Also.Also.Also: There’s a Bisexual Revolution Happening on Television and Other Stories From Your Week

Hey there lovebugs! You may have noticed already, but I am not Laneia! (Of course you noticed, you observant rockstars.)

She’s on the side of a mountain somewhere making friendship bracelets (at A-Camp!) and I am here, keeping the lights on for you! Honestly, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Let’s have some fun!


Queer as in F*ck You

DALLAS ‘STRADDLERS! Heads up! This is serious and important. Dallas Police Department is asking for assistance in identifying a black trans woman’s body. Please share this in your circle if you can.

Maryland is the latest state to ban “conversion therapy” for minors.

Keo O’Neal, The First Openly Trans Man To Graduate From Spelman College, Encourages Trans Youth ‘To Be Brave.’ Spelman, a historic HBCU women’s college, has also been struggling with a few incidents of anti-LGBT discrimination among its students in the last year.

It’s not changing fast enough. LGBT teens are still reporting depression at high levels.

How bisexuality on TV evolved from a favorite punchline to a vital storyline. (This one is SO GOOD, and has interviews with Sara Ramirez and Stephanie Beatriz! I want to plaster it on every wall!)

But also, What’s Happening to ‘Queer’ Cinema in the LGBT Film Boom?

23 Impossibly Colorful Places To Visit If You Love Rainbows. Yeah, you do!


Welcome to the Hellmouth

I know I should’ve developed a thicker skin by now, but the cruelty of this administration still breaks my heart a thousand times. Trump admin is preparing to put migrant children in warehouses on military bases after separating them from their families.

See above point re: heartbreakingly cruel. During Roundtable, Trump Calls Some Immigrants ‘Animals.’

Jeff Sessions is actively considering ending asylum for domestic violence victims.

Seeing The Devastating Impacts Of Trump’s Global Gag Rule Firsthand. Thanks to a policy that requires organizations abroad receiving U.S. funds to agree that they will not mention abortion to clients, provide abortions, or refer clients to legal abortion services, women worldwide are being left without access to proper reproductive care.


Doll Parts

In 28 years and 327 issues, Allure magazine has only had two Asian women on the cover: Lucy Lui in 2000 and Olivia Munn in 2014. This year, they’re changing that with Soo Joo Park, Fei Fei Sun, and Fernanda Ly on three separate covers in May. Michelle Lee, Allure’s Editor in Chief, wrote about the new issue and the importance of inclusivity. Happy APA Heritage Month everybody!

Idaho just inched closer to electing the nation’s first Native American governor. Congratulations to Paulette Jordan! She’s also the state’s first woman major party nominee for governor!

Emma Goldman Clinic, one of the first and last feminist women’s health clinics in the U.S., faces fresh challenges.

Lesbian rapper Young M.A. hosted a Mother’s Day Brunch for mothers who lost their children to gun violence.

20 Women Sized 32A to 40DD Test-Drive Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Bras. I almost didn’t include this, but you know what? Women talking about why representation matters while looking hot in their underwear. Just saying.

This Inclusive Greeting Card Company Founded By Women of Color Acknowledges Periods, Breakups And Celebrates Great Sex.

Saudi’s First Female Filmmaker on Fighting the World to Find Your Own Voice.

Why Don’t We Hear Fat Women’s #MeToo Stories?

Latinas On The Fear Of Speaking Spanish In Public. Jeez, I WONDER WHY?? Stares blankly into the abyss


Keep Up

Bill Cosby’s sentencing for his sexual assault conviction is set for September. He’s on house arrest until then. And I hope he never sees freedom again. Not sorry.

Speaking of predators who can rot for all I care, Michigan State to pay Larry Nassar victims $500 million in settlements.

Millions of American Women Live More Than 100 Miles from an Abortion Clinic. According to a new study, 27 cities in the US qualify as “abortion deserts.”

Hey White People, Stop Calling the Cops on People of Color. Just a friendly ‘lil suggestion.

Incels aren’t really looking for sex. They’re looking for absolute male supremacy.


Saw This, Thought of You

The Story Behind How Brooklyn Nine-Nine Was Canceled and Rescued in 31 Hours!

Guess who’s hosting a little watch party by myself in my pajamas on Saturday morning? With mimosas and a side of television commentary! (I can’t believe I’m like this, you guys. I watched A LOT of Disney Princess Movies as a child. And it stuck.) — How to Host the Ultimate Royal Wedding Viewing Party

Where Killing Eve Gets Its Killer Costumes. I still haven’t seen this show? Should I? Lemme know in the comments.


And Finally

Meet the Young Woman Who Uses Skateboarding to Spread Positivity

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen is Autostraddle's Editor-in-Chief and a Black Puerto Rican femme/inist writer. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. There were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. You can find her on twitter, @carmencitaloves.

Carmen has written 692 articles for us.

21 Comments

  1. Yes you should watch Killing Eve. Giving any of the reasons why would be spoilers though.

    • Hey heeeey! I actually think we have a round up including this very information! Along with the other major tv pickups and cancellations!

      No promises but it might come as soon as tomorrow! If not then, probably Monday.

      Natalie and I are pretty much the tv team this week! So please be patient, but we have your back!

  2. In TV news: The networks are having their upfronts this week and CW announced that Batwoman will be appearing on their shows this year starting with their crossover event. Though they didn’t announce who will be playing the role yet.

    I have two questions/concerns about this. 1. Will they keep her sexuality intact? 2. Will they keep her connection with Maggie Sawyer intact? If so, I can’t wait to see her interact with Alex.

  3. Bisexuality on TV article is really nice but the writer is keep suggesting queer means not monosexual which is not true.

    Also, I am ashamed to admit that I’ve never heard of bisexual-plus before.

    • Interesting that you read it that way. I identify is bi/queer (or fluid/multi gender attracted), and I just read it as people identifying as bi/queer in the same way someone could be gay/queer or lesbian/queer. It didn’t feel exclusive to folks who are monosexual, so it’s interesting that it felt that way to you. For me, it’s affirming to be reminded bi people are queer (and not just ‘straight people experimenting’, a stereotype the article talks about).

      I generally use bi or queer depending on the context.

      And yeah! Bi plus is a general all-inclusive term for folks who are multi gender attracted. I think it’s since “bi” is the most well known (I almost always have to have a quick discussion with friends, particularly non-queer friends, whenever the word pansexual comes up, for example). So bi+ is a convenient short-hand to include people who are neither straight or gay.

      • I identify as lesbian and queer and use one of them depending on the context like you do. It just seems a little weird using queer to describe specifically bisexuality/pansexuality or homosexuality for that matter. If I write an article about gay characters on tv, I wouldnt use gay and queer interchangeably or use phrases like “lesbian,gay or otherwise queer” or “lesbian/queer”. Because I’m not talking about bisexual or pansexual people/characters.
        These quotes are from the article:

        “…bisexual-plus — a spectrum that includes bisexuality, pansexuality, queerness, and everything in between…”

        …Madam Secretary, who also came out as bisexual/queer earlier this year…”

        “TV has made huge strides toward correcting the lack of meaningful bisexual, pansexual, and otherwise queer representation…”

        “…suggests every bi, pan, or queer sexuality story is just a temporary layover on the way to a more palatable, monosexual destination.”

        “TV is now awash in queer characters who are happy to live in the gray area between gay and straight.”

        Like saraharra said she’s using queer to describe specifically multisexual/bi+ people. Try to put “not straight and/or cis” instead of queer. It seems little off, right? :D

        • I see what you’re saying. I wonder if the author chose queer as the sort of “etc” in an attempt to be inclusive of all bi+ folks? So saying ‘bisexual, pansexual, or otherwise multi-gender attracted’ would have been more appropriate.

          I think using queer in the second/last quotes was fine, but I get your point on the other ones.

    • I agree with Dee, the writer used the phrase “bisexual, pansexual, or otherwise queer” repeatedly to describe specifically multisexual/bi+ experience, and at least once in *direct* explicit contrast to being gay or lesbian. Though I would also believe that the author did not write it with the intention of implying gay people aren’t queer.

      However, this is just another one of the ways that ‘queer’ is becoming an increasingly ambigious term. It is used as a short-hand for “not straight but not gay” as often as it is used as an umbrella phrase for “not straight or cis”. You see in the queer cinema boom article that ‘queer’ is used in a completely different way, where it is used to describe subset of lgbt anti-assimilationist politics (closer to the actual roots of the word in lgbt culture).

      It is unfortunate, however, that with these conflicting meanings it can be hard to parse these articles for intention. Especially when they follow a framework of ‘old-fashioned, assimilationist = gay’ and ‘progressive, radical = queer’, given that more and more ‘queer’ simply means ‘attracted to people other than your own gender’

      • I can see what you mean. I actually hadn’t heard people use queer as short hand for ‘not straight but not gay’ before — I though it was only used as an all inclusive LGBT+ umbrella term. It’s great how much people are growing and terms are evolving, but it’s hard to keep up sometimes!

      • Not straight or cis? So you’re excluding straight trans people from that definition, and saying they can’t be considered queer? Since when? A lot of straight trans people who also identify as queer would be quite surprised.

        • Hmmm I think saraharra meant people who are not straight and/or people who are not cis — so again a catch-all for LGBT+.

          That would include gay cis people, straight trans folks, bi non-binary individuals… And all the other possible combinations of identities

        • If you think I meant queer = “neither cis or straight *at the same time*” to exclude straight trans people, then it would ALSO be excluding gay/bi/pan cis people???. But if you think I was arguing that queer has any set definition you weren’t paying attention to anything else I was saying

          ‘Queer’ has become an impossiblely loaded term which is kinda a bummer, made strikingly obvious in that even a list of various ways the word is used in different contexts leads to outrage because of ambiguous bad-faith readings.

  4. I love the inclusitivity cards! Because yes, I want to celebrate that I made the choice to quit one of my jobs.

    Also today I got to talk to a friend from A camp about being a queer parent for her graduate studies research! I’m sad not to be going to camp this year but glad that I am at home with kids.

    • Something like A Camp sounds impossible to do with kids. I have done weekend-long stuff before but it’s planned like a year ahead of time and usually has to do with my favorite sport so it’s a retreat + getting better at biking.

  5. I am disappointed with the Dallas Police Department and their cluelessness regarding murdered unidentified trans women.

    Seriously the sketch artist should have depicted two images one with longer hair and drawn in eyebrows. Along with the drab version they posted. And hair of a few different lengths And styles. Had any of them heard of wigs?

    Not knowing who she is you’d think they’d understand that some folks don’t leave the house without their hair on and that possibily there isn’t a lot of people who knew her in drab/no hair or makeup. So you’d think they would cover all the bases.

    I really hope someone recognizes her and some lead comes in to find her killer

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