A+ members can ask the senior team literally anything (it’s a benefit that comes with membership). While we can’t always answer each and every query (we’re only human), Some Answers to Some Things You’ve Been Asking Us is where we respond to as many of the questions about our business, editorial direction and general thoughts / opinions on stuff or things you had a burning need to share that we can. We love you and your hair looks fantastic today!

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MERCH, BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL CONCERNS

I remember y’all had a no questions asked fund to support writers financially at the height of covid lockdowns. Do you still have this? How did it work? How did you make it as easy as possible for workers to claim money they needed? How did you help workers decide if it was for them or not? Asking because I would like to implement something similar at my job!

Riese: So in the spring of 2020 we established a $10k Writers Relief Fund to help our writers who were struggling to meet basic needs because of job loss or other COVID-related issues, and established an Airtable form for writers to put in their name, the amount, and how to pay them (venmo, check or paypal). We didn’t ask them to explain why they needed the funds. We did alert them that the funds they extracted would show up on their 1099 for next year, and to consider that when selecting the amount, because unfortunately there was no way around that!

We kept it going for a long time, actually, even after we exceeded the $10k, because I did really like being able to do that for our freelancers. It just became a general Relief Fund, long after the circumstances that inspired it had passed. But then this year facing our extreme budget issues, we had to close the fund because we were no longer in the position to have that unplanned-for expense in the budget. But for the time we were able to do it, it was one of the best things we’ve ever done.

The identities of relief fund withdrawers and the amounts withdrawn were known only to me and to our accountant.

Just a general question about perks for the last fundraiser. Have they all been posted?

Nico: Nope, not all of the perks from the fundraiser that ended on March 31st have been posted, but they are ALL packed and approx.1,000/1500 of fundraiser perks packages are labeled, posted and out there in the world at this time and a lot of the A+ ones are out there too, though I still have a couple hundred of those to pack, label and ship! But you’ll get an email notification when yours ship! I’m going as fast as I can and I apologize for the unexpected delay. It certainly wasn’t the plan.

Most of the perks for the fundraiser should be posted come Monday or Tuesday next week (ship times for Europe / UK may vary), unless there was something wrong with your address (there are some people who have parts of their addresses missing), in which case you’ll get an email from me about that and then I will send you your perks once we get that squared away. Trust me, I want these posted, too! They’re all in my kitchen and living room right now and I just have a silly little path that I get to walk through between boxes of packed perks packages.

Then, also, once I get all these out, I am going to go through the returned packages and get in touch with the folks who might not have received their stuff. Thank you all so much for your support of the fundraiser and for your patience!

Hello AS Team and thank you so much for all the incredible A+ content I have enjoyed over the years!

Often I find myself wanting to send an A+ essay or two along to a specific friend, and I wondered two things in pursuit of that aim:

1. Can I buy someone else an A+ Membership? I clicked around and I’m having trouble finding it, if it’s already something you support.

2. Have you thought about the option to gift specific A+ articles? I have seen some other media sites offer this; I know A+ content is often gated for privacy reasons rather than just money reasons, so I know this might not make sense for y’all but I’m curious if it’s been considered.

Thank you and I hope you’re having a lovely week!

Nico: Yes, absolutely you can gift a membership. We didn’t have this before I got here, but I worked with Yikes to make it happen and they were awesome. We have gift memberships which you can get on our normal sign-up page by selecting the level you want to go with and choosing “Give as a Gift”. We do not at this time have a way to gift specific A+ articles, though that’s an interesting thought should we ever have the $$ for more advanced functionality.

Howdy! Is there any way to change search so that more recent results show up towards the top? Or to give us a way to sort by how recent pieces are/ filter for pieces that were within the last year? It would make it a lot easier for me to find things I’m looking for. Thanks!

Riese: I think this is a question for our tech team

Maybe I am being too literal listing this as ‘Other’ rather than ‘Pressing Question’ but this is not at all pressing! I just have a few Qs about whether the site has any of the following functions:
-Advanced search or search results filter
-Notification for replies to comments
-Posting photos in comments (I’m pretty sure this one is possible but have no idea how to go about it. On seconds thoughts, maybe I’ve only seen it on older articles?)

Just to stress these are not suggestions for the site! I totally get that if they don’t exist it’s more than likely because they aren’t viable/wouldn’t be worth the work + money, and I love the site as it is anyway. I’m purely asking from the perspective of someone who is somewhat tech inept but doesn’t want to miss out on handy features. Perhaps what I’m really asking for is a brief guide to site navigation, commenting etc., for people for whom such things are not always self-explanatory. I don’t want to create more work if that doesn’t already exist though…

Anyway, thanks! I visit AS every day and love and appreciate you all <3

Riese: I will take note of those technical things you’re interested in! You can post photos in comments by using code like this:

The main way people mess up with this is having two quotes in the url, or having curly quotes instead of smart quotes around the url (curly quotes are curly and smart quotes are straight). I fix those if I ever see them, though!

Can we please have a “Protect Trans Kids” T-shirt in the store? I am so angry about all the anti-trans laws being passed and I want to be visible about it, and if I’m gonna buy a shirt I’d like the money to go your way. Thanks.

Riese: NOTED yes I have written this down!

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ALL-CONSUMING NEEDS TO SHARE

hot show alert!! can y’all please shout out siren: survive the island? physical 100 is weak compared to this

Carmen: I had never heard of this until right now, but “physical 100 is weak compared to this” is quite the description.

Nico: I’m sorry I was watching the trailer and might have to rewind to watch that wood chopping moment again. Also WHAT IS GOING ON THIS IS SO INTENSE.

Okay, I am reading the comments now and someone said “The closest thing we’ll ever get to the hunger games” which implies to me that this person watched The Hunger Games and was not like, oh man that seems bad, making children fight, but instead was like “when can we have our own games?”

Pearl Bar, Houston’s only lesbian bar, was denied insurance renewal due to hosting drag shows

NIco: Thank you for sharing this! I looked around to see if they’d put out any public calls for action / support we could share, but could not find any. If anyone knows, please share in the comments!

Riese: I hate it here

Ruby Cruz is one of three queer women in the woods doing murder in this music video. 

Nico: I had not seen this but I’m halfway through and wow their camping trip looks so fun! Oh okay are they making poison? Wait are they camped near some guy’s house so they can poison him? Okay and now we’re all three cuddling. That was a trip! Thank you for sharing.

After a year of chronic pain, The Pain Management Workbook by Rachel Zoffness is changing my life! This is not a specifically queer tip, but I feel like many A+ readers are in the chronic pain club and may appreciate. Sending love and good wishes for low pain days!

Nico: Thank you for sharing this!

Riese: As a member of the chronic pain club I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Perhaps Natalia Dyer is getting ready to fulfill our Romance wishes.

Nico: Oooooh! Would watch, yes.

Riese: THIS LOOKS VERY GOOD

Hijab Butch Blues was SO GOOD! And so was The Subtweet! Thanks so much for always keeping me in great books 🥰

Heather: I agree! Two of my absolute favorites I’ve read this year! (I also get my book recommendations from Autostraddle. We never miss!)

Heather – another update! So I finished Ni No Kuni, which took literally ALL of my non-work time and attention for a full month. It is a LONG GAME. But it was satisfying in the end. I’m looking forward to playing it again in a few years when I’m more familiar with the game mechanics and the different possible familiars and can really get strategic with it instead of just hanging on trying to survive.

And now I’ve started BotW. Which I can already tell will be WAY longer. I’ve been playing for two weeks already and am still only in the third area on the map. It’s a real adjustment after Ni No Kuni and Pokemon. Those were kids games. This is decidedly NOT. I’m getting more frustrated than I have with literally any other game I’ve played, but also more determined to figure it out.

Thanks again – I’ll report back in a few weeks!!

Heather: Ahhh! I am so thrilled you loved Ni No Kuni to the point of distraction! And I wish I had mentioned that both recent Zelda games — Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom — are designed to be really frustrating at first. I died more at the beginning of both of those games than every other video game I’ve ever played, combined. When it levels out, it’s a whole lot of fun. Keep me updated, okay?

I’ve stayed away from Yellowjackets, but I did read Kayla’s article theorizing about the Antler Queen… and everything in the article and comments is even more fucked up than what I was imagining, so yeah, I’m very very glad I’m not watching this show! I’m going to stick to Ted Lasso!

Kayla: Haha yeah it’s definitely not for everyone! And season two was definitely a lot more intense than season one in my opinion. Thanks for reading though lol!

did yall know?? the toast pt 2???

Kayla: YES!!!!!! I am very excited about this new site.

Nico: SAME

Did you see this question about reading Autostraddle on break at work? It’s question #3. I was pretty dang excited that someone wrote into one of my favorite websites about my other favorite website. Some of the commenters totally missed that the LW wants to read AS on their phone using company wifi and are kind of freaking out about reading a site with an article about BOOBS on one’s work computer. It tends to be a pretty well moderated site so I’m hoping that the comments won’t become a hellscape.

Kayla: I had not seen this!! I’ve definitely heard about this anxiety before. I’ve even heard that some workplaces have wifi that blocks sites like Autostraddle because of certain keywords on it? Distressing!

I just watched this sweet short film Lucky Fish and thought you all would like it too! 😍 The interview with the director in the above link is a treat to read too.

Nico: This was indeed a treat and everyone should watch it. It’s only 8 minutes! A sapphic coming of age short film break.

Is there a piece of media that anyone’s really into rn (book, song whatever) but that you won’t be writing about for Autostraddle cause it’s not queer or otherwise a fit? Or just cause not everything should be work? No need to explain why you like the thing unless you want to, I’m just interested!

Kayla: This is why I originally started watching Bravo shows, but then I immediately developed a million feelings and thoughts about the performances of gender and sexuality on Bravo shows, so my genuine answer is that most art I engage with is stuff I feel like I want to write about for work whether it’s an obvious fit or not!!!! I can’t really turn it off, and a lot of times, I’m not even sure that I want to. That said, I had a very fun experience watching Station Eleven “late.” And even though the show is indeed v queer, watching it so long after it came out, I was like oh okay I can just enjoy this and it doesn’t have to be work. That said…I was like…wow I regret not being able to write recaps of this show, because I feel like I could have written really great recaps of this show in a similar style to my Yellowjackets ones.

Anya: The Righteous Gemstones just came back with Season Three, and I’m loving it so far! The show is kind of like Succession but if it were campy and about an evangelical Christian family empire instead of a media empire. I think it’s hilarious!!

Nico: I am actually working on a media podcast with my sister, that involves a lot of revisiting pieces of media and analyzing them through the lens of their impact on ourselves and our lives, and which then looks at how they hold up years later. Many of these things are not explicitly queer. In terms of books I’m reading, those are now ruled by my trying to figure out what the next A+ book club book is gonna be. So, I feel like I have very few moments of my media consumption not being dictated by some project or other. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, I recently watched Veronika Voss, the Fassbinder film, and that was excellent. Hit up the Criterion Collection. Oh and you know what I finally watched Good Omens and it was charming. I read the book but its translation to the screen was superb.

Carmen: The best movie I saw this year, hands down, is A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One starring Teyana Taylor. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, which is extremely rare for a Black film, so I knew I needed to seek it out. And I was so deeply moved once I found it! I think I wrote on my Letterboxd “this is why movies are made” — which is maybe hyperbolic, but dammit I mean it.

Heather: I have a terrible confession: I loved Succession. Forgive me! It’s the least gay show ever and everyone was just so horrible! But damn, I did love it. (And would never write about it.)

Nico: I also watched and enjoyed Succession — it’s so well written. And I get a good chuckle at all the memes about people talking about Succession that use stock photography of people in meetings.

Riese: Here to also love Succession and unsurprisingly yes I also loved The Bear, how was Season Two even better than Season One?? Also, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin just blew me the fuck away, what an amazing read.

I’m reading Death Wore a Diadem by Iona McGregor and apart from being like, WTF TV MINISERIES WHEN, I think it would be cool if Autostraddle wrote about it! (It would qualify for Lost Lesbian Lit if Drew happens to be into it.) There’s probably better synopses online but it’s a 1980s Scottish lesbian novel set in the 1860s. It would be suitable for young adults and kind of reminds me of the Eva Ibbotson books I read a lot of when I was younger. I had been sleeping on it bc I knew it was genre-y and had a vague idea that it might be sci-fi and I might find it hard going, but it’s just a solid old-fashioned crime/adventure story. Lots of plot but also LOTS of boarding school/governess content which has always been my jam. In short, I would recommend!

Kayla: I LOVE boarding school stuff! I will check it out.

Riese: Also an intense fan of boarding school stuff, def will look into this!

It looks like the Yellowjackets will be on Family Feud. 96 cast on one side, 23 cast on the other.

Kayla: AHHHHHH!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT

Nico: How do I watch this???

Janelle Monae just guested on the Style Like U youtube channel talking about clothes and gender. Interesting stuff!

Carmen: I want you to know that three different people in my life sent me this video the day it dropped. I have not been the same since. Janelle Monáe is creating a new blueprint, right in front of our eyes. I feel lucky to even be in this era with them.

(Also, having watched the video, let’s just say I’m extremely grateful to be gay and we can leave it at that.) (Ahem.)

Nico: Well, thank YOU for sending this in because that’s how I saw it!

So Starbucks has a Tanthamore drink for Pride.

Nico: I looked up Tanthamore and what’s this show??? I wanna watch this fantasy show! The AS team has me watching Pretty Little Liars for a project (weird thing for your job to make you do in 2023, I know) and I could use something to rinse the teacher-dating-a-student dynamic out of my brain.

Update: I looked at the tags and it is Willow, so I guess I’ll have to watch that at my sister’s as I don’t have Disney.

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HAVE YOU WRITTEN ABOUT THIS / I NEED INFORMATION / ARTICLE IDEAS

Ignoring the assignment I need to do and browsing the AS archives has me wondering, what is the criteria for inclusion under the ‘Greatest Hits’ heading under More > Etc ? Are these the posts with the most comments? Most views? Just the ones that Riese likes the best?

Riese: It was our most popular posts and also sometimes posts that weren’t popular but were important and brilliant and therefore deserved to be popular! It used to be that the “from the archives” widget in the sidebar only pulled a specific tag, and so that’s the tag we assigned to things that we thought would get the most clicks in that widget. Now it just sort of pulls from everything. I don’t know that I ever updated that tag regularly, just in spurts or one-offs, it definitely needs a refresh.

Just need to make sure Kayla has seen this YJ theory 

Kayla: I SCREAMED THE FIRST TIME I SAW IT AND AM SCREAMING AGAIN.

Nico: LMAOOOOOO

I was wondering if Autostraddle was looking for new pitches? Specifically, in Identity. Thanks for your time, Hilary

Kayla: Always! And we recently implemented a more focused system for going through outside submissions, so send it on through the submission portal!

Carmen: Yes, please do!

I just rewatched The Muppets Movie (The 1979 one, which is arguably the best muppet movie.) and I was wondering, could you guys rank the muppets by lesbianism? I just think that’d be star content.

Carmen: Genius.

Riese: i did do this one fine day in 2010, but I think you’re right there is room for more and also my positions have shifted dramatically on this topic, especially realizing that Kermit and Miss Piggy are the canonical big femme / little butch couple. It really makes you think about how much you have grown and changed about the world and queer community to look at a post you wrote in 2010 about gay muppets and realize how much is missing and how much you had left to learn. I have so many different opinions now!

Nico: Also we need a list of nonbinary muppets I think.

Riese: I do have it on good authority that Gonzo is non-binary.

Nico: It’s true.

Hi! I’m looking for the results of the 2022 reader survey and cannot find them. Am I looking in the wrong place? I saw two posts about the custom ways we described our orientation and one about how we met our partners, but no more than this. Help ☺️👾

+

Super curious whether there is going to be a post about the results of the reader survey you all sent out (I have no idea when this was)? I want to know how many share my chosen name etc!

Nico: Yes! I want to do more survey content. Thank you for letting us know you want it! And I put the name question in there so I could do a name post specifically so thank you for the gentle reminder to get on that.

Riese: Yes definitely! I have one piece like that in progress right now actually (not about names, but for a different open-ended question!)

This is not a pressing question at all, I’m just curious – with the celebrity coverage, when you look at the stats do you notice patterns that suggest your readership cares a lot about certain queer celebrities and not really about other ones? Do those patterns ever surprise you?

Carmen: Yes! This is one of my jobs, actually (well not just about celebrities, but following traffic trends and what our readers click on). It rarely surprises me though! It’s a lot of who you might expect just based on sapphic internet at large. But what might interest you is that sometimes we buck the trend on purpose — particularly as it relates to Black and POC celebrities, masc celebrities, and trans celebrities — because those are people who matter most to us, even if it’s not reflected back in trends or clicks. Thank you for your support as an A+ member by the way, because that support is what allows us to make those decisions and move outside of the narrow confines of “what’s popular.” We are so appreciative!

And sometimes… we get surprised or rewarded. Recently Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty, who is Black and masc, got engaged and Heather and I decided to run it the same as we would any other celebrity engagement piece — even though sports is not always Autostraddle’s brand and butter, so to speak — and guess what? That piece on Jonquel went viral! Which felt extremely great!

Riese: Yeah as the person who does the monthly traffic reports, there are definitely people that always perform well, like JoJo Siwa and usually Kristen Stewart. But there are always surprises of what’ll hit really good on social media!

Is Mercury Stardust aka the “Trans Handy Ma’am” on your radar? She’s on TikTok/Instagram and makes renter friendly home maintenance/DIY content and has a whole podcast where listeners call-in and she answers their questions a la Car Talk (but way better/funnier). And she has a book coming out later this year! I would love to see her featured in some AS content (book review? write-up? interview?)!

Nico: Just here to say I love her.

Wnba q’s! 1) I often share Heather, Natalie, and Carmen’s links in the WNBA subreddit, but am sometimes hesitant to do so because I’m afraid it’s inviting trolls into the comments here. Should I hold off? Keep sharing? I would love your thoughts. 2) can we do an autostraddle meetup at a W game? I know there’s a lot of Seattle fans on here!

Carmen: The three of us are well prepared for trolls, especially of the Reddit variety. Please share with abandon! And let us take care of the rest :)

I’m really glad you’re enjoying the column, by the way! Learning more about the W has been such a gift for me these last two years. If yall ever get together at a Seattle meetup, I personally think that would be extremely cute.

Heather: I agree with Carmen and am honestly honored! We all love doing that column so much, it’s so cool when people like to read what you love to talk about!

Dear Grammer Nerds Among You (I know there must be some) Why is lesbian the only label with an ‘a’ in front of it? Why is it ‘I’m gay/queer/pan/bi/ace etc’ but we say I’m A lesbian? Google has failed me, it keeps bringing up “so you think you might be a lesbian” and, like, no I’m solid on that one. I just want to know why the A?
Thank you for your time.

Kayla: So I’m not speaking etymologically, grammatically, or historically here, but I personally DO sometimes say things like “I’m lesbian.” I don’t mind using “lesbian” as an adjective to describe myself. Some people don’t like this! I don’t mind it! I’m sure someone with a stronger foundation of knowledge pertaining to lesbian politics and queer theory might know why the language was developed in a way that prioritizes it being a noun when describing actual people! Because it’s obviously used as an adjective in other contexts.

Nico: On the flip, I personally love to say that I’m a bisexual, but people find that funny and it does sound a little funny! English can be odd.

Very random question: When I was in high school many many years ago (like 10), my girlfriend and I would call it “lesbian mind control” when we would accidentally show up wearing basically the same outfit. That phrase has stayed in my vocab and people in my circle use it as well. I know the general idea of partners (especially queer folks) accidentally dressing like each other is a thing, but did us calling it lesbian mind control come from somewhere or was it a product of our 16-year-old brains? I cannot remember!! Googling “lesbian mind control” just gave me a bunch of porn…

Heather: Oh my gosh, I’ve never heard this exact phrase but am obviously deeply familiar with the sentiment! It still happens to me and my wife! I’m honestly just proud as heck to hear you were out in high school and had a girlfriend; I admire that so much!

Riese: Yes I am EXTREMELY familiar with this sentiment especially because once you start to like, share clothes, it’s all downhill. But honestly also somehow this happened with me and my gay (male) best friend in high school, like we repeatedly showed up to breakfast in the morning in the same outfit and it was like, hm, what is going on here.

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QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ELIMINATION OF THE SUBJECT EDITOR POSITIONS / AUTOSTRADDLE’S FINANCIAL FUTURE / ANYTHING RELATED TO THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS

Hi, I don’t really know how else to say this, but I’m just extending a loving, concerned hand to all that make this site what I’ve come to love. I very much appreciate the message communicating to readers about the letting go of several subject editors, and I can empathize with the fact that the media world is a hellscape right now. Since then, I’ve noticed a definite change on the rest of the site. I already miss the first-person essays, humor, calls to activism and such. I want to know if the rest of the writers are in conversation with the senior staff? Are they striking? That’s certainly what it looks like to me! I’m wondering how best we, as readers, and especially as A+ members, can support the writers, and everyone involved. I’m very worried, and I don’t want our beloved Autostraddle going the way of Bitch Magazine, which I was sure would be around forever! It’s disappointing since it’s obvious our outpouring of funds and community vibes during the last fundraiser simply weren’t enough… What can we do to fight for this community??

Carmen: Yes, content slowed down over the last month for a few reasons, you are right! And one of those reasons is that both writers for the site and editors of the site needed time (and still need time!) for internal reassessments about our roles at Autostraddle, what we are comfortable with during a time of great upheaval and obviously also, hurt, for this site and community that we all built and poured love into. And there are writers who have decided that this is the end of their time at Autostraddle, that is also true. You can find individual writers on their social media, where they are already writing new brilliant things and looking for support (I hope that you will continue to support them!). There are also writers and editors who have decided to stay as Autostraddle moves into its next chapter. This is a complicated, and honestly, hard time. We are all doing the best we can with it.

The largest reason that there was a slow down in content, however, is that I made an editorial decision to lower our content while our team needed time to process everything I mentioned above. Over the last couple of weeks, you’ve probably already noticed a slow return to some of the funny, personal, call to activism pieces that we were all missing. That is also going to continue as we slowly find our new pacing as we navigate the possibilities of what comes next for the website. There has to a balance of well, our personal needs as the people who keep this website going, and the content that I know everyone misses! I’m watching that balance closely, and making all the best decisions I can with what’s available to me.

Nico: The outpouring of support during the fundraiser was enough. It was. You all are amazing and you did something truly incredible, which was to keep a queer indie media site with very little in terms of resources alive, at all. It was and would have been enough to keep us going, especially with a smaller budget, for some months until we could figure out what to do about ad sales falling. Because if you’re wondering what wasn’t enough, the answer is ad sales. In my opinion, if you wanted to put some pressure somewhere right now, you could look at putting pressure onto corporations who’ve gotten skittish about spending money advertising to the LGBTQ community after the Bud Light situation. They’re being cowards!! Another great thing to do is to support the WGA strikers and to put pressure on studios and streaming services to engage in good faith negotiations because 1) those writers deserve fair contracts and the studios have the money to give them to them and 2) because you know who does a lot of advertising on Autostraddle and are some of our biggest spenders? TV shows! But the strike needs to conclude (favorably, for the writers) so those shows can get written.

With Bitch Magazine, I don’t know internally what all occurred, but they had public fundraiser after public fundraiser that did not meet their goals. It’s tough because, like, a place like Bitch or Autostraddle or any other small publication is not at all like The New York Times, for example, able to weather severe ups and downs because you’re almost too big to fail. I was not surprised when Bitch closed because I was closely following their fundraising efforts. They seemed like they were in danger for a while, and yet, people were shocked and devastated when they heard the news. It’s a tendency to think that just because something exists now, it will always exist, no matter what happens, and that simply is not true.

When it comes to supporting writers. I am sure they have info on their social media and that it’s all pretty individualized that you can seek out about how to support them and follow their writing. In terms of financial support, some people have full time jobs and wrote 1-2 posts a month or fewer, whereas other folks are full-time freelancers who relied on AS for a significant portion of their income, so that’s a wide spectrum of experiences and I don’t want to speak on anyone’s behalf, but I hope you’ll continue supporting their creative endeavors!

Also, speaking of labor organizing, I just wanted to share that I had hoped, for years, to work with my colleagues to explore the possibility of a workers cooperative here at Autostraddle, and I began researching in earnest in April. However, this place is small and super vulnerable and fragile, however shiny the website may appear, and an environment ruled by urgency — and endless waves of public pressure create and contribute to urgency — is not the environment in which to build a workers cooperative, so unfortunately, it no longer seems feasible to pursue that route at this time.

In terms of fighting for this community, you’re reading this, so I’m assuming you’re an A+ member! I can’t tell you what to think or what to do, but if you’re willing to stick with us and support us as we move through this period of transition, that’ll be key to making sure this place doesn’t completely disappear. Thank you for being a member, a reader, a part of this place.

Riese: I just want to second everything Nico and Carmen said — the outpouring of support for the fundraiser was enough! You’re why we’re still here and why we’re still trying to keep going.

Will there be new A+ advice boxes? This is what I subscribe to A+ for.

Nico: Yes, absolutely. I am deeply committed to the advice column. I think it’s really important and is obviously read by a lot of members. The reason for the break in A+ content was twofold and is for the same reasons that editorial overall slowed down which I am sure Carmen can speak to. 1) The senior team had to come together to address what was happening and what ensued were like 2-4 hour video calls every single day. That, coupled with the need to be on triage duty and also to field a bunch of angry emails (a reminder that help tickets, A+ box, emails to our tech support email address and replies to automated A+ messages all go to me) and refund requests, etc., made it very difficult for me to work on editorial. 2) We quickly noticed that people seemed to feel that any comment section — regardless of who the writer was or how involved they were in anything — was up for grabs and that people would comment asking about the budget cutting / subed contract termination. This doesn’t feel good to the writers who put their time into creating these posts and who deserve for the comments to be about their actual work. So, slowing down editorial on Carmen’s part was a protective measure as well.

Carmen: Hello, yes there has been a slowdown on editorial content over the last month for a few reasons, the largest of which is that we’re a small team as editors who are helping to deal with other urgent internal work. Another part of it is that I’m doing a lot of reassessments of our team and content overall at the moment, and we needed (and still need! To be honest!) time to be able to do that. But all of that said, by the time you’re reading this SATSQ you’ve already received at least one new A+ Advice Box. Also, Nico and I met last week and I can confirm that there are two more Advice Boxes planned (back at their normal schedule) for July.

Hi! This is a question for the next “Some Answers to Some Things You’ve Been Asking Us” about what’s going on here at Autostraddle. I was wondering what will happen with the Games and Puzzles? I’m a huge fan and noticed there weren’t any new ones published in the last week (including my beloved Saturday morning A+ crossword). Curious if this is part of the cuts because of budget/personnel constraints, and if so, are there plans to get it going again in the future? Thanks!!

Riese: We didn’t! The puzzle-makers chose to stop publishing with us in May. Laneia is the puzzle editor and she has been on leave this month, but as of last week we have been working to figure out a path forward — puzzles will return to the website, it’s just a matter of how and when, and we’ll have more information for you on that in the coming weeks. (There were a lot of questions about this but they all have the same answer so we’re just including the one here.)

Nico: Yes, we received more questions about puzzles than absolutely any other topic, so we definitely know y’all love and miss them!

Can you please share a little bit about why you decided to eliminate the sex and dating editor positions? I know finances have been tough and I’m sure a lot of thought went into this, but personally I find the sex, dating, and identity pieces the most important part of AS. I know the quizzes and other fun stuff get more clicks, but AS is one of the few places where I can find reliable info on sex and dating from/for queer women. I really hope you continue to write these articles. I regularly look at the sex and dating archives and would love to see newer content in this area. I know I’m in the minority not really caring about pop culture, but personally I would rather have fewer tv episode recaps if it could mean a few more sex/dating/relationship articles. Thanks to the outgoing editors for their great work and thanks to AS for being a great resource for so many years.

Carmen: Yes, absolutely there will be sex and dating content. That is a backbone and tentpole of our content (both because it matters a great deal to us and it’s the kind of content that cannot be found elsewhere on the internet, it’s a direct service to our community, and also because… well, it’s something Google knows us to be an expert in!) — so we will never ever abandon it.

I have adored what Ro created with our sex and dating content, and crafting that content with them as their Editor-in-Chief was an immense honor. There is no way to “replace” them because the work they have created in this space is irreplaceable. It’s indelible; it’s changed the contours of our site (like all of our editors have) in ways that won’t be the same ever again.

What likely will happen with time is that some of the types of sex and dating content we publish will change — or stay the same! — as new members of the senior team step up as editors of that vertical. (Sorry, “vertical” means that channel of content, in case that media-speak wasn’t clear.) I know you mentioned combing over our archives! Over the years different editors have been in charge of our sex and dating content, each has left their own unique mark, and that will be the same here. There will be new things and different things, but sex and dating will always be here. In fact, one of my jobs this week is to start mapping out what sex and dating for Autostraddle will look like this summer, how much of our content will be dedicated to sex and dating, what types of pieces we need or are looking for, who will be in charge of it, etc. — because it is still coming! You don’t have to worry about that.

Riese: We’ve actually drifted in and out of having a subject editor dedicated to that topic over the years and in what capacity, with our limited financial resources — Ryan was in the “NSFW Editor” from 2013-2018, and how much of the vertical was on their plate shifted over time, as did the amount of sex and/or dating content produced by other freelancers or Senior Editors. From 2018 through August 2021 we didn’t have anyone in a role overseeing sex and/or dating content. Of course, none of that changes how much we’re going to miss Ro and their specific mark on this vertical and the work they did for this community.

I noticed that the “A Message from the CEO/CFO” post originally was published as “A Message from Autostraddle.” What was the reason for the title change?

Riese: A writer pointed out that that made it sound like it was from everyone at Autostraddle when obviously it was just from me.

Probably lots of others have asked this question already, but just in case they haven’t: I was really shocked to hear that the subject editors were let go via Slack DM. I know everyone is busy, but that just seems so cruel. Can you shed some light on why that choice was made and whether you will handle things differently going forward?

Riese: As per the letter to A+ members that went out two weeks ago — we do most things in Slack (including when people quit, that’s usually communicated in Slack) and it was mainly a logistical choice, since independent contractors aren’t required to be available for specific hours, and there was concern that scheduling calls across an expanse of time could lead to them finding out from each other instead of from HR. It was the wrong choice, it didn’t reflect or honor their value to this community, and we should’ve figured it out. If we had, maybe our shot at retaining them as writers, despite the dissolving of the SubEd positions specifically, would’ve been much higher. They’ve done incredible work for us, mean so much to all of you, and deserved better.

Yes — we will absolutely handle things differently going forward.

Hey folks, this is for the special SATSTYBAU.

Firstly, I hope y’all are doing okay. I hope you’re not working yourselves to the point of illness. I also hope you’re not too disheartened by some of the comments I’ve seen where some folks have been frankly, really hypocritical, demanding that you hire back the subeds while simultaneously castigating you for working your team too hard AND not paying people enough AND fundraising too much.

Secondly, I’ve noticed that since the subject editors were laid off there’s been significantly less published daily content. I’m just wondering if this is temporary because of upheaval behind the scenes, or if this will be the new normal? And is it related to the subed layoffs or just coincidental?

A related question – is this the end of games and puzzles? I’ll be really sad if that’s the case. If possible I’d really love it if you could at least keep the big Saturday crossword going.

Lastly, thanks for all you do. Seriously. I work in the labour/union world so I recognize how difficult it must be to have to lay off staff when you can’t afford to pay them. I do wish it hadn’t been necessary, and that it had been rolled out differently. But I understand and agree that your priorities should be treating the people you can afford to keep well, rather than keeping more people than you can afford to.

Nico: Thank you for this message. Here to report that I am definitively not okay! For one, from my end, it’s definitely been hard to be repeatedly asked why I didn’t raise an extra $100,000 in the fundraiser this year and and also every year after that for all time even though that would have had serious opportunity costs both personally for myself and multiple senior staff as well as for the website and our sustainability as a whole.

Riese: Thank you, I also wish it hadn’t been necessary and that it had been rolled out differently, so so so much. What you said about afford to keep vs keeping more people then you can afford to is a thing that I have kept in my pocket since I first read this, and my overall duty of care to the people we all love, even when I myself have fallen short. I think the questions about content and puzzles are answered elsewhere, but we definitely are noting the desire for puzzles to come back!

AS isn’t closing, is it? Where will I get my sapphic content?!?

Riese: I really hope not! I am fighting like hell with every last breath I have in this deteriorating collection of cells and organs to find a way to keep people’s jobs and to keep this place open, to step down as CEO and usher us into a future everybody here can feel proud to work for and work in. Everything I’m doing now is in service of that goal. If you’re reading this that means you’re still an A+ member so you’re helping us do that!

How many people have left Autostraddle in the last two months? How are you dealing with that?

Carmen: As it so happens, while I am writing this answer, on of my jobs this very week is to do an assessment of how many writers, and including our Subject Editors, have left Autostraddle over the last five weeks — and also who is staying as we transition into our next chapter. By my current count there are 9 writers who have decided that their time at Autostraddle has come to an end (as well as the three Subject Editors), and of right now there are 17 writers who have decided to stay (there are also the three full time editors, not included in that count, who are also still here) and a smaller group of writers whom as of my writing, I haven’t heard from in either direction just yet.

As for how we are dealing with it? I don’t know how to answer that, just speaking honestly. The vast majority of the people who have decided to leave are writers and Subject Editors who I personally recruited or otherwise brought onto this team. They are talented, compassionate, loving, smart people who made the long hours and longer days that I’ve put into this site worth it a thousand times over. As much as you will miss them as readers (which I am sure is a lot!) — I can promise you that our senior team, myself especially, will miss them a thousand times more. And the impact that they’ve had on this website cannot be overstated or replaced in any capacity. So the primary way that I’ve dealt with these losses is grief, to be honest with you. And a lot of internal reckoning of my role here.

I also know, and so many of us who have stayed know, that there’s a lot of people who still need Autostraddle. That the vision of centering QTPOC and trans voices at the forefront of what we do — we still all believe in it, still matters and makes a difference. That’s also true of so many of the people who’ve left, by the way, some of them have shared with me that they still believe in this, too. Even with all the hurt. So I have to hold that. I know that our community is here every day, needing us, and I hope to continue to be of service — both to our readers, but also to queer writers, trans writers, writers of color who don’t have other places where their voices and stories will be published. I’ve been moving forward with that in my heart as we start to chart plans for what comes next.

I’ve been thinking about it how to say this.. As a longtime reader, something that really disappoints me in all the events that have happened at AS in the past month is the way that commenters showed up on Riese’s post to mock the website for trying to “please everyone” — presumably because Autostraddle has been trying to intentional center diversity in the writers they publish. Honestly, some commenters seemed downright gleeful to watch this website dissolve. It’s left me wondering: Is this run of the mill trolling and pile-ons, or is there truly a contingent of Autostraddle readers who want the website to just publish writing by white, cis queers? If it’s the latter, what do you make of that? How are you going to come out of this experience and affirm AS’s future commitments to who is published on the site and what voices/experiences are reflected here?

Nico: They have always been there and we just don’t listen to them because they’re wrong! Pretty simple. Like every fundraiser we run, I usually get an email or two that’s like “good fucking luck with your queergender website” or “I supported Autostraddle when it was a place for LESBIANS” (Which it was never just for lesbians? And yet, is also, still a place that celebrates and includes lesbians!) and I just ignore them because, again, if you want to be that miserable, that’s not really my problem and we know what we’re trying to accomplish here (see, again, Carmen’s vision and our commitment to said vision). We know who our real, serious readers are — and they are not TERFs or people committed to upholding white supremacy. Like, their opinions just don’t matter, no matter how they get in the comments and no matter anything else they do. I am sorry that you had to see that, though!

Riese: Yep! We don’t listen to them! Those comments are fucked up and troubling, but they don’t impact how any of us view the future of this community or this website, and does not compromise our commitment to a more inclusive Autostraddle, to Carmen’s vision, and to uplifting QTPOC voices now and wherever we land next. We’ve always had a lot of TERFs, specifically, for well over a decade, they’ve literally sent hate mail and legal threats to my physical home and shut down our website through DDOS attacks and trolled our website and piled on repeatedly and none of that changed our minds about trans inclusion. Readers who only want us to publish writing by white, cis queers are not the people we are building this place for, and that’s not a community that would be deserving of your support or the time of our incredible Editors and writers.

Was the intention always to publish an explanatory message like this? Or was it decided after seeing the questions and negative responses from readers/commenters/on Twitter, once the subject editors had all 3 posted about job hunting? (If the “A Message From…” post was already planned, did the reader response on the website and on social media change anything about the information you included? Were you surprised by readers’ response before the “A Message…” post went up?)

Riese: The statement was not prepared in reaction to the negative responses from readers/commenters on Twitter, it was something that Nico would have already wanted me to do — but Nico was out of town the week before this all happened so we didn’t talk about it. If we had, they would’ve told me that they wanted me to publish a letter to our members or to all of our readers before they found out about the cuts through the SubEds posting on social media. During that week while Nico was out, one of the SubEds had also suggested we do public messaging sooner than HR had planned to as per past protocol around departing team members. But this was a different decision that warranted a different approach. I’ve apologized to Nico for that and have worked with the senior team on communications since then. I haven’t been on social media at all since May 19th — I’ve checked my insta DMs periodically and sent a few tweets in mid-June, but otherwise have not been on social media.

I have one concern that wasn’t addressed. You knowing before the last fundraiser that there will be cuts and this would be in part the Subject Editors, this still stings. I’m hurt that good people were let go.

I know fundraising is one part of the pie. Yet, if you tried everything to raise the money to keep the Subject Editors, why didn’t you bring those costs to be fundraised for? People might have been open to that idea as the fundraisers make enough money and go beyond. The cost of $96k wouldn’t have added much to the fundraiser. I know adding more work onto the plate of staff wasn’t what you wanted to do but the community might have stepped up in more ways.

I also don’t agree with your premise that other media companies are laying off people, this was inevitable to happen to Autostraddle. The comments for the post when first announced, people vented about everything. Maybe A+ members need a place to vent every 6 months to hear and talk about what’s going on.

Riese: I do want to correct one thing — I knew before the last fundraiser that cuts were likely and that it was possible those cuts wold be some or all of the Subject Editor positions, but I didn’t know that for certain until just before we did it, because we did have a lot of RFPs out earlier in the year that, if we’d secured the deals, would’ve put us on a different path.

Okay, so — I think as addressed in more detail the letter on the website, fundraising is a huge drain on our staff. Advertising is generally just a lift for Anya and to a much more secondary degree, me, and any extra work our writers or staff do for an ad campaign can be compensated with money from said campaign. Fundraisers meanwhile do take more work from everyone on the team, especially on Nico, obviously, but also a lot of time for Carmen. This year’s fundraiser specifically I put a two-week time limit on because of the toll it takes on Nico to execute when it stretches out for longer periods of time, followed by the time/expense of purchasing and mailing perks (we’ve also been hiring extra help for perks-packing the past few fundraisers, but there’s still so much!). Also honestly, the more and more of them we do, the less ideas we have left for posts and themes and perks and everything! It’s also not a long-term solution — we can’t be constantly running ourselves so close to the edge that we we’re honestly shouting “we’re about to shut down without your help” every year, and when we did fundraising in the context of “fundraising is part of our business model” — where we fundraised preventatively instead of once we hit a cliff— those fundraisers took up to seven weeks.

Fundraising is a practice we’re able to do because of who we are and how we are structured, but looking forward to the possibility of bringing in a new CEO through investment, acquisition or merger, fundraising would no longer be possible (because we are not a non-profit, and new ownership won’t have the same angle we do now), so any fundraising line item on our revenue map basically counts as “zero” – whatever we rely on funding through fundraising would have to be cut altogether at the next stage.

Nico: Also, we raised $217k in the fundraiser and so would have needed to raise like $320k+ (also to cover costs like perks) to add $96k to the fundraiser. We’ve never been able to raise past $220k though. That, and we would have had to reduce A+ content because of my needing to fundraise, thus possibly leading to more cancellations and fewer sign ups, thus making less money overall anyway (A+ is our biggest piece of the revenue pie – HEY GUYS!), making AS even less sustainable in the long run and just continuing to dig ourselves in more, instead of digging ourselves out. Fundraising is not a reasonable solution for an organization that is spending more than it should and where its people are overworked because they’re constantly scrambling for more funding. That said, the execution of making those cuts was bungled and feelings were hurt and it opened up all kinds of old wounds, but Riese has already addressed that fact. I think it’s also true that having these positions at all brought a great deal to the website and this community and I’m grateful I was able to witness Shelli, Vanessa and Ro’s work.

​​If Autostraddle has to shut down completely for financial reasons, is there a plan in place to preserve/archive the site? What are the cost and logistics of that? If it’s not feasible to leave the site up as-is in the event of closure, will you provide readers with enough notice to download and save articles?

Riese: Yes it costs several thousand dollars a month to keep the website online, but we would ideally figure out a way to keep the archives funded and online. If that’s not feasible then, yes, we would give readers as well as everybody who’s ever contributed to the site ample time to download and save articles! The idea of having to take down our archives and remove that resource from the hands and hearts of the queer community is honestly like, soul-crushing to me and so heartbreaking. Assuming that there aren’t any new unexpected crises to manage in the coming weeks, I can get us to a place where shutting down won’t be necessary! 

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REALLY NICE THINGS YOU TOLD US

Hi all! Just wanted to say that I value Autostraddle and plan to continue contributing as an A+ member. I am not commenting on the public article about the layoffs because a lot of people there seem angry and I don’t have the energy to argue with them. But I am taken aback by the harshness of some of the comments. I don’t expect Autostraddle to be perfect, I don’t think my financial support entitles me to a full explanation of every nuance of every decision, and I appreciate and respect that Autostraddle leadership has shown willingness to learn and grow over the years. In the current political climate, independent queer media is more important than ever, and the fact that this website exists at all is something I appreciate and do not take for granted. I just wanted y’all to know that.

Riese: Thank you.

Nico: <3 <3 I also think that queer media is important right now. Thank you.

Dear Autostraddle,
I am a college mathematics instructor at a university where the prevailing culture is one that invites student feedback and encourages students to feel a certain amount of agency over their learning. This is a job I love very much, and I care deeply about my students and my discipline. It is also a job that asks me to give more of myself and my time than is probably reasonable, and I do so often because it is so important to me. Reading all the comments on the Message From The CEO/CFO post is reminding me a lot of the feelings I get when I read my student evaluations. On the one hand, I love the thought and care that my students take in expressing the feelings they have about their education, and I appreciate the engagement it takes to want to make a comment in the first place. But also, the assumption that I haven’t thought deeply about the choices I make in designing my courses lurks in the background of so many comments, and that hurts. Likewise, when I do make changes in response to student comments, I get comments from the students who experienced my class post-change telling me it would have been better if I had done things the way they were previously. And sometimes there are changes I want to make that I can’t make because I am part of a larger university structure that requires certain things of me.

All this is to say that I really empathize with what you’re going through, and I hope you as a team have found useful ways to read and internalize the feedback coming at you without it causing you to throw your hands up and give up.
<3

Riese: Thank you, I appreciate this metaphor!

Nico: Can relate! Thank you for sharing.

Just want to send my support for y’all, I know it’s a rough time, and I still appreciate everything you do! Just upgraded my A+ account from cobalt to bronze. It’s not much, but I want to do what I can to keep AS going.

Nico: 💗💗💗 Thank you so much.

Carmen: Thank you.

Riese: Thank you!

Riese, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you and your heart and your transparency and your love for this thing you created even though it is so challenging and often feels unwin-able. You’re really important. <3

Riese: thank you <3

Hello babes! I have been reading Autostraddle for years and after I met my wife I introduced her to it too. We just bought our very first house today and we both wore Autostraddle shirts to closing! We got dressed independently and didn’t plan this, we just love to represent our favorite website and community! I hope I linked this photo correctly! Thanks for sharing our joy! https://photos.app.goo.gl/iUkyN63Q9LKNFMkR7

Anya: Awww, this is so lovely!! Congrats on the home!!

Nico: Congratulations!!! 💗💗💗

Carmen: Well this is the greatest thing. I don’t even have words. I’m just… wow.. Speechless. Congratulations to you both and to your new home and also all of your love. Wow. 💗

Riese: CONGRATS!!! This is so very much fucking cute!

Just wanted to say that I was SO EXCITED to see a new TIRTIL today! Hope y’all are having an excellent Friday.

Riese: That makes me so happy! I’ve really enjoyed getting back into the TIRTL beat and hope I can keep doing so.

For Anya/Kayla/Yashwina et al: loving all the book content lately- I have been getting them from my library and even got them to buy a new book they didn’t have! Yay

Kayla: Music to my ears!!!!! Thanks for reading and adding to your TBR pile!

Thanks, Nico, for your advice to check out reddit for trans travel recommendations. (TikTok isn’t really my speed). Wanted to share this thread I found: squee! Thanks again!

Nico: Hooray!! I’m so glad it helped. And now I am SO SAD about the state of Reddit right now! I truly hope we don’t use this valuable resource forever; it’s one of the better places on the internet to actually find real, factual information this is vetted and commented on by multiple people who know what they’re talking about and have actual experience in a topic. Anyway, I hope your trip is the best trip and that you have so much fun.