Top 5 Queer TV Characters Named Alex
Alex is a very popular name for lesbians. For example: Alex Vega, co-founder of Autostraddle Dot Com and esteemed dancer; Zoie Palmer‘s girlfriend Alex Lalonde and artist/actress Alexandra Hedisson. It’s even more popular as a fictional name for lesbians however — a fictional…
So Ladies, How Do We Feel About “Ban Bossy”?
When I saw Google’s support of “Ban Bossy” by Lean In creator Sheryl Sandberg, I was fully prepared to hate it. I clicked on the link expecting to see more Sandberg-branded sexism under the guise of feminism (women, you’re just not working hard enough!), and instead was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Ban Bossy raises the question: why are boys so often described in ways that affirm…
So often we’re told that the “right” partner will “look past” our disability or “love us anyway,” like they’re on some sort of humanitarian mission. In that moment, I realized what complete and utter bullshit that idea is. The problem is not our bodies — it’s the misguided assumptions people project onto them. That we shouldn’t want them. That we don’t know how to use them. That they need to be cured. That’s what I want the people in my life — friends, family, girlfriends — to look past. I don’t want them to look past me. My disability is essential to my body. It’s a tough belief to stick to, and one that requires constant reinforcement, but it’s the truth.
Know Me Where It Hurts: Sex, Kink, and Cerebral Palsy
I have cerebral palsy. That means something different for all of us: some of us walk with braces; some walk without anything; some use wheelchairs; some have hands, feet, and faces that do their own thing; some stand on their toes; some communicate verbally; some don’t. Personally, I walk like this:
And I wear these:
(My orthotist gave a knowing look when I finally requested the “rainbow”…
Album Review: The Jezabels “The Brink”
The worst thing about your favorite band being from/residing in a country other than yours is that their album comes out way later in your country than it does where they are. So all of your Australian friends get to listen to it, but you’re stuck in America, waiting and waiting because they’re your favorite band, you can’t just pirate that shit! This is exactly how I felt about the Jezabels’ new…
“Marceline and The Scream Queens” is Punk Rock and Precious
Whenever I’ve watched Adventure Time I’ve wished that the show featured more of my three favorite characters: Marceline the vampire, Princess Bubblegum and Lumpy Space Princess. Thankfully, two of those wishes were granted when I read the trade paperback of Adventure Time Presents Marceline and the Scream Queens. Marceline and The Scream Queens was a mini-series put out by Boom!…
Top Five SXSW Memories I Treasure In Lieu Of Being There
When Autostraddle first began, a large portion of my music coverage sprung from my dedicated attendance of SXSW, a music festival that eats the entire city of Austin, TX alive each year. Every March, billions of music industry professionals convene upon downtown Sixth Street to…
Team Pick: Map Your Past, Present and Future With Everplaces
I have this book that starts with a great epigraph from Barry Lopez: “It is precisely what is invisible in the land, however, that makes what is merely empty space to one person a place to another.” There’s never been a lot of empty space in the cities I’ve lived, but I’m always surprised to find out that shops and restaurants that I’ve passed by for months without noticing are my friends’…
Black Lesbian Couple Murdered in Texas Gulf Area
Today we mourn the losses of Crystal Jackson and Britney Cosby. A beer deliveryman found the two women’s bodies next to a convenience store dumpster in Port Bolivar, Galveston County, Texas on Friday.
Crystal Jackson and Britney Cosby. via ABC News
The two 24-year-old black women, who had been together for two years and lived together in Houston, were murdered in different ways and their bodies…
She swallowed two pills with a sip of tap water and looked at me. I don’t know how she knew what was going through my mind — all the what-ifs and why-nots and should-haves. All the regret, and all the sadness, while I watched the person who used to call herself my boyfriend disappear with a sip of tap water. I didn’t miss having a partner who could pass as male. I didn’t even really miss straight…
Top Five Male Antihero TV Shows That’d Be Better Off Female
I’ve never been super into TV, but this past year something in me snapped. Shows that centered around male antiheros were suddenly HUGE — I couldn’t get through a conversation without someone bringing up Breaking Bad. It wasn’t just me — other peoplewere noticing too. My…
