by Valerie Anne and Carrie

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Nine Important Excerpts From Editorial Conversations

Riese: what if my food list was 36 recipes that include poison
Laneia: i would bark-laugh
Rachel: i think its audience would be limited but probably enthusiastic
Riese: i can think of at least four people who would enjoy it
and by that i mean us and erin
not heather, her heart is too pure
Laneia: you could do recipes for one that are also easy to poison
just like “sidenote you could add cyanide to this”
Riese: oh yeah good idea “recipes in which you can swap out vegetable oil for poison”
Laneia: “this might be good with a dose of pinesol or amonia”
Riese: “if you don’t like cilantro, try horse tranquilizer!”
Laneia: i hear horse tranquilizers are much milder than cilantro yes
what about a list of things to eat that will send you to the hospital but not kill you, so you can get a little minivacay
Riese: which is honestly exactly what i want
a tiny coma
Laneia: yes
not sure what that would be but still. i mean it seems like bee pollen would send you to the hospital but
i guess not

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Rachel: even though it never even worked, i still miss the “exclude men/women only” option on shutterstock
Heather: 2016 took so much

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Riese: man oh man oh man oh man
this commenter!!
she keeps being like “is anybody gonna speak out against heather hogan comparing lesbians to nazis”
“riese as a jewish lesbian yourself, how do you feel about heather hogan saying that all lesbians are nazis.”
and like yeah i guess if heather hogan, WHO IS ALSO A LESBIAN, said all lesbians were nazis, we’d have to confront that issue
but um
she didn’t, so.
Laneia: isn’t anyone going to speak out against rachel for saying all men should be castrated and set on fire ???????
Riese: i wouldn’t, honestly, but
Heather: no absolutely not
Laneia: glad we have our priorities in order

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Rachel: my mom in law has CNN on and i think my hair is going to start falling out soon if she doesn’t change the channel
Heather: oh gosh
oh man
you may have to just run for it
Rachel: if you hear about the authorities trying to talk down a young woman off a three-story apt building in north kansas city, you’ll know that i did
Heather: i’ll tweet it out like buddy the elf
I KNOW HER! I KNOW HER!

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Carmen: i broke up with america on election night and i’m ready to go down fighting and nobody is invited unless they voted for hillary clinton
Stef: is there an adult left to fix this?
Carmen: that’s what’s next
Stef: Carmen burns the whole country to the ground
Carmen: you can’t sit with me or hide out in my mad max bunker unless you bring a signed copy of “hard choices”
Stef: lights a smoke off it, turns around, raises her eyebrow and says “mahalo.”
Carmen: i’m literally in mad max mode, i have been
Stef: “i don’t always smoke, but when i do it’s from the flames of a burning america.”

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Heather: honestly once i perfect my homebrew ipa i’m ready to bounce to the lesbian commune
three months max
Rachel: the second half of 2016 sort of feels like the finale of a season where the showrunners realized they were wrapping everything up too neatly and there would be no forward momentum to the next season, and so had to hurriedly upend half of the stuff they had already written
Heather: that is so accurate

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Mey: What if we do a round table showing our tinder profiles
Like the bio I mean
Alaina: my tinder profile is so good
no dates yet but that’s on austin not me
Mey: archie wrote mine and it’s :fire: :fire: :fire:
Kayla: I’m not on tinder anymore but could I participate by sharing my old prof from back in my tinder days (I also have lots of screenshots of me asking my matches to rank the fast & furious movies from best to worst which was my main approach to tinder)
Kaelyn: I wish I could recreate my “(Femme)nist in the streets, Daddy’s girl in the sheets” profile from Planet Out circa 2004. But alas, it has been lost to the eternal archives of the mid-2000’s internets.
But feel free to steal that for your tinder profile.
Alaina: already stole it
Stef: on okcupid where if said “you should message me if” mine said “oh god please don’t”
Riese: courtney said i have too many words in my tinder profile so
Stef: aw i like yours
Riese: i think i’ve added more words since then
Cee: i will send u my profile mey
What’s this for anyway
Mey: riese I wanna see your super long bio!
Heather: what i know from our last a+ podcast is lesbians put “hiking and beer” as the main thing on all their profiles
Mey: Heather I wish so bad you used tinder bc I would DIE to see what your profile looked like
Heather: how many characters can you use? is it like a twitter bio?
Stef: you can be like “I have a partner but I’m here for friends!!!!!!!!!” which makes me :face_with_rolling_eyes: and swipe left, bitch this isn’t america’s next top best friend
Carmen: i hate tinder because every single time i swipe left i just think “wow me and this person have something in common and that is that we are dying alone”

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Heather: rachel do you use CeraVe® Skincare and also did you receive this press release from them? i think you could leverage it for free stuff or i could on your behalf.
Rachel: i do not have the presser and would love to see it
and also to firmly take whoever decided to not send it to me initially by the ear, and slap them

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Heather: i just got a press release called “what your transgender co-workers want you to know” and none of the information is about vodka water so i guess this person isn’t the expert they claim to be.
Mey: Can you PLEASE forward that to me

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Rachel: well this other test says i’m an INFP
so idk
maybe bisexuals get two personality types
Heather: i’ll bet if you take it again you’ll be esfj because bisexuals just can’t choose
a finger in every myers briggs pie
Rachel: so true
i’ll take meyers AND briggs, ladies

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Meet A New Contributor!

Get to know some of our newest faces.

Jenna Lykes, Contributing Writer

Twitter: @jennalykes
Instagram: @jennalykes

Who was your first woman celebrity crush?
Definitely Eliza Dushku as Faith on Buffy. Something awakened within me when Faith and Buffy danced in “Bad Girls.” (It was my queer. My queer awakened.)

Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on:
I didn’t do a whole lot of what you might call “dating” before I met my wife 11 years ago (and I’ve never been on a bad date with her), so I don’t have a lot of options to choose from. I guess my worst date was probably in high school when a boy took me to see Sweet Home Alabama. He was actually a nice enough kid, but I was very closeted at the time and the idea of going out with a boy made me feel sad and even more trapped than usual. The date itself was classically awkward; there was stilted conversation, sweaty hand holding during the movie, and an uncomfortable and brief goodnight kiss when he dropped me off. Unsubscribe @ heterosexuality.

What’s your all-time favorite video game? Why?
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for N64. I think that game singlehandedly got me through a few lonely teenage years. No matter how often I played (usually daily), I never got sick of hiding from the world in my older brother’s room and skateboarding through every level.

What’s your morning ritual like?
I work from home, so my mornings usually vary depending on the day, but there is one constant: I make really good eggs for breakfast. I can even flip my omelets with no spatula, so it’s basically like I’m a chef. Also, my wife always makes our coffee even though I used to be a barista.

If you could only use one emoji for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Hearteyes.

What’s something you’ve been really proud of lately?
I have been trying to work out more consistently and I’ve actually been mostly successful, so I guess I’m pretty proud of that.

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I HOPE I LOOK GOOD AT AMERICA AND RUSSIA’S WEDDING

Carmen: i’m prepared, i think, emotionally, for steve bannon and donald trump to prove they were telling the truth
i’m prepared, i think, to watch them attempt to dismantle our democracy
Laura: yeah he’ll say they’re lies and there’s so much going on that nobody will be able to focus and it will just be allowed to happen
Carmen: i’m also prepared to resist them at every turn and bring a bottle of evian with me to the funeral for our nation
i hope i look good at america and russia’s wedding
i also hope i look great at america’s funeral
Stef: i have a really good cape for america’s funerals
Laura: for example i am drunk now because i don’t know what else to do
Carmen: 2016: love is the person you thought of on election night
2017: love is the person you’re taking russian classes with
Stef: less dracula, more audrey hepburn
Carmen: should i tweet that tho
Stef: thank god for tatu, i can at least pronounce cyrillic
I KNEW THEY’D COME IN HANDY
Riese: we should all have a vodka water tonight
in celebration of russia
Carmen: LMFAO
ugh i love vodka
Stef: look at you pretending vodka water is a real drink
Carmen: but only with pineapple juice
Riese: also i just ran out of rolling papers so the end of the world is here
Carmen: i hope everyone knows i plan to do two things moving forward:
+ lead the resistance
+ never stop reminding everyone that hillary clinton is a perfect queen and we never deserved her
Mey: Ok. First of all
Stef I want to see you in that cape
Second of all I don’t like this vodka water hate
Raquel: Carmen are you going to be in D.C. for the march
I am but idk what else to do about this
besides help you light the fire that burns down the county
Carmen: i am in los angeles for the march
i plan to wear a pink fur coat and my klub deer dress like a true suffragist
i promise that y’all can help me light the fire to burn down all of this
one day maybe it’ll be like none of it happened except i’ll probably always live with the giant hole in my heart that began forming on election night as i stress-ate zucchini
Stef: oh carmen
Carmen: lmao donald trump stole an election from my lifelong hero and i’ll never be the same AMA
Stef: what did you do with the zucchini
Mey: do you want a vodka water
Stef: stop pretending it’s a real drink
Mey: are you gonna go up to be steadwell and say “vodka water, which you love, is not a real drink”???
Stef: ok
Carmen: i put the zucchini in my mouth and ate it like a monster over and over and over
like keely would look over at me just inhaling vegetables
sobbing
or looking pained
Stef: like just raw zucchini?
this is darker than i thought
Mey: yeah, like, i wrote a food list about how much i love zucchini and i don’t eat it raw
or maybe i do?
Carrie: re: zucchini i can confirm that this happened
Though I was busy sobbing in the parking lot soon after
Stef: ugh

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What We’ve Been Reading

Laneia: The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon, and Upstream by Mary Oliver

Heather: The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Carolyn: Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

Valerie Anne: Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

Carmen: I’m still reading Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky because I am also still figuring out my Desire Map for the year. Bless it all.

Molly P: The Secret Place by Tana French

Samantha: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Carrie: Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living by Manjula Martin

Riese: The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, by Olivia Laing

Sinclair: Mind and Emotions: A Universal Treatment for Emotional Disorders by McKay, Fanning, & Ona and If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Kayla: Swing Time by Zadie Smith

Maree: The 24-Hour Wine Expert by Jancis Robinson

Stef: still working on A Guest at the Shooters’ Banquet: My Grandfather’s SS Past, My Jewish Family, A Search for the Truth by Rita Gabis

Cee: Whipping Girl by Julia Serano

Alaina: Grace, Not Perfection by Emily Ley and Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequest and Brene Brown

Erin: How to Read Water by Tristan Gooley

Audrey: How To Survive A Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France

Rachel: Of Fire and Stars, by Audrey Coulthurst

Aisha: Swing Time by Zadie Smith

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SLACKERS

Q: What’s your favorite custom emoji that you added to Slack?

A:

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January Retro-Reading

Some posts from previous Januarys Riese thinks you might enjoy.

Get Baked with Autostraddle: Bitchin’ Soup Edition, by Laneia / Rachel / Stef / Taylor (2011) – In the intro to this post, Laneia said “I think this might be the largest collection of recipes in one edition of Get Baked.” How about that? This will be relevant to you all winter long.

10 Great Places to Meet Lesbians If You Have a Time Machine, by Riese Bernard (2012) – Let me know if you get a time machine for this reason and so many others these days you know?

Butch Please: Butch and Swag, by Kate Severance (2013) – “Sometimes I walk down the street and every woman who passes is so beautiful that I can barely keep my ribcage from swinging open.”

Netflix Outed Me: “Gay & Lesbian Movies” Was My Smoking Gun, by Nina (2014) – This was so cute and y’all loved it so much!

Schecter 3:16 (Or How Jenny Schecter Saved My Life), by Heather Hogan (2014) – This is a thing Heather wrote for us before she started working here! I was so happy when I asked Heather if she would write an essay for us and she said “yes.” Then I read the essay and it was so good. If you’ve not already read it, this is a big day for you.

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SEND ME TWO CHEESE BOARDS!

Laneia: Is everyone reading this dossier
Heather: i am
Rachel: i have to take a xanax first i think
Laneia: was gonna offer to make it a drinking game
Rachel: i would take you up on that
Laneia: take a sip for every time you see CLINTON
Riese: oh my god
oh god
golden showers?
Heather: this day is fucking insane
Laneia: just a wealth of fuckery
Heather: i need a beer
Laneia: 2017 coming out of the gate strong
Heather: no, whiskey
Rachel: i give my blanket permission for whiskey and/or bourbon
regardless of your current timezone
in this channel
Heather: thank you, Rachel
i feel like i am going literally crazy
Rachel: yes
Riese: this is why we need
a lady president
no golden shower allegations
Laneia: so true
just a nice cheese board
Riese: just a cheese & fruit plate and maybe she asked for dressing on the side
that’s all
Laneia: “send me two cheese boards — NO three!”
Riese: just a nice normal stay at the ritz carlton
maybe she went a bit wild at the mini-bar but who can blame her
Laneia: intelligence on clinton is that her fave karaoke song is “goodbye earl” and she nails it every time
Riese: maybe she got a little huffy when the wi-fi wasn’t working
Laneia: screamed I HATE CHILDREN after chelsea left the peanut butter knife on the counter
didn’t mean it
Riese: the staff cleaned it up
Heather: so just to recap today: russia’s got all this dirt to blackmail trump, sessions doesn’t believe women or lgbtq people face discrimination, aca is still on its way out (and a new trump interview reveals he has no idea wtf congress is even doing there), comey says he can’t openly discuss an ongoing fbi investigation with congress, dylan roof death penalty, the cop who killed alfred olango isn’t getting prosecuted, loretta scott king letter
Riese: also there will be a lesbian on the bravo tv show “imposters”
Heather: i love you Riese
Riese: just keeping you abreast
Yvonne: also tx lege started today
so my feed was even more extra
Heather: Yvonne you should take full advantage of that codeine cough syrup
Yvonne: oh girl
i’ve been waiting to take it
Riese: most importantly i’m glad we’ve all come together to debate a real issue which’s whether or not meryl streep’s speech was really the allyship we need
that’s how i feel about facebook
today
honestly everything i’ve seen anyone post on facebook today i was like “GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND”
Heather: oh i just completely ignored that that was happening.
Rachel: i would rather pull out my own teeth than read facebook today
Riese: are we gonna write anything about obama’s speech
a lot happened today i don’t know what to do!
Heather: i honestly don’t have the emotional capacity for it today. i’m sorry.
i’m going to have to record it.
we could just put up the full video once it’s done
and say watch obama’s final speech
and then give yourself to the sea
Riese: open thread: the last good moment of our lives
Heather: i’ll bet liberal youths will be fighting about kinkshaming within the hour
Riese: they will
Laneia: they are
fighting abt kinkshaming i mean
Heather: offfff course
Laneia: there’s no way he’s doing the press conference tomorrow right
just there is no fucking way
Heather: absolutely not
and i’ll bet he pulls a stunt tonight too to try to change focus
the only thing left is to openly attack michelle obama
Laneia: honestly i’m not sure whether i care that this could be fake?
Rachel: i would be shocked if it were fake
Heather: i would also be shocked
Riese: i think he’ll ignore it
Laneia: a sea of fake shit derailed a perfectly good presidential candidate and i’m ready to continue that trend really
Heather: all this shit seems completely in character with everything we’ve seen him do and say
Laneia: yes
Rachel: everything that’s in that report is exactly what i would guess would be in it, right
Heather: hiring sex workers to piss on obama’s bed? yeah of course
Riese: i hope they got paid a lot
Heather: me too
Riese: although
Heather: it was trump, so
Riese: right
always one to take advantage of a good deal
Heather: i hope my grandmother is forced to google golden showers tonight, i really do
Laneia: omg
Heather: i know she googled twerk after miley that time, i saw it in her search history

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Your Monthly Infographic About You

Here’s the scoop from the 2016 Autostraddle Reader Survey. Readers were able to check off as many statuses as they wanted.

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Stef’s Pick of the Month: Soylent

workshopping slogans for my favorite product of 2017.

A video posted by stef (@stef_schwartz) on Jan 18, 2017 at 12:16pm PST

Listen, OK, hear me out. I LOVE FOOD. I love cooking, I love eating, I love snacking, I am very passionate about eating food! But you know what else I am? Fucking busy. I work afternoons into nights and usually spend 12-14 hours at work, which means unless I get my shit together and pack a lunchbox I am mostly relying on bodega snacks and Seamless for my meals. When I actually do have time off, I love cooking and experimenting with ingredients, but most of the time I’m at the mercy of the five restaurants near my job that I don’t hate yet.

Soylent describes itself as “ready-to-drink food,” which takes a lot of guesswork out of what the fuck I should order for lunch. It’s 400 calories and includes 20% of my recommended nutrition for the day, and before you ask, it’s vegan (not made out of people, but thank you for that very original joke!). Initially I used to add a little agave nectar to the Original flavor, but I’ve found that I actually really like the taste and just drink it over ice. Recently, they’ve come out with new flavors – Coffiest (which has as much caffeine as a strong cup of coffee and tastes like a $7 mocha), Cacao (which is basically fortified chocolate milk) and Nectar (which I haven’t tried yet but a friend described as “responsible fruit loops”). I’ve been enjoying alternating flavors for lunch for the last couple of weeks, and I’ve found that they’re all very tasty and keep me content and full for about six hours or so.

So like, food’s great! It tastes good and you need it to live, but also takeout is expensive and Soylent (at around $3/bottle) is cheap, tasty and full of vitamins or whatever. So far the worst problem I’ve had with it has been a lot of people thinking they’re real goddamn comedians by telling me it’s people. Maybe someday I will be the kind of person who packs a sandwich, but in the meantime I will spread the gospel about this very adequate drink.

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Social Media Spotlight

Here are some tweets that brought an extra special smile to our faces this bleak month on Twitter!

https://twitter.com/acmscm/status/819421459500044288

https://twitter.com/augleda/status/819061699013644288

Oh my god @autostraddle just got a shout out on #onedayatatime this is surreal

— Aoife 🏳️‍🌈 (@AGingerxyz) January 10, 2017

THEY MENTIONED @autostraddle FFS how can i not fangirl #OneDayAtATime

— StevenYeun #DiStefanoFan (@Tan_meleon) January 10, 2017

https://twitter.com/LyleMasaki/status/818631205570551809

No BOFA, my @autostraddle membership is not "unusual" activity. Rain or shine, Obama or Trump, we need queer media to feed our souls!

— queer girl (@queergirlblogs) January 9, 2017

https://twitter.com/tlg278/status/821541982598287364

The only time I read the comments on my pieces is when I write for @autostraddle.

— Molly Priddy (@mollypriddy) January 17, 2017

https://twitter.com/modernhuge/status/821413490216701952

Seriously: @autostraddle is a ray of hope, activism, and humanity. And the recipes are great. 🏳️‍🌈💙💜💖🏳️‍🌈

— Marta Casetti (@mmcasetti) January 17, 2017

https://twitter.com/MxAshlynn/status/820360057128767488

#onedayatatime omg they referenced @autostraddle

— Love, Jenny (@JennysTrueHappy) January 14, 2017

https://twitter.com/whosthatgirl__/status/819945763526557696

Just read through all of @autostraddle's A+ answers and now have like 50 new articles bookmarked to read tonight! @autowin

— Alyssa (@tvwithapb) January 13, 2017

"But gay, and not terrible" is how I would improve most things tbqh

— smaller and hungrier owls (@queerdievalist) January 19, 2017

Also, my fellow lesbians, if Kamala Harris doesn't make you think Bette Porter awesomeness, you're doing gay wrong. @Autostraddle pic.twitter.com/x9oqPBcgTl

— Lucy Burton (@swirlOsquirrel) January 22, 2017

Got a text from my dad saying "I love you & good article on @autostraddle." So glad article my dad chose to read was on lesbian BDSM books.

— Casey Stepaniuk (@canlesbrarian) January 20, 2017

.@grrreen and @autowin for giving us @autostraddle in the first place and always providing unique perspectives respectfully #AppreciationDay

— Sambleshanks (@slambister) January 20, 2017

https://twitter.com/OsgoodMichelle/status/822477803400536064

https://twitter.com/NT1854/status/822281830028181510

https://twitter.com/NT1854/status/822281988539318272

I can't believe One Day At a Time plugged @autostraddle AND Eleanor Roosevelt's gayness in the same sentence

— denise (@restngwtchface) January 20, 2017

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Articles Rachel Can’t Believe You Motherf*ckers Didn’t Read This Month

American Hookup Trades Moral Panic for Real Talk About Sex in College, by Carrie

I’ve been a stan for Lisa Wade since I was in college and reading her blog Sociological Images, which really blew my mind when I was but a babe in the woods when it comes to media literacy. Unsurprisingly, her book American Hookup also sounds very smart, and Carrie is very smart in talking about it and about how we approach a culture of sexuality for young people in general. Take a look!

When Community Complicates Healthcare for Sex Workers, by Andre

This is a really thoughtful piece about the challenges Andre faces as a sex worker in finding mental health professionals able to work with them, and an exploration of the obstacles in place for many marginalized people and people living at intersections when it comes to treatment and wellness. Many of us have found that the kindly-meant suggestion “you should look into therapy!” isn’t very simple in execution, and this piece is a great look at that reality.

Angry Transgender Woman Writes Story About Texas Bathroom Bill, Changes the World, by Polly Anna

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people say, both online and in real life, variations of “can’t we just get rid of [southern state], they voted for this, not us.” It’s so crucial to remember that members of our communities LIVE in the red states, in the cities that have voted for bathroom bills, in the bulwarks of right-wing reactionary thought. It’s more important than ever to center their voices and let them be in charge of explanations and solutions. Polly Anna’s piece is great and you should check it out asap!

I refuse to place myself in danger because it makes some fools at the Texas capital uncomfortable that girls like me exist publicly. I will not be limited to a sexual fantasy or some kind of untouchable position in society because I am a transgender woman. I will NOT use men’s public facilities in any capacity, law or no law, because it is insulting to me and trans women everywhere to suggest I should.

Queer Crip Love Fest: Online Friendships in the Fight Against Trump, Carrie interviewing Angel Powell

This is a great interview in general and so smart and honest about the importance of our online communities in specific!

I’m so close to my friends that I’m not sure anyone else could meet the same standard that they’ve set for me. My therapist always tells me “you have to go out and meet more people; just having online friendships is kind of cheating.” But that’s totally not cheating!

A Yoga Playlist for the Grief of This Year, by Aisha

I was shocked when i found this because I honestly thought we had published it three months ago, because the past month has felt like three! Aisha wrote this to get us through the beginning of these times but I think it will also hold us up through the middle and end. Do something for yourself and read it.

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Not All Dolphins

Heather: i wonder if trump’s presidency will finally cure me of my over-earnestness
probably not!
manhattan’s sinking under water and i’m like “i loved that line in your essay when you gurgle gurgle gurgle…”
Laneia: heather i laughed out loud
Stef: i’ll dive out of the water like a glorious dolphin to scream HEATHER HOGAN IS WROOOONG * splash *
Heather: hahahahahaha!
Stef: then i’ll drag you into my bisexual atlantis
not a euphemism
just a place where we make you talk about boys
underwater
sorry mey there might be whales there
i just read that orcas can be bisexual
Heather: all the best animals are bisexual. especially those misandrist bonobos.
Stef: also bottlenose dolphins
Alaina: one of my cats is a bisexual
Stef: and apparently black swans!
holy shit lesbian seagulls are real
this is a journey
Heather: honestly the best journalism of 2016: In the Bonobo World, Female Camaraderie Prevails

In the African forest, the critically endangered species demonstrates a gender split. The matriarchal group rules their social networks and punishes male aggressors.

Suddenly, three older, high-ranking female bonobos bolted up from below, a furious blur of black fur and swinging limbs and, together with the female in estrus, flew straight for the offending males. The males scattered. The females pursued them. Tree boughs bounced and cracked. Screams on all sides grew deafening.

Three of the males escaped, but the females cornered and grabbed the fourth one — the resident alpha male. He was healthy, muscular and about 18 pounds heavier than any of his captors. But no matter.

The females bit into him as he howled and struggled to pull free. Finally, “he dropped from the tree and ran away, and he didn’t appear again for about three weeks,” said Nahoko Tokuyama, of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University in Japan, who witnessed the encounter. When the male returned, he kept to himself. Dr. Tokuyama noticed that the tip of one of his toes was gone.

Stef: reading that article is like reading my own diary
Mey: Ok first of all dolphins suck. Also whales are not allowed in bisexual Atlantis even those gay ones. Also heather please just get more and more earnest
Stef: listen you’re new here, you don’t get to make up the rules
Mey:Ugh fine!!! Whatever!
Cee: I saw a bunch of dolphins today while kayaking and those dolphins were pretty cool
So maybe not all dolphins

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XOXO

Team Autostraddle