most popular posts

1. It’s Not Britney, Bitch, by Riese
   
2. The Official 2011 Autostraddle Hot 100, by Riese and Grace
   
3. How to Have Lesbian Sex Tips From NSFW Sunday, by Riese
   
4. The Lesbian Insider’s Guide to 40 LGBT-Friendly College Campuses, by Riese and Team
   
5. Photographs: New York City The Night We Won Same Sex Marriage, by Robin
   
6. Jessie J Did It Like a Dude And Most Dykes Liked It, by Riese
   
7. How to Have Lesbian Sex for the First Time: NSFW Sunday Special, by Riese and Laneia
   
8. The Real L Word Recap: Episode 201 – Fresh Start Body Parts, by Riese
   
9. Andrej Pejic, “The Prettiest Boy in the World,” Models Through It, by Riese
   
10. 100 Ridiculously Hot Lesbian and Bisexual Women (The “Femmy” Edition), by Riese

2011 was hard. Our traffic was exploding — but so was the website itself (as in; it broke frequently) and we were barely making enough money to barely support me and Laneia, let alone anybody else. Alex had just moved to L.A. and I’d just moved to Oakland and we hadn’t yet figured out how to work well long-distance, and with Alex working another full-time job. Laneia and I went through our first (and last, hopefully!) major fight as best friends, which threw things off for a few months. At Dinah Shore, I passed out for TBD reasons and the $8k ER bill landed in my mailbox the same day I did my income taxes and realized the Autostraddle project could continue no longer.

So we asked for help — and we got it! We raised some funds and also got ourselves a management consultant who basically gave me and Laneia business couples counseling every day for several months. We learned how to manage people and organize our workload. I wrote 461 posts in 2011. FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE. As you can imagine, there wasn’t room for much else.

Riese Bernard

this year we did a lot of…

• Epic Get Bakeds
  
• Real L Word, Glee, PLL and Skins Content
  
• Kittens
  
• Scammers Coverage (e.g., Gay Girl in Damascus, the editor of LezGetReal turning out to be a man)
  
• Trans 101
  
• Fashion/Beauty Roundup posts

awards

• Finalist in First Annual Curve Lesbian Awards for Best Blogger (Riese) // Best Webseries (Julie & Brandy in Your Box Office) // Best Website (Autostraddle)
  
• Go Magazine Women We Love 2011 (Riese)

most prolific writers

1. Riese Bernard
   
2. Rachel Kincaid
   
3. Carolyn Yates
   
4. Jess Rothschild
   
5. Carmen Rios
   
6. Laura Wooley
   
7. Lizz Rubin
   
8. Laneia Jones
   
9. Crystal Silvester
   
10. Brittani Nichols

tv

• Glee
  
• Pretty Little Liars
  
• True Blood
  
• The Real L Word
  
• Coronation Street
  
• Grey’s Anatomy
  
• Degrassi
  
• Skins

pop culture

• Evan Rachel Wood comes out as bisexual
  
• Grey’s Anatomy throws a lesbian wedding for Callie & Arizona
  
• Angel Haze enters our universe
  
• The last Harry Potter movie hits theaters
  
• “Bridesmaids” is heralded as our only hope for female-fronted film (which was AHEM ahistorical and incorrect)
  
• Holly Miranda + Kate Moennig, sitting in a tree
  
• Lesbians compete in beauty pageants
  
• Jessie J releases her “Do It Like a Dude” video
  
• Hannah Hart‘s “My Drunk Kitchen” debuts
  
• “Gay Teens on TV” grace the cover of Entertainment Weekly
  
• Santana comes out as a lesbian on GLEE

movies

• Pariah
  
• Kiss Me / Kyss Mig
  
• Circumstance
  
• Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
  
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

politics

• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal enacted
  
• Marriage equality in New York
  
• California passes SB-48, a law requiring gay history taught in schools
  
• Obama declares they won’t defend DOMA in court
  
• Brandon McInerney goes on trial for shooting Larry King