Hey there Space Rangers!
You Should Go or Do or Give
+ Remember Dear Kates and how much we love them? Awesome. Well if you’re in the NYC area, you should skedaddle on over to their Galentine’s Day Party!
Queer as in F*ck You
+ Remembering Sharley McLean, a Jewish Lesbian Survivor of Nazism.
+ Ellen Page’s Gaycation series for Vice now has a trailer, and you can watch it right this minute!
https://youtu.be/fToW-5r07qg
+ Focus Features Launches Fellowship for Trans Filmmakers.
+ Ughhhh this list is so good I can’t move: 14 Femmes of Color Whose Style We Adore, including your very own Aja Aguirre!
Doll Parts
+ Report From the Field: Racial Invisibility and Erasure in the Writing Workshop by Lisa Lee. Read it now.
After things calmed down a bit, T turned to me and said as an aside, his voice lowered, “Maybe it would help if you wrote from the point of view of someone who’s not so close to yourself. Like try writing from the perspective of a man. Who’s not your own race. And if you want to have race in there, then write from the perspective of a white man who dates a black woman and everyone has a problem with it. His parents don’t approve.” In his written comments to me, he wrote, “I don’t know how to respond to this piece. I don’t know if this is nonfiction or fiction.” Let me repeat: This was a fiction workshop. I was angry when I read that. The woman I describe in the opening of this essay also repeatedly confused my fictional narrator with myself, making it clear that she was reading my fictional novel as memoir. Critics, readers, and writers tend to believe that writers of color are only capable of writing autobiography, that the land of imagination and creativity is for white people.
+ I want to talk about this forever and ever until I’m sleeping soundly from the exhaustion of having talked about it for so long: Sticking Weed in Your Vagina Can Help Your Period Cramps by Mish Way.
Within 20 minutes, my cramps totally disappeared. Unlike recent “natural” products like “herbal detox pearls” (meant to “cleanse” your uterus), Foria consists of just three ingredients—cocoa butter, THC and CBD—all of which I have ingested for many years with no major problems. I was not surprised at how well the suppository worked. What I was surprised about was the longevity. Midol will wear off after about half a work day, and during most periods I’ll pop six a day. But one Foria suppository did its job well into my evening.
+ Hey body-diverse Barbies are here and I’ve already shipped Doll 33 and Doll 26!
Heather Hogan made this dream come true for me. And for you, really.
+ Alternatives to Resting Bitch Face by Susan Harlan, my apparent soul twin.
+ Read this interview with Reshma Saujani, CEO and founder of Girls Who Code!
+ The Teen Who Trekked 1,800 Miles Through the Canadian Wilderness Disguised as a Man by Alisa Ross. I mean, what won’t a teen do to trek across Canada, right?
+ How African LGBT Activist Are Risking Their Lives to Bring Tolerance to Their Homes by Linda Villarosa.
+ These New Guidelines Make It Easier for Transgender Athletes to Compete in the Olympics. “But the final decision still rests in the hands of individual sports federations.” Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,mmmmmmmmm,mmmm.
Saw This, Thought of You
+ Ok this is a webinar I actually want to watch?? Urban Forest Connections Series.
+ What Can You Do With 300,000 Dead Bees? by Kate Allen.
+ MUSHROOM DEATH SUIT. Mushroom death suittttttttt.
+ I… I don’t know.
+ 99-Year-Old Woman Wakes to Find Exotic Animal Asleep on Her Chest. Fucking Florida, man.
And Finally
#TextsfromTitanosaur is cute and we love it.
This alternatives to resting bitch face. THIS THING.
I’m loving “You Haven’t Told Me Anything That I Didn’t Already Know Face” and matching it with an article I just read on mansplaining.
It’s only 8:00 in the morning and I’ve already spent a good chunk of my day with the “Thanks So Much For Your Unsolicited Advice Face” on… Can’t wait to get to work, where I can break out the “This Email Is Surely a Joke Face” and maybe a little of the “Tell Me Again About That Thing I Didn’t Care About the First Time Face”.
texts from titanosaur?! I love this.
First I started some potato soup in my new crock pot, then I watched some Jane the Virgin (I’m new to both things and??), and now the AAA includes texts from a dinosaur. Happy Friday, all.
oh gosh the story of Isobel Gunn just killed me — so moving. It’s the teen girl who trekked across Canada dressed as a man. That should be a movie.
Blue hair and undercut Barbie are my OTP.
Me too! :3
I ship it. I call undercut barbie Queermo JLaw.
I’m intrigued by the period weed. The first few days of mine usually involve burning through too much advil too quickly. I think I’ve reached “sure, I’ll try anything” status.
I swear I thought it was the Autostraddle website opened up on Barbie’s laptop on the bed. LOL!
…is it? :O
that’s hilarious; good call! heather hogan, hero.
Thanks! :) But doesn’t it look like it? The big Autostraddle logo and then the comments to the right side…
Okay, I’m 24 and I think I’m going to actually buy those two barbies (and maybe another one! :3).
Anyone with me?
I’m very tempted!! I love that they made a barbie with an alternative lifestyle haircut. My lesbian barbies would have been loved her :)
*would have loved
Mine too! I think they’d be the next ones to “get married” lol
But you should get it! I say go for it! I’m going to! :D
I was thinking doll 27 could be that hot next door neighbor or maybe that office gal who seduces doll 26. But doll 33 shows her what’s what! But oh no! Doll 15 has a secret crush on doll 33! :O
Ahem! O.O I’m sorry! *blushes and hides under my covers*
I like these new Barbie designs for the most part. I love the different skin tones and hairstyles and I love that Mattel is making an effort. The only thing I’m a little iffy on is that the “curvy” body type looks more like just “actual human” to me. And since, in our gross society, curvy is sometimes seen as a negative, I worry about young girls seeing them and thinking that since their own very slender body type is like the curvy Barbie, then they must be fat and therefore need to lose weight.
Yes, I agree!
I agree, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’d like to see some barbies with physical disabilities too. I hope Ken gets some body diversity as well.
My mum asked me if it was ok to buy my youngest daughter a Barbie for Christmas which came with tattoos you could add. I was really surprised and excited that such a thing exists and I said “yes, I’m sure she would love that!” Christmas day, daughter opens Barbie package – and the “tattoos” are transfers you add to the clothes; it’s a fashion design set. Sooo disappointed – but my little girl still had fun adding the transfers to the clothes. But how cool would that be, a Barbie you can tattoo. So, yeah, next Barbie idea – one with tatts. And one without makeup and high heels – maybe that’s going too far, Barbie has always been high femme.
Yeah, I literally almost said “step in the right direction” when I was writing my comment, but I changed it to “making an effort” at the last second. And a Barbie with tattoos would be lovely.
What can’t they do with cannabis these days. Exciting times. Also excited to see a trans film fellowship. Hopefully, that means it will help end cis people playing trans.
I just hope that the reverse doesn’t happen – where trans people can only play trans characters because cis people can’t play trans characters.
Totally thought the cramps/cannabis thing was going to be about Juliet Takes a Breath!
I am so ridiculously excited for those barbies!
Ugh so much good stuff in this roundup
– I want to put cannabis inside my vagina! Omg should we all chip in on a bulk order of Foria and take a dose an hour before Bloody Hell 3? Live roundtable reviews? That could get interesting.
– I want to print out that McSweeney’s article in checklist format and write tickets for offenders. “This is All a Bunch of Bureaucratic Nonsense Face” resonates so hard with me, as well as “No I Don’t Really Think That’s How All of Humanity Is Face”, “I’m So Glad That Is Just Your Opinion Face”, and “You Make So Much More Money Than I Do and You Do Nothing Face” (soooo relevant in LA).
– I want to do that webinar!
– I actually think the barbies look super cool? Maybe it’s just because I feel like about half of them are queer.
– The Chickening… I don’t even… what?
– That POC Femme list gave me LIFE. yaaaas queens
I also love the Barbies and want to put weed in my vagina. Good stuff in here!
Holy cats, the Barbie couple has a micro puppy! On the bed. Next to the laptop open to AS. LOLOLOL!!
Soooooooooooo, can we someday have an article JUST on lesbian barbies?
The first time I read this, I thought you had already ordered dolls 33 and 26. Returning one day later, I realize that is not what you meant. Is this a version of broken gaydar?
This was an amazing collection of weekend articles, and I read almost all of them last night. You are all the best. ?