It’s that time of year when online & print magazines such as this one are permitted endless portions of reflective self-indulgence. Usually we’d spread this out into numerous posts because apparently that’s the best way to create content for the internet, but I mean, who are we kidding. This isn’t the rest of the internet.
As Riese will explain in her Second Autostraddle State of the Union Address Post in a few days, a number of factors (including you!) inspired us to really get our shit together and restructure a lot of stuff this year. So basically — everyone on the Meet the Team page as of today has worked very hard to still be there.
Therefore, we (Riese, Rachel & Laneia) seek to both share with you our most popular posts of the year and also to individually honor all those special snowflakes for their very special snow-flake-ness. Also now you’ll have like 5,000 things to read should you get bored this weekend.
We wrote 2,020 posts this year! That’s a lot, right? Wow.
Robin Roemer & Sarah Medd with The 2013 Calendar Girls
+
2011 Most Popular Posts (By Pageviews)
2. The Official 2011 Autostraddle Hot 100
3. How to Have Lesbian Sex Tips From NSFW Sunday
4. The Lesbian Insider’s Guide to 40 LGBT-Friendly College Campuses
5. Photographs: New York City The Night We Won Same Sex Marriage
6. Jessie J Did It Like a Dude And Most Dykes Liked It
7. How to Have Lesbian Sex for the First Time: NSFW Sunday Special
8. The Real L Word Recap: Episode 201 – Fresh Start Body Parts
9. Andrej Pejic, “The Prettiest Boy in the World,” Models Through it
10. 100 Ridiculously Hot Lesbian & Bisexual Women (The “Femmy” Edition)
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2011 Most Popular Posts (by comments)
(excluding open threads)
1. I’m Not a Costume: STARS and the Campaign Against Racist Halloween Costumes
2. Glee Episode 207 Recap: I Kissed a Girl, Allegedly
3. “Lez Get Real” Editor Paula Brooks is Actually a 58-Year-Old Man in Ohio
5. Sara Quin Gives a F*ck About Tyler the Creator’s ‘Sickening Rhetoric‘
6. Trans Men and Queer Women: Who’s This Boy to Date?
7. Real L Word‘s Sajdah Golde Gets Real: The Autostraddle Interview
8. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Sexual Orientation And Were(n’t) Afraid To Ask
9. The Lesbian Insider’s Guide to 40 LGBT-Friendly College Campuses
10. I Sold My Arms and Legs to Walgreens and All I Got Was This Stupid Hair Serum
Best Posts of 2011, By Writer
Riese, editor-in-chief
Oakland, CA
in addition to doing all of the things, Riese wrote 461 posts in 2011
“I have so many stories, so many little lives, that I can throw together a narrative to prove I’m just about anything in the world.”
Our Favorite 2011 Riese Posts:
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Sexuality But Were(n’t) Afraid to Ask: “I didn’t evolve, I changed.”
The PP & Me: Why We All Need Planned Parenthood: “The comfort of knowing that this has always been here, exactly the same every time in every place, and will never go away. Unless, I guess, it does.”
The Last Days of Gay Rutgers Student Tyler Clementi: New Questions, Some Answers: “If you, like me, found the first few weeks of college to be an unfathomably petrifying social experience, then you, like me, will understand a little better what it felt like to be Tyler Clementi.“
Glee Recap 307- I Kissed a Girl, Offstage: “But at least I’ve still got this dumb hat on.”
The L Word Franchise: All I Wanna Say Is That They Don’t Really Care About Us: “See, the only story Ilene Chaiken is really telling at this point is how to opportunistically exploit the lesbian community while cultivating an undeserved title of ‘trailblazer’ and shutting down dissent.”
How to Not Dress For Success: Top Ten Fashions For Being Alone in Your Apartment: “People who work “in offices” have all kinds of rules for how a person should dress for success — rules which involve blazers, uncomfortable shoes, ties, pressed pants and other concepts that ultimately stifle the human soul. Working from home allows you to tap in to your most authentic self — but let’s not confuse that with “being lazy, apathetic and generally aimless/hopeless about life.”
You Need Help: A Lesson Before Dying: “It’s like you’re being followed by a ghost that’s actually a hole.”
It’s Not Britney, Bitch: This made me care about a thing that I didn’t think I cared about at all, which is one of the highest and best things that journalism can do. Riese is hands down the best at it.
LGBT Activist Christina Santiago Was Here: “So many people were really looking forward to the rest of her life — were counting on it. I think there’s been some kind of mistake.”
Transportation Review: Amtrak Coast Starlight to Los Angeles: “Christ on a Cracker holy mother of all that is unholy and inhuman GET ME OFF OF THE DEATH TRAIN.”
Lez Get Real Author Paula Brooks is Actually a 58-Year-Old Man in Ohio: I wanted to print this out and carry it with me for when dudes and/or other privileged assholes get uppity, and wave it in their faces and say THIS, THIS, THIS THING RIGHT HERE.
Laneia, executive editor
Arizona
started 03/09 as diy/food editor
Laneia wrote 86 posts, 7,865 emails and 4 billion formspring answers in 2011
photo via kenneth von suss
“It’s the promise of new, unfucked things that keeps us going. Or our ability to unfuck the fucked things. I mean even your hair gets tangled, you know?”
Our Favorite 2011 Laneia Posts:
How to Live With Kids – Food & Cooking: “The way I see it, you can feed these short people almost anything, as long as you serve it next to some grapes, a spinach salad, carrot sticks, or whatever whathaveyou etc.”
Dear Lizzie Thinks Bisexual Teen Should Just Not Think About That Right Now: “Also, what the hell does she think teenage girls talk about? The stock market? No, they obviously talk about their ‘private’ lives.”
OK Cupid: We Read Your Profile: “Some of you even included us in the list of six things you couldn’t live without! (Now we know how pens and coffee feel!)”
Movie Night: Dazed & Confused: “Step back and evaluate the situation. Think about your life and how you arrived at this moment. Bake the casserole for maybe 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream and extra salsa, possibly a blindfold.”
You Need Help: I Feel Like We Would Like You If We Met You: “Who do you wanna be Lorna? Do you wanna be the girl who calls herself an idiot every fourth word, or do you want to be the girl who says BIKE SHOP and I LIKE YOUR FACE and DO YOU WANT TO GET A SANDWICH?”
Playlist: Rapping Like a White Girl – Everything good about the world is in this playlist, and no one could have made it but Laneia.
Rachel kincaid, senior editor
Michigan
started 9/09 as intern
This year Rachel joined Riese & Laneia in the world of “upper management,” which pays approximately $1.25 an hour. also: she wrote 258 posts.
“In the movie version of my life, I am something like a cross between Ina Garten and Tank Girl.”
Our Favorite 2011 Rachel Posts:
Book Club #4: Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: “Maybe more than anything else, the book is a study of a virtual stranger, a profile of someone who was always just out of reach, assembled from found objects and remembered evidence.”
Top Ten Lesbian Chapsticks for Chapstick Lesbians: “We’re fairly sure that ‘lipstick lesbian’ is a thing because we have seen it on the Internet and on The L Word. But we are less sure about the term ‘chapstick lesbian.'”
Philosopher Unsure if The True Self is Gay: “The question is this: ultimately, is the person we really are about the way we’re born, or the choices we make?”
A Gay Girl’s Guide to the GOP: The 2012 Republican Candidate Cheat Sheet: Rachel is so good at making all the political things seem interesting and also educational!
Reflecting on Extreme Couponing: Is This The End of an Era?: “Why do I feel like I am a completely and in fact hyper-functional adult when watching Hoarders, but feel somehow pathetic for paying full price for frozen broccoli when watching Extreme Couponing?”
Moving 101: On Getting From Point A to Point B With Minimal Crying: “Chances are you don’t have an unreasonable amount of stuff, but unless you’re an actual ascetic, as soon as you start trying to pack it up you will feel like one of the failure stories on Hoarders.”
Makeup 101: A Reluctant Girl’s Guide to Face-Editing: “If you are fresh-faced and glowing with perfect skin like Freja Beha Erichsen or Mulan, then fine, skip this step. For the rest of us, in my experience, you feel less like you are standing naked before a judge-y world of judgers if you put some stuff on your face.”
What Do You Mean You Don’t Know How to Make Suntea: “This is so weird I almost don’t know how to bring it up, but — do you guys not know how to make suntea? You do, right? Because I was pretty sure you did but then I found out sometimes people don’t and was bewildered and upset.”
The “Lesbian Until Graduation” Now a NY Times Most Emailed Article!: “It’s like someone told them Kissing Jessica Stein was a documentary?”
Favorite Muti-Authored Posts:
Read a F-cking Book Club: Bastard Out of Carolina, by Rachel & Laneia
How to Smell Good 101, by Brandy & Julie, G. & M., Kelsey, Jess, Corey, Natalie, Fit for a Femme, Robin, Deanne Smith, Rachel B., Carly, Stef, Vikki, Intern Elizabeth, Crystal, Becky, Michele, Lily, Riese and Alex.
Get Baked: Breakfast Edition, by Laura L, Laneia, Stef, Laura, Rachel K and Sarah Croce
How to Make ‘Zines, by Laneia & Emily Choo
The Jeans Issue, by Riese, Lizz, Bevin, bcw, Crystal, Brandy Howard, Lily, Emily, Katrina and Carolyn
25 TV Shows You Should Watch on DVD: Our Favorite Marathon-Worthy Series, by Stef, Carly, Julie & Brandy, Lizz, Laneia, Taylor, Rachel, Riese, Rose, Laura, Carolyn, Sarah, Lindsay, Crystal, Katrina, Brittani, Sebastian, Chloe, Annika and Deanne Smith
Our (Extra)Ordinary Evening Watching Nightline’s “Transgendered Special,” by Annika and Sebastian
How to Have Lesbian Sex, by the team
Hangover & Out: Queer Girls’ Advice on the Day After Drinking, by Laneia, Rachel, Carly, Sarah Croce, Sarah Palmface, MJ, Katrina, Crystal, Carly, Gabby
Pure Poetry #34: Of All Poets, Stephen Dunn, by Riese, Emily, Laura, Rachel and Natalie
Crystal, music editor
Sydney, Australia
started 3/09 as senior australia correspondent
This sassy tattooed Australian kept music shit/writers in order and also wrote 70 posts for you
Our Favorite 2011 Crystal Posts:
Record Club: Holly Miranda’s “The Magician’s Private Library”: “Holly Miranda and producer David Sitek stock talent and vision in equal parts, and the combined result is dark and exotic and grand.”
Top 10 Lesbian Romance Novels (Currently on My Kindle): “With their dark and mysterious protagonists and their “devil may care” grins, these stories have, for better or worse, replaced films starring Anne Hathaway and movies with dance-offs as my preferred method of escapism.”
Patti Smith’s “Just For Kids” Is Made For Lovers, Artists and Outcasts: “Just Kids is the first book to ever make me cry. Not just shed a little tear, but to leave me sobbing and shaking on a crowded Sydney bus before I even reached the first chapter. The foreword was intense!”
The Top 10 Greatest Movie Soundtracks Ever in the Whole World: “Now I’m no music director, but even though Missy Higgins’ “Steer” is a lovely song I’m not convinced it should be the auto-choice for every scene involving a cute girl driving determinedly off into the sunset.”
Jess, senior entertainment editor
started 5/09 as intern
Jess wrote 110 posts and interviewed 110 Real L Word cast members in 2011, and knew about everything before you did.
she's in the middle
“I remember the night I fell in love with Tina Fey — November 11th, 2000. I was sitting in my NYU dorm room watching Calista Flockhart host Saturday Night Live.”
Our Favorite 2011 Jess Posts:
+ Real L World‘s Raquel Castaneda Tells All: The Autostraddle Interview
+ The Gay Bar: Where Hopes and Dreams (and Bathroom Hook-Ups) Come True
+ Chely Wright: The Autostraddle Interview
+ Oprah Celebrates 25 Years of Telling Your Mom About Homogays: Our Favorite Episodes
+ Linda Perry: The Autostraddle Interview
+
Carolyn yates, contributing editor
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
started 10/10 as writer
Carolyn has written 112 posts this year and more articles about Canada than anybody else in the history of Autostraddle.
“Beauty and the Beast with lesbians is my absolute favourite.”
Our Favorite 2011 Carolyn Posts:
+ Token Lesbian Friends Are The New Token Gay Friends
+ Top Ten Fantasy Novels That Happen to Have Gay People In Them
+ You Probably Want to Read Some Lesbian Pulp Fiction
+ Remember When Carolyn Team-Picked Bruce Springsteen?
Laura wooley, Contributing Editor
Ohio
started 5/09 as intern
The writer formerly known as “Intern Hot Laura” is now our most Senior Contributing Editor, pitching in 99 perfect posts in 2011.
“All this concern over choosing the right words, striking the perfect balance of radical and moderate, or buying from the right company is just a byproduct of what’s really missing: respect for everyone.”
Our Favorite 2011 Laura Posts:
+ Twentysomethings Living At Home are Destroying the Economy!!!!
+ The Trouble With Counting the Gays
+ The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Playlist & Feelings
+ DIY This: Good Homemade Gifts You Can Make at Home! (with EmChoo)
Lizz rubin, Style editor & contributing editor
Boston, MA
started 4/11 as style writer
In addition to heading up the one-woman style team, Lizz wrote 86 entire posts, most with lots of pictures.
“I have a secret for you: every single day I wake up and pull clothes off the floor. My bedroom looks like an episode of Hoarders. Yet nearly every day this one girl at work tells me how great I look.”
Our Favorite 2011 Lizz Posts:
+ You Still Have Time for a Gay Halloween Costume: Black Swan
+ Occupy Movie Theaters: Breaking Dawn Part One
+ Pretty Little Liars Fashioncap 206: A Stands for Alexander McQueen
+ Top 8 Tim Curry Movies You’ve Probably Forgotten About
Carmen rios, contributing editor
Washington DC
started 1/11 as writer
Carmen has been there for you every single Sunday, written 100 posts and had 1,000 feelings. 998 of those feelings were positive.
“You may have never been told before that you can initiate, desire, and seek out sex as a woman. But you can. And you may have never really envisioned yourself being in the driver’s seat of your sexual experiences. But you are.”
Our Favorite 2011 Carmen Posts:
+ Pure Poetry #2: Eileen Myles
+ Latina Moms Talk About Their LGBT Kids
Brittani, contributing editor:
Los Angeles, CA
started 03/11 as writer
Brittani wrote 66 posts this year and therefore probably made you laugh 150 times, unless you’re a hipster.
“I don’t pretend to not give a fuck… I actually don’t.”
Our Favorite 2011 Brittani posts:
+ Top 5 Things to Drink When You’re Broke That Aren’t Water
+ His Girl Has a Girlfriend: Bisexuality in Hip-Hop
+ Alternative Lifestyle Haircuts At The World Cup.
+ 2 Broke Girls: A Conundrum Wrapped in An Enigma Wrapped in Boobs
Jamie
New York, NY
started 08/11 as contributing editor
38 times this year, Jamie has volunteered to take the stories that intimidate the rest of us.
“What’s still not clear is whether anyone in power is willing to try to understand what they want and give it to them — or, barring that, what they’re willing to do to make them leave.”
Our Favorite 2011 Jamie Posts:
+ Top Ten Radiolab Episodes to Make You Smarter and Possibly Happier
+ Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Take to the Streets
Whitney, contributing editor
New York
started 9/11 as a writer
Almost immediately upon arrival Whitney wrote our most contentious post of the year and also 16 others. Her spelling is impeccable and she’s the newest member of our team.
“I’m not going to lie — when I was little I used to tape construction paper on my face and pretend I was Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Our Favorite 2011 Whitney Posts:
+ Stop (Barbara) Hammer Time: ‘Dyketactics,’ The First Lesbian Experimental Film
+ The Nerdiest Holiday Gift Guide
Emily choo, writer
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
started 05/09 as intern
Riese’s daughter, Intern Emily Choo, went to China this year AND wrote 57 posts!
“I was drunk a lot that fall. I was wandering the same street weekend after weekend hoping to run into this girl because I was just so sad and crazy. And it all culminated in this one night, my friend’s birthday, where I could practically hear “Sometime Around Midnight” playing in my head, and I was drunk and infatuated and the world was falling around me and all I could think was “you just have to see her, you know that she’ll break you in two.”
Our Favorite 2011 Emily Posts:
+ 60 Days In China: Where Everything Else Seemed Upside-Down
+ Pure Poetry: Mina Loy & Gertrude Stein+
Katrina C DANGER, writer
Washington DC
started 6/09 as internicaine
When she wasn’t busy having revelations and living in 3-D, KC Dangermouse Casino wrote 25 posts this year
“I used to have this feeling of infinite possibility. It used to run through my head and through my veins and across the synapses between my nerves all day. It’s not that I felt invincible; it’s more that I felt safe. I felt protected, from my decisions, from my mistakes. I took advantage of my youth, of the feeling that there would always be more time. I held on to the absolute, undying belief in second chances, and the assumption that, if I waited long enough, things could (and would) fix themselves.”
Our Favorite 2011 Katrina Posts:
+ This is How We Live: No Fucks to Give
Taylor, writer
Portland, OR
started 12/09 as technostraddle founder/editor
taylor got a Real Tech Writing Job this year at tecca, moved to portland and wrote 26 posts and 3 unfinished drafts.
“If you see Carrie Brownstein at a coffee shop around the corner, you’ll really wish you’d sprung for a bike with cooler handlebars. Then you will hyperventilate for 30 seconds and need your inhaler.”
Our Favorite 2011 Taylor Posts:
+ Pure Poetry #17: Adrienne Rich Came to Explore the Wreck
+ My Drunk Kitchen’s Hannah Hart: The Autostraddle Interview
Gabrielle, writer
Bronx, NY
started 06/10 as writer
Gabrielle wrote 14 articles this year and she actually left the house or talked to a human being on the phone to write almost all of them! That’s how you do it.
“If Kim Wayans doesn’t get nominated for an Oscar, I’m pulling out the “yes, racism still runs rampant in the world” card and stuffing it up his golden ass.”
Our favorite 2011 Gabrielle Posts:
+ A Love Letter to Christina Santiago
+ 18 Murders in 18 Months: Puerto Rico’s LGBTTs Face New Threats, Old Politics
Annika, writer
San Francisco, CA
started 04/11 as writer
Annika, a trans lesbian, wrote 15 posts and became a hero for at least 150 people, probably more, maybe even 1,500
“It’s as though after 23 years, I have finally stopped trying to fill up a diesel car with unleaded gas. My brain was made to run on estrogen.”
Our Favorite 2011 Annika Posts:
+ I’m Just Your Typical Urban Hipster Femme Twentysomething Trans Lesbian
+ Hello, Estrogen – Farewell, Heteronormative Privilege
Intern Grace
Columbus, Ohio
started 5/11 as intern
Grace has written 24 posts and made 5,000 screencaps.
“It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to feel misled. It’s okay to feel stupid. It’s okay to listen to ‘Jar of Hearts’ on repeat.”
Our Favorite 2011 Grace:
+ Rejection 101: A Lesbian’s Guide To Getting Turned Down, Keeping Your Head Up
+ Listling Without Commentary: Real L Word Recap Images Riese Asked Her Intern to Create This Season
Sebastian, writeR
Massachusetts
started 01/11 as writer
Sebastian, our first trans writer, whipped out 19 excellent posts and moved with grace through the fury of ten billion thousand hundred flame wars.
“Seeing and feeling the discrepancy between living as a gay woman and living as a straight man makes me want to work even harder to dismantle this heteronormative world.”
Our Favorite 2011 Sebastian Posts:
+ More Visible Than Purple: LGBT Kids and the Road to Safer Schools
+
Rose, writer
Baltimore, MD
started 7/11 as contributing editor
Rose has written 20 posts with an average of 20 sources per post, which is just the way we like it.
“Not every artist should have to be an activist. Heck, not every artist can be. But for those who do use their talents for advocacy, it can make all the difference.”
Our Favorite Rose 2011 Posts:
+ Michelle Bachmann is the Beatrix Lestrange of the GOP Political Candidates
BEST OF photo/VIDEO
JULIE GOLDMAN & BRANDY HOWARD
Best of 2011:
Julie & Brandy in Your Box Office #201: Black Swan Did You Really Happen,
In Your Box Office Season One: The Shit You Didn’t See
+
+
UNICORN PLAN-IT
haviland stillwell, sarah croce, ashley reed
Ashley Reed, Sarah Croce & Haviland Stillwell
Best of 2011:
Unicorn Plan-It #103: A Single Ceremony
Unicorn Plan-It #105: Hunting Bambi
+
+
ROBIN ROEMER, photographer
Best of 2011:
Photographs: New York City the Night We Won Same-Sex Marriage
Autostraddle Calendar Girls 2012: Julie & Brandy are April, Stacee is May!, by Robin Roemer and Kelli Griggs
THE BEST OF THE REST: CONTRIBUTORS
MJ at the Juicy Pink Box party, photo by Syd London
Deanne Smith and the Unfashionable Utopia of Yore, by Deanne Smith
Lady Gaga “Judas” Music-Video: The Mini Recap, by a;ex (Design Director)
Mary Gray Knows What It Feels Like For Gay Kids in Rural America, by Chloe
Lily’s College Lesbianage #12: Quarter-Life Crisis and Red Carpet Ricky Martin, by Lily
The Sordid Lives of Lesbian Twins, by Lindsay D
Where The Bois Are: Bklyn Boihood is the Future, by MJ
Lauryn Hill at Williamsburg Music Hall: Worst. Concert. Ever, by Stef M.
100 Michigan Law Students Walk Out of Graduation: Winning Hearts and Minds, by Sarah P.
THE BEST OF THE REST: GUEST WRITERS
If You Ain’t No Punk Holla Gays Need Prenups GAYS NEED PRENUPS, by Bevin/QueerFatFemme
I’m Neither a Butch Or a Top, via Bkyln Boihood
Pure Poetry #14: Sady Doyle on the Great Poet Diane Di Prima, by Sady Doyle
The Ethics of Lust: On Interracial Relationships and Anti-Miscegenation Laws, by Queerie Bradshaw
Pure Poetry #33: Sappho Was a Right-On Woman, by Marissa Meltzer
Texas Is Not the Only State: Confessions of a Lesbian Exile in New York, by Lemon Wilder
How I Came Out to My Evangelical Parents And You Can, Too, by Jana
Soooo what was your favorite?
High fives all around! Excellent year
Best AutoStraddle Meme of 2011(and perhaps the century): EVAN RACHEL WOOD BISEXUAL
http://bit.ly/ubzFUG
I love everybody!! I love Autostraddle.
My memory is shot to pieces, I keep failing to remember specific articles, but I can vividly recall cascades of feelings after reading stuff. I think my top AS feelings this year are:
1. I keep getting this visceral reaction after reading some articles. At first it felt like they were building thin layers of armour around the brain, but lately it feels more like learning mental self-defense. Sometimes in obvious ways, like Annika and Sebastian’s Trans* 101 posts, other times more subtly. I feel like whenever someone might be readying a flailing jab of bigotry, I can incisively throat-punch them away. Figuratively speaking. Mostly. I think we are all being subconsciously trained to become lethal equality ninjas.
2. I really love all Lizz’s stuff. I lapped up all the Pretty Little Liars fashion-caps despite me not watching the show and having “classic” lesbian fashion sense, i.e. none at all. I don’t understand it, but I am addicted to whatever she writes.
3. You all have great eyebrows. Seriously, look at those photos. Eyebrows of champions.
<3 <3 <3 You have such a brilliant, fearless, gorgeous staff!
omg that was so enthusiastic. I didn’t even know.
I dont want to sound like a sap, but in fairness to all of you Autostraddlers, and to all the people that are members here, you are all pretty savage. You’ve gained fans from so many parts of the world, which is an impressive feat
I also think that a site like this means a lot to a huge amount of women. Even personally, I never would have thought in a million years that there’d be so many amazing gay ladies out there to talk to, and ones with similar tastes and senses of humour and the like as me and my mates, I thought we were pretty much on our own….it makes me feel an awful lot less isolated, which is so important, so thankyou for that. Maybe i’ll even meet some American Autostraddlers when I go to the States in May/June! Anyway, in conclusion, well done to all of the writers, good job! :-D
i feel as though this was like those sitcom episodes? the ones with the flashbacks? this was the only time i appreciated it though (well, this and also the golden girls and fresh prince one) anyways, thanks guys. i feel like i’m constantly saying this but you need to hear it again: you guys are wonderful, shiny people and helped me in various areas of my life. like, i know how to make suntea and rock silk bandanas with the knowledge that this anger and indignation i feel 85% of the time is justified. thank you thank you thank you.
You guys are wonderful and you deserve all the nice things for next year. Long live Autostraddle :)
Autostraddle made my life awesome this year. Especially after dealing with some issues arising from a situation at the beginning of the year that put me into something of a downward spiral until the Summer. Then I went to an AS meet. Then I went to another one where I met a girl and we fell in love. I also made some wonderful new friends. My awareness of issues relating to gender and sexuality as well as race and politics and everything that goes with all of that was raised thanks to AS and resources I came to through it. Basically, thanks for saving 2011 Autostraddle. You do you. I do me.
Thank you Autostraddle, for compiling a reading list lengthy enough to keep me busy while I hide from the onslaught of relatives who have suddenly invaded my house. :)
I’m hopelessly addicted to Autostraddle. Thank you for being so awesome! To more Auto-awesomeness in 2012!!
Also, this one time someone asked me for my favorite quote on a job application and I totally quoted one of Riese’s formspring answers. I got the job, I’m just sayin’.
I sincerely hope it was “IT’S CALLED FISTING, I GUESS YOU COULDN’T HANDLE IT, HERE’S A KLEENEX FOR YOUR BLOOD”
to this, there really is no other plausible answer than “you’re hired”
The title of this post is very apt–you’re all fucking brilliant! God knows what I would do without this site.
I think I said this at the time, but I’ll say it again: Riese’s “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Sexuality…” post is my favorite thing ever published on Autostraddle.
It’s a tough call, but I think one of my very favorite things to come out of Autostraddle this year was this:
http://i.imgur.com/5WcGm.jpg also known as crazysauce.jpg.
I use it a lot.
why is everyone so attractive?
just like SO SO SO attractive
hi
Choose a favorite post? Never. Autostraddle As a Whole is my favorite. You all do amazing work on a consistent, very-little-monetary-reward basis and I thank you for it.
Keep on keepin’ on, y’all.
P.S. EVAN RACHEL WOOD BISEXUAL
What I learned from all of this is that Autostraddle is run exclusively by total babes.
Sooo.
Last January I was in high school in a tiny ass little town full of idiots. Now, I’m in college, and astounded by the changes. I feel at home here. Almost nothing has been constant in my life this year except for Autostraddle. I got comment awards! People thought I was funny (this happened a lot more in college, as well; I think it’s because idiots don’t understand my jokes) and it was incredibly affirming to my self esteem. I like being funny.
I also like having my gender identity respected, and Autostraddle (referring to AS as an entity, is that okay?) gave me the courage to ask people to do this in real life. It’s wonderful. I explained to people how I identify as queer and why I feel it’s such a magical word. It’s all because of AS. :D
This will keep me plenty busy over my holiday backshifts.
Autostraddle, you are amazing. Keep this up, and you may just save the world one of these days.
Also, Carolyn is so beautiful I forgot to breathe for a minute. Just sayin’..
Um. Thank you!
First of all, I NEVER get tired of the whiskey kitten! This post is so full of awesome it makes my head spin. Thanks to the entire staff for filling my spare minutes with things I actually want to read/hear/see/discuss. I live in an area where gay culture exists almost exclusively on the internet, so this site has been essential to me keeping up with the hot topics in lesbo-land without having to do the leg work! ;) Thanks for working so hard so I can sit back and indulge in it! Looking forward to all of the things for 2012….especially the continuation of Unicorn Plan-It ;)
KEEP DOING YOU!!!!!!
Those are my two favorites, too!
And I should find a less blurry picture…
You are all brilliant
Amazing rays of sunshine
Thank you for writing.
nice haiku!
Maybe it’s the holiday spirit getting to me, or the beer I’m drinking, or just me being sappy but I am literally tearing up. This, this right here, is the way that we live.
I just wanted to say that this site is my most consistently visited, (and loved), website in all of the internets. You guys brought the whiskey kitten, silk bandanas, and the powerful rhetoric of many lesbians into the public sphere and for that I am eternally grateful!
Please please please keep doing what you’re doing. In return, I’ll do me. I really don’t know what I’d do without Autostraddle! Thanks for everything.
i want to hug this whole website with my legs
You want to scissor autostraddle? Hot.
Maybe it’s the holiday spirit getting to me, or the beer I’m drinking, but I am tearing up reading this! This, this right here, is the way that we live. So proud!
Sorry double post! Just showing double love!!
It’s like double rainbow, but better
what does it mean
in the first post that this post links to, riese wrote: “sometimes I am so sure of a thing that I feel like the words I need to describe it haven’t been invented yet.” autostraddle, i am so fucking sure of you. you did it! this year was a weird year, i think for everyone, and you still did it. you’re still here, and so are we. words hardcore cannot express the gratitude you deserve, but: thank you.
i’m so glad we know each other
i feel like i always like to have a few unfinished drafts in my pocket…you know?
it would appear i have 14 or 15 unfinished drafts in my pocket
i feel like “riese’s team pick: wellbutrin” is on the verge of success
i vote for this. also nominating open thread: pharmaceuticals. but then i again i clearly don’t understand what’s legal/what’s not
co-team pick: wellbutrin!
Riese’s Sexual Orientation post! It was just so… eloquent and naked. (And what’s better than nakedness?) And it spoke, I think, to more people than any of us with similar feelings and histories could imagine. Thanks, Riese:)
np!
When I finally figured out that I was gay, I thought I would die of loneliness and isolation. You, Autostraddle staff and readers, changed everything for me. Everything. I’m even positive now that at some point soon I’ll get to tell a pretty girl I LIKE YOUR FACE and DO YOU WANT TO GET A SANDWICH? Just realizing that the possibility exists is a huge accomplishment I attribute to Autostraddle.
THANK YOU for making the world warmer and fuzzier for baby gays everywhere. And for being so amazingly intelligent, witty and attractive. You’re just the best.
I LIKE YOUR SANDWICH. DO YOU WANT TO GET A FACE? …Wait…
You do you!!!
I worship at the altar of straddler-dom.
I think my favorite article this year was everything Rachel wrote.
<3 you all, AS team. Thanks for simultaneously entertaining AND making me feel smarter.
You ARE Fucking brilliant! I love all of you!!!!
Autostraddle appears to be made entirely out of intelligent and gorgeous eyecandy. I swoon.
*Swoons*
Rachel’s piece about Fun Home was so good I haven’t commented on it yet, because I can’t formulate a good enough comment. I probably will leave a comment one day that just says “I love this post and Alison Bechdel thank you thank you thank you”.
i love all of autostraddle so much, & appreciate all of the posts, info, & love that come through here. HOWEVER, riese’s post on sexual orientation is maybe my favorite thing on the internet of all time. as i read it, i felt like riese had looked into my diary/life & written everything up as neatly & simply as possible. it seems like a perfect answer when people “don’t understand” how you once really-actually-loved-and-desired-boys & maybe how you really-actually-love-and-desire-girls or a girl or genderqueer folks or whoever else.
i guess what i mean is thank you, riese, & my number-one feeling is that i wish i had something as valuable to give autostraddle. i mean i bought some posters in support but that doesn’t even begin to cover everything.
This post just seriously entertained me for 2 hours in my comfy bed, with laptop and coffee in hand. I love vacations. I got to catch up on stuff I missed, laugh, cry, learn, be entertained, and be reminded of my favourite posts. Best.
Also, I was reminded about how many articles I passed along to friends and acquaintances. I believe I turned some folks into Autostraddlers. Is there a toaster-oven for that? Also, I think I am going to call myself a gold-star Autostraddler. I don’t know what it means, but I like it.
So many awesome articles this year. My favorite AS thing this year was viral bear.
riese! that picture of you is too cute.
also this is amazing.
Thanks to you all – all the Autostraddlers!
Thank-you for giving so much of yourselves to us, thanks for your generosity of self.
Excellent ! In between drinking, eating and partying for the holidays, I’ll have some reading to do. Even though am a regular, I haven’t read atleast half of these articles. I guess I missed a lot.
Katrina C. Danger’s pieces all broke my heart and rewired my brain.
Intern Grace said nice things a lot. Thanks thanks thanks thanks.
Autostraddle is great, but damn, it makes me feel like I need to move to WeHo even though I still have this irrational hatred for southern California; so many complicated feelings.
Thanks for existing and especially thanks for hiring cool people like the co-hort listed above.
would it be shallow if all I said in this comment was that you all look super pretty