Happy April! Uhhh, I mean May! OR BOTH! Alright, we skipped a month. Some things happened, like Dinah Shore and you know how these things go, right? We have remorse... but also we have a TOTALLY AWESOME combined double-video for April/May, hand-crafted by the magical Kelli Griggs because we would never leave you hangin' gurl.
Now that I got you all hot and sweaty, don't skip down to the video just yet... here's some stuff you need to know:
You can buy our 2011 calendar for $15.
Also, if you missed any previous posts/videos:
Kelli & Ashley are January/February and
Luna & Michelle are March.
Some background: this is Round Three of Autostraddle's Lesbian Calendar Girls: talented, smart, charismatic, geeky and really-really-good-looking lesbianisty ladies. We make this calendar for you because you all really need to cut it out with your crushes on straight girls, this shit is out of hand, the last thing you need is 12 months of whatever Maxim & FHM come up with. REAL LIVE LESBIANS!
This year we're going to give you a video every month and just a few teases of what the actual photos will look like, so the Calendar will be chock-full of surprises. Are you excited? WE'RE EXCITED.
Our ladies of April and May are:
Brandy Howard [April]: Brandy Howard is the actress/model/writer who co-stars in the internet's greatest webseries, "Julie and Brandy in Your Box Office" and the greatest movie never made, The Nicest Thing. In addition to her work as Ima Chickenwoman, the superheroine of Taco Bell's Super Delicious Ingredient Force, Brandy has appeared in beer commercials for just about every brand of beer on the market. You may have also spotted her in film or TV appearances including Automatic, Just Shoot Me, Pandemic and Ditching Party.
Julie Goldman [April]: Julie Goldman is an actress/comedian/writer who co-stars in the internet's greatest webseries, "Julie and Brandy in Your Box Office" and the greatest movie never made, The Nicest Thing. In addition to her work spreading offensive laughter to large groups of lesbians on cruise ships all around the globe, Julie Goldman starred in Logo's groundbreaking mega-hit series, The Big Gay Sketch Show. Julie's been on your screen doing stand-up on LOGO, VH1 and Comedy Central or doing acting in The Sopranos, Out at the Wedding and The D Word.
Stacee Coleman [May]: A music maven, Stacee has been a prominent radio disc jockey, a DJ (for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew no less), worked five years licensing songs, and continues to use her music publishing and licensing skills at her own company as the Vice President of Creative.
From top left to bottom right:
Stacee [May '12] gets a little love from Jess [upcoming Sept '12]; an awesome wall of records in the studio; Robin and a feline creature; Stacee [miss may!] hamming-it-up for the camera, our awesome film crew Kelli Griggs [Jan '11] and Miss April '11 Sarah Croce.
Photographer Robin Roemer & Stylist Sara Medd
Here's Robin & Sara to explain a bit more about this year's theme:
The 2012 Autostraddle Calendar is our interpretation of the idea of a “lesbian image” without the traditional presentational definers of gender and sexual identity – when we (literally) strip away clothing, what do our naked selves communicate about who we are?
The 2011 calendar was about solo portraits of women who are brilliant, beautiful and courageous on and off camera; 2012 is about the amazing and vibrant community of queer women.
We sought to do something different this year by creating dramatic scenes and having the models interact with each other. We loved the idea of playing with identity in the form of masks, and the power that comes from choosing what to reveal and what to keep hidden.
Be prepared to see lots of skin this year in the 2012 calendar – but remember that it’s what we choose not to show that sometimes gives the most away.
We photographed a group of beautiful and diverse queer women both poolside and on various studio sets in Los Angeles. We’re excited for the monthly Behind the Scenes videos, where Autostraddlers can meet our sexy and inspiring calendar girls. (This being possible thanks to Videographer/Video Editor Kelli Griggs and Music Supervisor Stacee Coleman).
We hope you enjoy meeting the girls as much as we did!
Thanks to all of the amazing stylists, the production team members, and of course our brave and beautiful models.
We hope you love the results and look forward to purchasing your own 2012 calendar later this year in support of the project and of Autostraddle.com.
xoxo
Your devoted producers,
Robin & Sara
(Photographer & Stylist)
So here it is!
We present the Autostraddle Calendar Girl Behind-the-Scenes video for April and May:
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Special Note: As of December 2010, there will be no talking shit about anything in the comments on calendar girls posts. Direct concerns about the project or website as a whole can be directed to robin at autostraddle dot com or riese at autostraddle dot com.
Why? Well, we're committed to making Autostraddle a safe place for progressive debate, but since you're not allowed to say negative things about a woman's body anywhere on this website, there's really no on-topic argument to be had here. These girls are half-naked and gay, and they're saying so on the internet in a public place, which is pretty fucking sweet -- they've dealt with the same feelings of discrimination and difference that you have, been told that what their body wants is wrong. But everybody's body is right. You are all beautiful, just some of you haven't realized that yet.
If you don't have anything nice to say, your comment will be deleted! SORRY!
xoxo the editors
kinda sad that it was an anxiety inducing thing. 
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