Hello welcome to your weekly Pop Culture Fix, in which we talk about all the queer and feminist things that offer us escape from this dark sad world. Also I took four Midol today and it isn’t helping, just so we all know where I’m at right now.
+ I feel like y’all were not sufficiently excited about the reboot of America’s Next Top Model when I talked about it two weeks ago, but don’t worry, it won’t stop me from talking about the fact that the series has already managed to stir up serious dyke drama in THE FIRST EPISODE. And uh… there’s also a trans woman named Quei in the first episode who is the token bitch and doesn’t make it to episode two, which was really neat of them to do for all of us here in this SUPER trans-friendly world of ours! Cody hasn’t done anything gay yet, stay tuned.
![](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Screenshot-2016-12-14-13.17.23.png?resize=1220%2C649)
Despite what the episode suggests, this is actually Kyle standing outside of my room talking about me while I fold laundry by myself (don’t worry I like folding laundry by myself)
Here’s the thing though — Ashley Graham is a judge, and yet there are no “plus size” contestants this season. Danielle Brooks noticed this too, remarking, “As a plus woman being seen only 1 per cent of the time is a real thing. Period. After watching #ANTM last night I was super excited to see my girl Ashley Graham but bummed out not to see any plus contestants.” See also: Who Is Rita Ora, And Why Is She Sitting In Tyra’s America’s Next Top Model Chair?
+ Hayley Kiyoko is rad and OUT and smart and talented and I can’t wait to see what she does next. This week, she talked to Paper Magazine about finding her creative voice:
Lily looked me in the eye and asked, “Tell me something nobody knows about you, something you are afraid to sing about?” I immediately thought, well I like girls and that’s what I want to sing about, but even then I struggled to say it out loud. Finally, I told Lily that I always say “you” and “them” and never the pronoun “her” in all my songs because I was afraid it wouldn’t connect. We talked more about concepts and my experiences, and how I loved the idea of stealing another guy’s girl because that was always a fantasy of mine. Growing up, everything I did was always about girls. I took dance because of girls. I got involved in student council because of girls. Not that I ever expected any of them to like me back, but I just felt comforted being around them, even if I could never date them. So there we were. The song “Girls like Girls” was born.
+ There’s still 15 days to support this webseries: “The Last OK Place web series will introduce you to a grungy, dark comedy that follows a zombie clean-up crew lead by the sardonic Quinn Wilder. Filmed in Missoula and the Montana wilderness, our 10 episode series will be a genre bender incorporating horror, comedy and drama.”
+ How did LGBTQ people win out at the Golden Globes, you may be asking yourself. Well: Moonlight scored six nominations, “Transparent” got two nominations, Sarah Paulson got a nod for “The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” and Evan Rachel Wood for “Westworld.”
+ Alexandra Billings gave a speech about trans youth and then did a mash-up of “I Don’t Care Much” from my favorite musical CABARET and “Creep” from one of my favorite bands, Radiohead. I didn’t cry! What are you talking about.
+ It appears that the tenth episode of season one of a show called “Timeless” featured a lesbian couple. I don’t know if they died or not.
+ Rachel Weisz Set to Star in Film Adaptation of “Secret Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry”
+ Male Tears for Fears: Embracing The Ironic Performance of Misandry
+ Newly out bisexual Fifth Harmony member Lauren Jauregui has been cited for possession of marijuana.
Lauren
-comes out as bisexual
-drops a solo song
-gets arrested in Brazil
-Drags trump supporters
-kisses a girl publiclyFandom: pic.twitter.com/jTnGcPkrL4
— h // (@bbycamilaa) December 14, 2016
Furthermore:
+ 15 Queer Women Whose Fearlessness In 2016 Gives Us Hope For 2017
+ The Queer Songbook Orchestra Turns Up The Volume On Popular Music’s LGBT Legacy
+ There is no day like today to get yourself some Dead Lesbian Society Enamel Pins.
+ Paradise Rebooted: Unpacking the Role of Music in Charlie Brooker’s ‘San Junipero’
+ My fashion icon Sporty Spice sings a Spice Girls Classic At Charity Event with Olly Alexander.
+ Brittani Nichols Likes You And She’s Proving It With Her New EP
+ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’s Gay Subtext
+ Amy Schumer Tells Ellen About When She Worked in a Lesbian Bar
+ Jael From America’s Next Top Model Is Sober, Reflective, Also A Lesbian Apparently
+ The Golden Globes show why people of color need to be behind the camera, not just in front
+ Indian Web Series “The Other Love Story” Gives Queer Women A Happy Ending
+ Gaby Dunn And Allison Raskin Star In Satchmode’s Extremely Gay New Video For “Happiness Pt. 1”
+ GOTHAM CITY SIRENS Could (And Should) Be An LGBTQ Landmark
+ How Web Series Have Widened TV’s Talent Pool
Just on the golden globes thing. Also I feel pretty happy that a movie that everyone thought would fail with a swearing pansexual superhero got two nominations!!!
Alexandra Billings performance was great, I hope they get her to sing on the show.
That gay subtext reading of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the best thing I’ve read since the election.
ALEXANDRA BILLINGS
Hayley Kiyoko’s most recent video (one bad night) features trans queermo Erin Armstrong (grishno) from the 2013 Trans 100 list, too.
Hayley Kiyoko is my new favorite artist this year and I’m so glad she’s finally out, proud, and kicking ass!
I liked that misandry article when I read it earlier, but after having yet another conversation tonight with a man who told me to just “turn the TV off” if I’m upset about the state of the world in general, and what’s happening in Aleppo specifically, my misandry is 100% real and un-ironic right now.
Alexandra Billings, you’re such a gift to this world <3
That Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer piece was gold.
cannot believe you guys are sleeping on this top model drama.
I want to be excited about Gotham City Sirens, but it’s being directed by the same guy that directed Suicide Squad, which I thought was awful. :/
Last Christmas I went to an Our Lady J cabaret before she stepped away to write for transparent for a while and Alexandra Billings sang O Holy Night and it shook me to my core. One of the most talented live performers out there.
Also I’m appreciating all of this antm goodness, I’m sorry I haven’t been more vocal in the comments section but I promise you when Elyse from cycle 1 finally comes out I will be ALL UP in that comments section
right there with you re: elyse; she also had a pretty rad post-antm livejournal back in the day
Oh yes I was all up in that live journal
Did you watch the ANTM episode? Quei was actually really mean by talking shit about the other girls’ looks. I do not understand the writer’s sarcasm.