Letter From Your Editors
Hello Autostraddle Plus Members!
Welcome to our first ever Insider Newsletter brought to you by the Senior Staff of Autostraddle.com, your #1 source for tips on carpentry and beekeeping. The contents of the monthly Insider Newsletter will evolve over time but generally could be described as “a behind-the-scenes look at what the fuck is going on around here.” The A+ Bee, edited by Chronic Interns Grace and Chelsey, is our Community Newspaper that’ll debut next week and will be all about YOU PEOPLE. We’ll also start publishing our special A+ posts later in the month!
Right now we’re in Big Bear, California, in an Airbnb rental with no Netflix but pretty much every important movie ever made on VHS, including but not limited to Jurassic Park, Ghost, The Sandlot and Jumanji as well as a delightful book published by Focus on the Family about how to keep your kids off drugs. It’s our Senior Staff Summit! Executive Editor Laneia and Editor-in-Chief Riese have been here since Sunday, and were joined by Rachel (Senior Editor), Alex (Design Director), Yvonne (Associate Editor), Grace (Chronic Intern) on Tuesday night. We’re here to go through applications for new writers, re-organize our team, convince Alex that making a Misandrist t-shirt is a good idea, launch A+ and make a lot of margaritas. We’re rarely in the same space at the same time — actually we’re never in the same space at the same time except for A-Camp — so this is a super important week for the site.
Last year was the first year we did a “summit” situation, and that’s actually where we first named A+ and came up with a loose plan for its implementation and scope.
From The Big Bear Shakedown 2013 White Board
So it’s fitting that we’re launching A+ at our second editorial summit, right? Or at least that’s what we’re telling ourselves to feel better about taking an entire year to thrust this particular moment of glory into the universe.
Summertime is weird, editorially, because at least one of us seems to be out of town every day, so it’s not generally a time of monumental editorial decision-making. But it is a good time for training and integrating new writers, and thus we’re excited to pick those writers from the approximately ten billion Contributing Editor applications we received and report back in our next Letter from the Editor.
Lastly, if there’s anything that you’d like to see more of in the A+ Insider, let us know in the comments! We’re really pumped about building this new piece of the already thriving Autostraddle community.
Love,
Riese / Laneia / Rachel / Yvonne
Top 10 Most Popular Posts From June 2014
These posts got mad hits last month.
1. And Now, Every Character on “Orange is the New Black” As They Appear On “Law and Order,” by Stef
Here’s how this happened:
Kate: A thought i had while recapping OITNB: has every single cast member been a guest star in an episode of the law and order franchise? because i think they have. who else wants to waste the entire evening figuring this out via imdb?
Stef: You have caught me on exactly the night where I would be very happy to not only investigate this, but also watch all the episodes.
This turned out to be one of our most popular posts of all time. On an average day, we get between 100k and 150k views — when this post was at its peak, we were getting over 500k hits per day. This made Thursday, June 19th our most trafficked day of all time, beating out the previous record holder, January 7th, when Flawless Trans Women Carmen Carrera and Laverne Cox Respond Flawlessly To Katie Couric’s Invasive Questions garnered over 400k hits. This shit went crazy viral, y’all.
2. Novel Idea: What If We Actually Researched Whether Menstrual Products are Safe To Use, by Helen
3. Oh My F*cking God It’s “Orange is the New Black” With Cats, by Carmen
5. If You Were My Boo: 28 Things To Do On A Date With Samira Wiley, by the Team
6. You Need Help: Here Is A Worksheet To Help You Talk to Partners About Sex, by Ali
7. Laverne Cox Returns to “Katie,” Shows How To Do a “Teachable Moment” Right, by Mey
8. Saturday Morning Cartoons Special Guest Comic, Straight From “Oh Joy Sex Toy,” by Erika Moen
9. Laverne Cox is Amazing On The Cover of TIME, TIME’s Story Inside Not So Much, by Mey
10. Angel Haze and Ireland Baldwin Are Officially Together, Not “Just Best Friends”, by Kate
Top 5 Most Popular Posts In June 2014 That Were Actually Written Many Many Months Ago
The internet’s interest in really old posts about lesbian sex burns eternal, but this month so did the internet’s interest in Samira Wiley.
1. How To Have Lesbian Sex 102: Cunnilingus Edition, by Ali
2. BREAKING: Samira Wiley Needs a Boo, Eats String Cheese, by Riese
3. How “Real” Is Orange is the New Black: Comparing the Show To The Memoir to The Numbers, by Riese
4. Bondage 101: How To Tie Someone Up, by Carolyn
5. Five Lesbian Films You Might Have Missed in 2013, by Kate –
“I feel like Carmen could write a post that says “baby bunnies: pretty cute, no?” and someone would be like “I notice you didn’t mention how bunnies voted against marriage equality in 2010.”
– Rachel Kincaid, Autostraddle Senior Editor, April 2014
Nine Important Excerpts From Editorial Conversations
Conversations on pressing editorial matters pulled from e-mails and Skype Chats.
Rachel: pitch: top 5 things we should start doing to be spotlighted for making awesome women’s media, because apparently “making awesome women’s media” is not really a key factor somehow
Stef: maybe if we were nicer to men
Laneia: HELLO can y’all please email me separately with a (preferably lighthearted) dilemma you’re currently experiencing so Beth The Tarot Reader can do a mini one-card reading for you on this website we call home?
Grace: can you give us an example of a lighthearted dilemma?
Helen: do biddie non-problems count as a dilemma? or cat drama?
Helen: i think i just summed up my life in under 15 words
Hansen: the Facebook posting of the berry food list came up with a picture of Vee on Law and Order and I’m laughing but also terrified.
Stef: looks blue, tastes red
Rachel: i’m looking at this poetry post now, what else should we tag it with?
Laneia: bisexual
Riese: bisexuality
Rachel: WHOA HEY
Riese: bicycle
bilateral
bisect
Laneia: bisected aborted babies
Riese: bin of pickles
Rachel: i’m kind of uncomfortable with these labels
Riese: bidontcare
Riese: ok i will publish disney now
Laneia: HOORAY
Riese: i hope people think it’s funny
Laneia: i hope if they don’t, they fall down in the street on their way home and get run over by a bike messenger with an attitude problem aka just a bike messenger
Riese: what if bra week was just a week where we celebrate the autostraddle reader “bra”
Laniea: what if tomorrow, bra wins every comment award
Riese: that would be amazing. the bra week award for bra
Laneia: we can make that happen. i know a girl
Riese: bra’s greatest hits. top ten bra comments. everybody will think that it’s just comments about bras but instead it will all be comments by bra
Rachel: it would really do a lot of good work for bra visibility
Yvonne: i wanted to watch Center Stage but Gloria picked Side Effects and i was like i don’t want to watch a movie with Channing Tatum and then it turned out there was lesbians in there
Laneia: i feel like if given half a chance i could develop a strange lesbian crush on channing tatum and that alone repels me from him
Rachel: that’s a really complicated relationship to have with him
Stef: alternative fast food pride items? The Subway Rainbow Meatball sub or whatever? “Proud whopper” is my new favourite term of endearment.
Kate: i don’t think a franchise could be better tailored to the gay pride experience than subway, whose ads continually brag about their six inches.
Rachel: Today a man tried to tell me about how OINTB is problematic, and i discovered my hard limit for OINTB criticism, which is “men.”
Hansen: Some of my best friends are men who watch OITNB ugh I’m really offended by the blatant misandry of this queer website let me make some mean and generalized comments about it and then facebook share this hilarious article from [other amazing website] about how dumb men are
Hansen: Wait. That was too real. I just upset myself.
Meet Some New Contributors!
Get to know some of our newest columnists.
Arabelle Sicardi
Twitter: @arabellesicardi
Website: arabelle sicardi
Arabelle did a Holiday Fashion and Makeup Post for us before launching her new feature “Most Important Ugly,” a photography series centered around queer and feminist makeup theory, empowerment, and identity.
If you could only use one emoji for the rest of your life what would it be?
Applause!
What is your favorite kind of sandwich?
One I didn’t have to make myself.
Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on.
No one takes me out on dates.
What’s your #1 turn-on?
Humble intelligence! Infectious intelligence! Wanting to share your knowledge! It’s so erotic. I’m attracted to brilliance that blossoms.
What’s your #1 turn-off?
Ew I have so many. I hate snobbishness.
Tayler Smith
Twitter: @nottaylersmith
Tumblr: nottaylersmith
Tayler is Arabelle’s best friend and the co-author of the Most Important Ugly series!
If you could only use one emoji for the rest of your life, what would it be?
The Shiba dog
What is your favorite kind of sandwich?
Is a s’more a sandwich?
Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on:
I feel like the only time I went on a “date” was when I was 15 and I kissed them in the back of my parents car… while my parents were driving the car.
What’s your favorite sex toy?
Samantha Jones knew what she was talking about when she got the rest of the girls to buy Rabbits.
What’s your #1 turn-on?
If you can sit through every episode of Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse on Netflix and finish thinking it’s a work of comedic genius, you’re a keeper.
What’s your #1 turn-off?
If you hate dogs please leave.
Elicia Sanchez
Twitter: @El_SanchoVilla
Website: elicia sanchez
Instagram: elsanchovilla
Youtube: eliciasanchezcomedy
Elicia started writing for us just this past December, joined us all for A-Camp in May and will continue writing funny shit for us now and forevermore.
If you could only use one emoji for the rest of your life what would it be?
I don’t have an iPhone, so most of the ones on my Android are just dumb alien faces making eyes, but I can say from Facebook messanger conversations it would be anything that pukes. I feel like a puking face can emote a lot of different things, i.e. ugh, look at this gross couple in love photo or ugh, look at the dumb thing this person said or just ugh, it’s hot in here.
What is your favorite kind of sandwich?
Sliders. Anything any bar/restaurant is willing to put in a slider is almost always the best thing ever.
Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on.
I once got pregnant from a casual hook up with a dude and our first time spending the day together was when he came with me to the abortion appointment. That was awkward, but a great way to really get to know one another, especially when we had to fill out my Planned Parenthood paperwork together.
What’s your favorite sex toy?
I am so beyond not well versed in this department. I used to be all about this strap-on I owned for years which I named and had a decorated carrying case for, but then one of my current partners told me it’s really uncool to use the same strap on with different people and made me throw it away in a dumpster by our apartment. It felt like a funeral for part of my body. I’ve never been able to connect with another sex toy after that.
What’s your #1 turn-on?
I’m not sure if this is physical or personality-wise, but physically, MOUTHS. I’m all about hot mouths.
What’s your #1 turn-off?
Religion. I have a hard time connecting with people, friendship or beyond that are religious in any way.
Beth Maiden
Twitter: @littleredtarot
Tumblr: little red tarot
In “The Fool’s Journey,” Beth is teaching you how to read your cards and develop your mystic prowess!
If you could only use one emoji for the rest of your life what would it be?
The OMG cat.
What is your favorite kind of sandwich?
A smushed-up cheese and pickle sandwich on top of a hill in the rain in Yorkshire.
Describe the worst date you’ve ever been on.
I only go on awesome dates!
What’s your favorite sex toy?
The softest, smoothest silicon double-ended dildo with a fat fist one end and a long, lovely cock the other.
What’s your #1 turn-on?
My partner’s insanely beautiful smile.
What’s your #1 turn-off?
Dog farts.
Lydia Okello
Twitter: @styleisstyle
Website: style is style
Tumblr: style is style
Lydia lives in Vancouver, is the author of “Style is Style” and the star of my Lydia Appreciation Board.
If you could only use one emoji for the rest of your life, what would it be?
SIDE EYE.
What’s your favorite sex toy?
Restraints/magic wand
What’s your #1 turn-on?
Dimples
What’s your #1 turn-off?
Overt arrogance/ if you are ignorant/unintelligent
Comedy/Sports Editor Brittani Nichols’ A-Camp 5.0 #selfietour
Four Stories I Can’t Believe You Motherf*ckers Didn’t Read Last Month
Rachel wants to know why not enough of you read or commented upon these posts.
What St.Vincent Has Been Telling Us All Along: Gender In Juxtaposition, by Cara
Cara is actually a literal genius, first of all, and a hilarious mad scientist, so you should already be reading everything she writes. This especially, though, is brave and smart and articulates a lot of things that are really hard to discuss, not least because we don’t always have language for them. But if anyone can find words, it’s Cara! For real, I’m serious.
Without A Safety Net: Talking Women-Owned Tech With Section II’s Allie Esslinger, by Ali
Do you know how challenging the landscape is for women in tech, let alone women in tech looking for funding? It’s ridiculous! Which is why it’s so amazing that Allie Esslinger has been able to succeed at creating a web platform for film about queer women, and so amazing that Ali interviewed her. Next time you’re wishing there was more stuff for and by queer women on your internet, you better have read this.
Can’t Go Home Again: Tacos, Grief, and Growing Up Without Tamale House, by Audrey
This essay is so sweet and real, and talks about something universal while remaining totally unique. It is also about tacos! And migas! I think I grew up a little just reading this. If you have ever gone back home for any reason and had to grapple with the fact that it’s not really the place you remember while trying to put on a smile and figure out where in the world you belong, you are a dumb dumb if you don’t read this.
Beyond Definition: On Queer Black Love and My Kaleidoscope Identity, by Kim Milan
This piece is incredible you guys! This is someone taking the risk of figuring out their identity and their sense of who they are in front of you, on your own screen, while you get to sit safely behind the keyboard. It is hard, brave work, and although many of you did in fact read it, only NINE people commented. Read it again and thank Kim Milan for sharing so much with you!
Flashback: In 2009 Rachel Really Wanted To Be An Autostraddle Intern, Look At Her Now
“This is a repulsive movement. I am sorry you have this “gay” mental condition, but there is help available so you can have a normal life. Reject satan and his evil queer lifestyle.”
– a message from “Hetero S Normal” via our “Contact Us” form, July 2014
Stories Our Writers Claim To Be Writing
Maybe a little less reading and a little more writing there, Intern Grace
Don’t you wish you could read these stories our writers pitched to us? Us too!
Kaitlyn: I WILL WRITE ABOUT HOUSE HUNTERS BECAUSE I AM UNEMPLOYED AND HAVE CABLE AND ALL I DO IS WATCH HGTV AND MY GIRLFRIEND AND I ACTUALLY HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT ITS AWESOME AND CHILL LGBT INCLUSION THE OTHER DAY BECAUSE WE’RE GAY NERDS… But actually, pitch in a more coherent form: A lot of these home/DIY shows make a big deal out of including same-sex couples. They’ll introduce them as “Same-sex couple Kelly and Jeanine” and make constant references to “hers and hers” bathrooms or what the fuck ever. It’s obnoxious. House Hunters (and a few other HGTV shows) deliberately don’t do that, and it is nice and sweet and just cool. I didn’t know the show’s creators were a lesbian couple, but that only adds to the cuteness. If we’re interested, I could do a little writeup and an excerpt from the interview, plus maybe some suggestions for my favorite episodes to watch if I can find enough of them online. Cute cute cute. Lemme know.”
Grace: How would you feel if we published an essay called “The Sadder But Wiser Girl: On Being a Feminist And Loving Musicals”?
Yvonne: Taco Tuesday would be a series all about tacos written by me, a Mexican named Yvonne! Each week or (biweekly) I would write about different topics including: my own personal connection to tacos/ my family’s history and culture (how my parents were poor Mexicans and had to hide their tacos at lunch at school because they didn’t bring sandwiches), the history of tacos themselves (super interesting, indigenous roots, only invented in 1900’s though), the gentrification of the taco and how it’s a “hipster food” now with white people making a profit from a staple food and my feelings, and then from there on write about different kinds of tacos (breakfast, street, fish, veggie, etc.) / find quirky angle/facts to take and include a recipe(s) maybe.
Kate: “so obviously i am super busy recapping OINTB and not having a life outside of that, but at some point could i write a piece on queer fanfiction, specifically femslash? i have 1001 feelings about femslash in fanfiction and how fucking important it is and how i kind of deplore that all lgbtq pairings in fanfiction are bilbo baggins getting buttfucked by benadryl cucumber in dragon form or some shit. basically i think femslash is the shit and i want it to take over the world and i want to write a manifesto about that.” [ETA: recent action on Kate’s tumblr suggests this particular pitch is evolving into its righteous position of glory and will be a publishable situation so very soon.]
Catching the Garter at A-Camp 5.0’s Big Gay Wedding (photo by Robin Roemer)
Some Answers To Some Things You’ve Been Asking Us
Do you have burning questions about what the fuck is going on around here? Ask us — just use the A+ priority contact form in your sidebar.
Recapping Shuffle: This summer’s television recap plan is going a little differently than anticipated! Vikki, our official Den Mother and one of our favorite people of all time, usually recaps The Fosters, but unfortunately cannot because… she switched cable companies and doesn’t get ABC Family anymore. “I don’t want to have to download torrents for a show I don’t even like,” Vikki told us. Lizz had been recapping Pretty Little Liars since Riese ran out of time to do it herself some years back, but now Lizz is SUPES busy with Med School, and thus Hansen has stepped in as the new Pretty Little Liars Whisperer. Finally, Chelsea (of High Femme, American Horror Story, Orphan Black recaps) was gonna recap True Blood BUT THEN THEY KILLED TARA IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE.
Where Are The A-Camp Recamps: We’re working on them, really truly! Because of some personal shit that happened right after camp, we weren’t able to pull it together as soon as we usually do. We now feel emotionally prepared and hopefully these’ll exist before the end of the month. In the meantime, please enjoy our recap of Bren and Carrie’s wedding!
What Happened To “How To Keep A Girl For Ten Years”: WE DON’T KNOW BUT WE MISS IT TOO.
When other people try to imagine what we all talk about all day to make this website happen, I feel like “please carry on with the scissoring” is a sentence they usually imagine us saying.
-Stef, Music Editor, June 2014
July Retro-Reading
Some posts from previous Julys you might really truly enjoy.
via Why Queer Kittens Need A Better Autostraddle, July 2012
28 Docs Later You’ll Be A Better Person, Just Watch (2010), by the team – A massive roundtable about some of our most favorite documentaries of all time. I still use this post to pick new shit to watch!
How I Turned Straight Actors into Badass Butch Queers in Three Days Flat (2010), by Gabby – This was Gabby’s first-ever post on Autostraddle! It’s about her experience making her first short film, Spanish Girls Are Beautiful. Riese found Gabby after she commented on an Autostraddle post that referenced a book she had a story in, followed the link to her short film, saw it, and invited Gabby for a drink the week of our 2010 Pride Party. The rest is history.
Rejection 101: A Lesbian’s Guide To Getting Turned Down, Keeping Your Head Up (2011), by Intern Grace – It’s hard to imagine that worldwide heartthrob Intern Grace was ever rejected by anybody, ever, but indeed she was, and this is a very inspirational story on how she dealt with it.
Your Monthly Infographic About You
We did an Autostraddle reader survey this summer and found out a lot of shit about you. Here’s one of those things.
Where Are They Now?
Sometimes really amazing writers come to Autostraddle and then they leave and it’s really sad and we sit around and wonder what they’re up to.
Gabrielle Korn, Contributing Editor 2012-2013
What are you up to these days, Gabrielle Korn? “I’m working at Refinery29 as a beauty editor, which basically means I write about hair/makeup/nails/skin care and produce photo shoots. Sometimes I get to go to cool places like Singapore and Paris for journalism! My free time is mostly spent touching my dog.”
Emily Choo, Intern 2009-2012
What’s going on with you, Emily Choo? “So there are actually a lot of changes happening for me right now, coincidentally! After going through a breakup complicated by the fact that we lived together, I decided to quit my steady-paycheque job and move to Toronto to cry, write, bleed, cry, remember how to be alone while arts & crafting my heart back together, heal, cry, write, etc. So, currently I’m sitting funemployed in my parents’ basement, but very shortly my days will be filled with eating, drinking (coffee), writing, crying in public, rock climbing, and cycling in a city I’ve never lived in before. the future is bright! /scary/foggy.”
Carolyn’s Recommended Sex Toy Of the Month
In which our NSFW Editor Carolyn has advice on getting off.
I’m not going so far as to say that vibrators are a universal crowd-pleaser, because different people are different, but if we all get only a few near-perfect sex toys in our lives then I have found one of mine, and it is the We-Vibe Tango. The Tango is only a little longer than a bullet vibe, has a pointy tip, charges with a USB cable, is waterproof and is more powerful than you would believe. It’s powerful enough I’m willing to forgive how hard it is to grip when it’s covered in lube and the fact it only comes in sex-toy pink or purple, not to mention its abbreviated battery life — a quality that, given the strength of the vibrations, I hardly notice unless I get absent-minded. It’s fun alone. It’s fun with a partner. It’s fun wedged into or tight against a harness. Held the right way, it feels thuddier than any clit vibe I’ve ever used, and held the wrong way, it’s still pretty fantastic. As a sex toy reviewer, I don’t have to pay actual money for every sex toy that gets in my pants, but after trying this one out in a store I couldn’t leave without it.
Alex’s Whiskey Corner
What whiskey is Alex obsessed with this month? Don’t worry she’ll tell you all about it.
Enjoying my Brenne Whisky up in Big Bear, CA at Shakedown2014
I love Brenne French Single Malt Whisky and even more — I love that it’s a woman-owned small business! They came on as a sponsor for our last A-Camp for mine and Ali’s whiskey tasting. So I gotta show ’em some love. Not surprisingly, it was the clear favorite amongst the campers and staff.
The flavors: the nose is super pleasant with lots of fruity notes, specifically bananas (seriously!) and tropical fruits. The taste is more complex than you’d expect — burnt caramel, like a creme brûlée, and warm spices like cinnamon and clove.
It’s the first whisky I would pour for someone who needs a proper introduction (or re-introduction) to the spirit. It’s really wonderful and perfectly balanced and I can’t recommend Brenne enough.
If your local liquor store doesn’t carry Brenne, request it! They might be able to order it just for you. Or try Caskers which is great for finding awesome whiskies at very low prices. (Hint: they have Brenne for sale right now!)
What Should We Call The A+ Levels Though
riese: do you guys have any ideas for what we could call the A+ levels besides like bronze, silver and gold
rachel: my first thought was “what if they were different tex-mex menu items, like the biggest one could be ‘enchilada platter'”
so maybe i’m not the best person for this job
laneia: really wish we could reference glitter somehow
i like rachel’s idea too
riese: i wish level one could be bossy bottom, and two could be top and three could be switch, or vice versa
rachel: i don’t think anyone woke up today wanting to pay money to be an enchilada platter
laneia: it would be funnier if they were totally unrelated to each other and also weren’t an obvious reference to superiority
riese: Like Enchilada Platter, Bossy Bottom and Captain Comamander of the Sea
laneia: mushroom level, otter level, captain commander of the sea
riese: what if it was like, marijuana level, cocaine level, crystal meth level
laneia: or
no nvm i don’t like that new idea i just had
rachel: different types of sandwiches (omg all my ideas are food i’m so sorry what’s wrong with me)
laneia: what if it were the levels of the kind of underwear you wear depending on what kind of night you think you’ll have
riese: grandma panties, clean underwear, sexy thong you bought in high school
laneia: but i’d really want period panties to be in there somewhere
riese: you just want periods in everything
laneia: or it could mimic our intern levels, which would be: you forgot we hired you, we ask you to do everything, you’re bren
riese: glitter, bedazzle, vajazzle
laneia: cartoon characters from the 90s
daria is platinum level
rachel: what if they were all just different mariah carey albums
laneia: oh
i like that
riese: what if autostraddle just became a mariah carey fansite
rachel: tbh i’ve been waiting for you to suggest that for a long time
laneia: you could also do t&s albums and the bottom level would be this business of art
rachel: what if they were all celebs who aren’t out, would we get sued
laneia: places riese has lived
riese: ann arbor, berkeley, interlochen, new york
laneia: types of tank tops. i need spag strap to be the bottom level for that one
riese: i need mossimo long & lean tank top to be the top level
laneia: AMEN
or this ‘solid gold clit’ tank top that i’m wearing right now
riese: WHAT
rachel: YOU GOT IT??
riese: Golden Clit should be the top level
laneia: everyone would cry
even the people who don’t know why they’d be crying
rachel: i’m crying right now
riese: golden clit tears
Special Thanks
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally launched A+ and we couldn’t have done it without the tireless work of our team, specifically our all-star developer Cee Webster. She really hit it out of the park. Thanks everyone for their hard work!
If you’d like to send Cee a nice big thanks, or a virtual hug, or tell her how good her hair looks today, you can find her on twitter at: @ceeweb
One More Questions
When you’re logged in as an A+ member, your special layout includes a sidebar widget that lets you know some of which other AS users are online. You can see this on any page of the website besides A+ posts, which have the special full-width format (like this post!) We’re divided on whether or not we like this widget, so we wanna know what you think!
xoxo,
Team Autostraddle
Ummm. I love you guys and is Cee Webster in the market for an apprentice/minion/grasshopper/intern/heroworshipper.
“what if autostraddle just became a mariah carey fansite”
crylaughing
I’m just blatantly not working today and crying reading this at my desk because all of your chat conversations are pure gold.
yes. this. me too
except for the work part. i’m enjoying what my friends like to call “no job july” where i get to do things like do my laundry and then consider the day successful and complete.
You guys. Can you imagine? These gems show up in my email every damn day! It’s a wonder I ever get anything done at all.
“What’s your #1 turn-on? Dimples” – This! As much as I like cheek dimples, let’s not forget lower back dimples too.
LOWER BACK DIMPLES
Everything about this is wonderful.
I saw the Title for “28 Docs Later You’ll Be A Better Person, Just Watch” and thought it was gonna be a Doc Martins Gallery. I think maybe I better watch them.
I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT. And then, as I cast my eyes down in shame, I realized I’m wearing Doc Martins right now. #sendhelp
Such content. So wowing. Much excited. I am feel good about this :D
I like cake pops and chips, but my votes were better invested in the other options.
Love this behind the scenes look and the dietary info graphic. I’m gonna strive to incorporate “golden clit tears” in a short story.
If Kate does a femslash piece, I’d be ALL ABOUT THAT.
Can chips and cake pops become perks for A+ members?
BRB, going back in time to give bra a billion comment awards…
I love this so much, and I know that these newsletters are going to make me wish I were part of the editorial team. Y’all are the best humans.
I would throw even more of my hard-earned money at you if I could have a no-ads layout. Just sayin’.
yeah, that’s just not practical at this time because we still need that revenue stream, and cutting advertisers off from our most invested readers just isn’t good business. BUT in my wildest dreams we could one day make enough off A+ to make ad dollars less necessary and to make the full-screen post view available for more than just A+ posts.
Fair enough.
omg if we COULD do this right now we would! Def a valid suggestion. Once we establish this member-supported revenue stream (fingers crossed), we can be more picky with our advertisers — i.e. no more Motrin video contests ;)
Yo Rachel, thank you so much for making a list of articles you can’t believe I didn’t read. I can’t believe I didn’t read them either. These all look incredible and relevant to my interests.
YOU’RE WELCOME GEMI I will continue to provide this service for you out of love!
I don’t know if this makes it better but I saved all of those articles on Pocket to read later! I haven’t actually read them yet, but I fully intend to!
I really really really want Yvonne to make good on this Taco Tuesday article. Like really.
ME TOO. [dancing taco emoji]
I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN
I CAME DOWN HERE TO COMMENT THIS AS WELL BUT I SEE YOU HAVE IT COVERED CARRY ON.
Well, I WAS going to get shit done today but then I got my internet hooked up and A+ started and then this amazing newsletter and looks like those dishes really ARE going to have to clean themselves
Also the Who’s Online widget is really cool, but I think it needs to be opt-out too for people who are not comfortable with having tabs on them. Is that possible?
Seconded.
Also, it just occurred to me – I’m assuming the “who’s online” is only showing A+ members who are online? If not, and it’s showing people online who are not aware that such a widget even exists, that would be a bit weird…
yup, we thought that an opt-out would be possible when we first installed the widget but it turns out not to be, which’s why our enthusiastic desire for it was tempered slightly and thus the poll question. there is a manual way for our developers to do this on the backend but i don’t know how practical that is for them to pull off right now. but we’re looking into it!
How many people have joined so far? This is quite exciting.
we’re almost at 200 members now, which is our goal for the day! our ultimate goal is 1,000. i think we can do it. <3
I fully support both Grace’s Wiser and Sadder Girl column idea and Kate’s fanfiction column idea, because even though I don’t read femslash ever (it has just never appealed for some reason??) I am in definite favor of anything fanfiction related!
Also, looking at the vegetarian/vegan percentages was eye-opening, because I always assumed overall American percentages would be closer to the Autostraddle readership percentages. Just shows how sheltered living in the West Coast can make you!
I love everything about this post so much. I remember when I first discovered Autostraddle and was reading through the archives I found so much joy in those conversation snippets when I came across them. Now I get them on the reg, SUCCESS. Also “The Sadder But Wiser Girl: On Being a Feminist And Loving Musicals” YES PLEASE!!!!
Ditto the vote for the feminist musicals article. Because that is my life.
Ultra mega ditto.
THIS IS EXCITES. ALL THE EXCITE. So excited to see a lot more content than usual.
Thanks Cee!!!!!! Youre not only great at bowties but websites!!
And love to the team♡♡♡♡♡ You guys are always awesome!
Hi, I like this thing. This is a thing I like.
ftr you are a thing i like
This is everything I never knew I wanted! Super excited about the femmeslash piece, it’s such an interesting part of fandom. I have fond memories of spamming the internet with super awesome Bellatrix fic years ago.
Yeah, definitely worth throwing money at you fine folks. This is waaaay better than I anticipated!
Also, wouldn’t it be hilariously tragic if bra never saw this? Because I would celebrate the hell out of bra week!
YES i really need bra to see this
I would buy bra a membership just so that this can be seen. THAT’S HOW MUCH BRA WEEK NEEDS TO HAPPEN!!
Bra week NEEDS to happen. I’m already planning my outfit and nipple cupcakes.
This is really wonderful content y’all – you know your audience so well. This is exactly the kind of stuff people want to see, but without alienating non A+ members or impacting on the quality of the non A+ site.
thank you!!!
everything is beautiful and amazing and oh my god bra
I feel like roberto benigni at the oscars I just love you all
Everything is awesome / everything is cool / when you’re part of A+!!
1) I totally read all four of those articles and commented on none of them and now I feel bad.
2) My favorite part of this is seeing the little windows into your creative process. The way other writers generate their ideas has always fascinated me because it’s so unique for every writer and every piece, but there’s still a certain unity in the way written work is conceived. And the contributor bios are super cool as well.
3) I don’t know if this makes any sense or is doable in any way, but some crowdfunding projects and other donation-based projects/sites I’ve seen do a monthly (or bi-monthly or whatever else) google hangout/skype chat dealie with one or many of the creators/staff. Usually it’s for receiving feedback because textual feedback can sometimes make it hard to convey meaning properly. But it would make paying for A+ feel that much more involved, if that makes any sense. On the other hand, that might also feel like a bit too much of a division between some level of A+ and non-A+ which would be a bad thing, so I don’t know how much clout my idea holds. But I’ll throw it out there anyway.
re: “3” — that’s a really good idea! we’ve actually been talking about that a lot, we’re trying to figure out how/if it would work logistically.
This all feels so good like the moment when you finally look that person you’ve been in love with for years in the eyeball and say, hey, should we like, make this official or what? And then they kiss you on the mouth and tell you a good joke and you know you’re going to be together forever.
this is such an amazing analogy that i cannot begin to even.
This is super exciting I’m so excited!!!
0.5% of Adults in the US are vegan? Now I’m really sad. (was hoping to find more vegan friends/possible gf)
Also, naming the levels after cartoon characters from the 90’s? Daria being gold level? This would have been awesome.
i really appreciate the snack options
Agreed
ok real talk, my orig suggestion for the cake pop option was “cake pops are pretentious bullshit” and that was rejected, so. i just need to get that out there.
BLACK AND DENIM
I clicked on this thinking it was going to be a quick little hello/thank you for joining A+ letter.
But it’s so much more! Y’all did a great job.
Thanks!
Thanks Torre :) I really appreciate this!
RAD
2 things:
1) obviously the misandry shirt should be a thing
2) laniea i’m so happy to know you own the solid gold clit tank bc i definitely stole the collage with that in it from our cabin at a camp (now part of the larger runaways collage i made to condition all the feelings that i feel)
all of these things you say here are awesome and good. 100% approval.
I agree with #1 wholeheartedly, and. I am really, REALLY curious as to where I can find the shirt referenced second.
Yes please to “The Sadder But Wiser Girl: On Being a Feminist And Loving Musicals” and the queer fan fiction piece because those sound like the best things ever. I would also totally wear a Misandrist shirt (around my house and to A-camp).
Also, I’m commenting here partly so that I can see what the gold A+ indicator on gravatar so I can decide if I like it or not and have an informed opinion when I answer the poll.
i appreciate this dedication to emotional accuracy.
Everything about A+ is magic.
Also, I know it’s been said already, but it is definitely worth saying again: Everything about Kate’s femslash piece sounds utterly fantastic and I can not wait! And I’m actually quite sad that Bra week never happened. That would have been so amazingly hilarious!
Kate! Re: your piece on femslash fan fiction. This is so interesting to me (and I hope you finish/publish it here) because the only time in my life when I was regularly consuming and writing fan fiction was during the height of my Xena: Warrior Princess obsession and that fan fiction community was *overwhelmingly* femslash oriented–probably for obvious reasons, but because of that, and since I’ve been so removed from the fan fiction community for so long now, it didn’t even occur to me that the inverse was true outside of our little subculture.
Anyway, it was a fascinating and somewhat surprisingly supportive community to be part of at the time, especially given that this was pre-Facebook, pre-Tumblr, etc.
1. yes please make a misandrist shirt i mean what is even the point of founding and running a queer lady website if you can’t make a misandrist shirt?
2. also i think maybe the taco tuesday column was a joke but yvonne i want you to know i would be SO ON BOARD
3. please also have every autostraddle insider issue have a low key guilt trip section because it makes me feel at home
<3 <3 <3
no yvonne is FULLY SERIOUS about the taco column and this shit WILL HAPPEN
YES, yes, yes!!!
Ha I’m in that picture! Who knew :)
Oh please tell me the shirts won’t be that shade of yellow?!
It looks amazing on the site but yellow just isn’t my color ;) and I’ll be wanting to wear my rad new members only t-shirt all the time!
nope! we’re thinking heather grey at this point.
I’m really glad to hear this. I practically glow in the dark, yellow is not my friend. I once had to be a bridesmaid and wear a canary yellow ruffled dress, I still feel a little ball of fear in the bottom of my stomach whenever I think about it.
i also recently described my skin tone as “i glow in the dark” and the person i was talking to was like, “prove it,” and i was like “ugghhh you don’t understand.” but yeah no i would never bring canary yellow into my life, and thus your lives, in such a manner
Perf
This was super fun to read! Makes me glad I joined. It also made me hungry for chips. I just searched Autostraddle for “potato chips” and guess what? You’ve never devoted an article entirely to potato chips. I think you should do something about that.
Also from now on whenever I search for “pretty little liars”, “potato chips” will also show up as a search option…
Wait. Wasnt there a little flag banner looking like thing with the yellow band around our avatar??
I read the Queer Kaleidoscope article and enjoyed reading it because damn she’s got a way with words. I didn’t comment because I actually wasn’t sure what was going on. Like, the last thing she posted was I’m going to Homeschool These Damn Babies and I was so so in love with that post. Then this post came out, she’s not a lesbian anymore but is still queer and is married to a man now, and I’m like but what about the partner from the last post and the plans to homeschool the babies? There was only five months between the two posts so I almost feel like there needs to be a bridging post between the two to explain how so much had changed in so little time.
if such a thing could be brought into the world i would also be so excited to read a bridging post
PLEASE make a misandrist shirt!
^^^ I’ve been accidentally Misandrist for like the past month and a t-shirt might spare me the side eye from the unassuming males in my world.
Hahaha Omfg. I really can’t with you guys. I love you all so much.
This was a really long/amazing post and I want you to know that I would still pay my dues if it was 10% of this length.
Also I was really excited to find out that 11% of us are vegan. WHAT A SITE!
“i don’t think anyone woke up today wanting to pay money to be an enchilada platter”
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!
I’m never going to get any work done again, ever.
(and completely without sarcasm) Thank you.
Well I am a little embarrassed by how bad I want to be an autostraddle contributing editor. autoembarrassing, honestly. #autopride
OMG even The Team recognises the Pure Awesomeness That Is Bra.
#massivecrush #thinkiwannamarryyou
Oh and I totally appreciate that Vikki doesn’t even like The Fosters, but can we please get our Offical Den Mother to recap something else, because I am missing her words of wisdom and insights like sprinkles on a chocolate cake.
Yeah, her derailing anecdotes were the best
LET’S BRAINSTORM THIS i’m serious what else would y’all like to see the den mother write about. go.
Well since Her Ladyship Vikki, The Honourable Den Mother has years of experience I don’t, here’s my thoughts
– Vintage TV Queers You Ought To Know About
– Because I Told You So: Vikki’s TV/Movie/Documentary Picks.
– On My Honour: Scouting For Queers aka How To Win All The Badges (inspired by the Den Mother thing)
/that’s all I’ve got at the moment.
Golden clit tears. Honestly that would be a great name for gold level.
In the middle of a sleepless-ish night last night my brain decided that if A+ had been named “Friends With Benefits” then the three levels could be Platonic, Romantic and Engaged.
YES TO THE FEMSLASH ARTICLE
especially since it was a Hermione/Pansy fic that give me one of my first inklings that maybe I was not as straight as I thought I was.
Kate, have you been keeping up with the headcanons? I know in the HP fandom queer headcanons are A Thing, though sometimes they get into really arcane territory without much plot development (“panromantic asexual genderunicorn Luna hooks up with bisexual demiromantic Ginny zomg!!!”). They mean well, but – as someone on Tumblr whose name I have completely forgotten pointed out – it’s labels without meaning. But there’s been a lot of interesting takes on the queer headcanons thing that actually do give some import to the labels, and while they may not count themselves as femslash (since it tends to be more about the individual rather than the relationship) that could be a good way to consider the future of queer fanfic.
Ooo I wanted to jump in and say that I totally saw that tumblr posting about those complicatedly labeled character ships and how they don’t hold much meaning! Whoo! I GOT THAT REFERENCE. *skips off*
I’ve also had that same thought about House Hunters and HGTV and I would LOVE to read that story.
Need need need Kate on Femslash!!
I would be so here for that Grace article about musical theater. (Or anything about musical theater, really. Can we talk about how LaChanze and Jenn Colella play a really cute lesbian couple in If/Then?)
I am also super stoked for Kate’s article on femslash. As a reader and occasional writer of said genre, its an interesting and often very awesome subsection of fandom. I’ve met some super quality people on tumblr because we are all into femslash. I’ve also found that its a relatively small group, and you’ll run into the same people in different fandoms. It’s kind of weird.
OH – also, re: the “Who’s Online” widget… I assumed it was just for A+ members. Like, it was showing me which other members were online, not AS users in general. So there’s that.
This was really fun to read!
Also, I really hope the taco tuesday column happens!!
Please do write the article Grace pitched — “The Sadder But Wiser Girl: On Being a Feminist And Loving Musicals”
Because I am a theater person and That is my life. People who know me to be very outspoken about feminism get so weirded out when I start singing “Sixteen going on Seventeen” in the car … I can’t help it, I just love the Sound of Music so much.
Love this! and I’m really excited for A+ content
Also already a fan the Taco Tuesday series
“Grace: How would you feel if we published an essay called “The Sadder But Wiser Girl: On Being a Feminist And Loving Musicals”?”
I want this. Badly.
I definitely woke up this morning wanting to be Captain Commander of the Sea.
ME TOO
I don’t really have any exciting comments to make here, but I finally succeeded in signing up and wanted to express my excitement. Hurrah!
Wanted to say thank you for sticking around and putting in the work it has taken to do that. May thousands join and donate forever and ever.
The where are they now feature and autostraddler infographics are pretty cool. Everything is cool. Everything is bright.
I love that it was nicknames “fuckin a”.
Idea for gold/top/period panties level… Early registration(if that’s an issue) or some discount on merch/a-camp?
Also congrats on the roll out!
Or nicknamed*, for you grammatically correct types.
Hahaha holy shit I love this. I had such a huge number of feelings/laughed at so many things that I’ve now forgotten probably most of them. But please keep doing things just like this <3
This is really wonderful.
y’all we are just so happy that y’all like this newseletter ’cause it was really fun to make and the whole time we were like do you think they’ll like it i hope they like it and PHEW you liked it. excited for the next one!
Just joined on my lunch break. Love the newsletter! I can’t wait to see what else you guys come out with (especially the podcast!)
I got a text from my sister with a picture of an envelope labeled to “JP” and asked, “is this you?” – so yay, I got my sticker today.
TACO/FEMSLASH/TACO/FEMSLASH/BABYRACHELINTERN/SPANISHGIRLSAREBEAUTIFUL.IREADTHISARTICLELIKEONCEEVERYSIXMONTHSBECAUSEITISAMAZING.TUMBLR.COM
You guys are so so brilliant! Makes me happy that I decided to sign up for a gold membership, even if I was a little bit drunk and my reason was that I wanted the t-shirt… WORTH IT!
Aaaaalso, yes to femslash. Because I don’t get obsessed enough with fanfiction as it is.
Golden Clit would be the ultimate level. That should be an award or something.
I’m a little late but finally in the A+ club! Love the newsletter, can’t wait until the next one!
Oh, also: I like the “who’s online” widget, but may get slightly embarrassed for people to see that I’m basically on Autostraddle ALL THE TIME. Seriously, it’s like my Number One site.
So I’m a little tardy to the party, but my lovely girlfriend just purchased me an A+ membership for my birthday and I wanted to say yay for the magic that is this post!