My Doctor Said Lesbians Don’t Need Pap Smears, but She’s Wrong
If you have a cervix, you should get pap smears regularly.
LGBT women’s health
The Autostraddle Guide To Queer Mental Health
An epically organized guide to some of our best work on topics including depression, anxiety, grief, eating disorders, substance abuse and other legitimately important topics.
You Need Help: Finding a Therapist for the First Time
Therapy is your place to be all about YOU. It’s your place to be safe, vulnerable, and authentic, in order for your to learn about yourself. It’s never too early to start practicing how to prioritize yourself and your needs.
Zumba Sisterhood of the Traveling Hips
In short, Zumba is a dance fitness class set to popular Latin music but honestly, for me, Zumba is more than just that, it’s given me life.
Begging to Be Sterilized
“It seemed at the time to be exactly what life was about, and only just barely staying alive, curling up in corners of lonely, unclean rooms in shaking fits of sadness too raw to keep inside my head, screaming into my bent knees.”
Building a Better Speculum: How Design That’s Inclusive of Queer and Trans People Can Change Reproductive Care
The speculum hasn’t been meaningfully redesigned since the 1800s. These three women are working to change that, but they have a ways to go, needing to overcome medical barriers and focus on better health for queer and trans people. The good news? We can help!
Also.Also.Also: Another Study Finds Lesbian and Bisexual Women Are Just Doomed 4-Ever I Guess and Other Stories
Cool it down, horse domestication, that story about the crabs that has ruined my life (!!), baseball, Jasika Nicole, a thing about the south, free speech and racism, abortion is a human right, and so much more!
9 LGBTQ People Speak Out About Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder
The following are stories from LGBTQ people living with PMDD — how it manifests for us, what helps and what doesn’t help, and any challenges or opportunities we have found in seeking help.
How I Learned to Navigate Vaginismus as a Lesbian
“This is what happened for me: I started crying as soon as I put my legs into the stirrups.”
Autostraddle Roundtable: All About Our Mental Health
A lot of the requests from readers for advice and for personal writing are about mental health, so today we thought we’d share with you about our brain situations, what helps, what doesn’t, and what we’re still working on.
“Do Fingers Count?” Vulvodynia, Medical Heteronormativity and Me
Doctors agreed about what kind of sex I should want to have, and how much pain and inconvenience I should be willing to endure to have it.
All the Small Things: 5 Simple Self-Care Methods For Your Daily Routine
Sometimes getting out of bed and onto the couch is the biggest thing you will achieve in day, and that is okay.
Beyond Self-Care Bubble Baths: A Vision for Community Care
If I and other people with certain disabilities are going to survive, we need care — and not from ourselves. Because when it gets really bad for me, self-care is literally impossible. In those moments, I need community care.
Trumpcare Is an Attack on Trans People of Color. Let’s Fight Like Hell Against It.
Defeating this bill is a matter of life and death to the transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people of color who depend on Medicaid to survive.
I Never Meant for My Hair to Be the Way Back to the Lighthouse
“I thought changing something on the outside would change the wrecked ruin of me on the inside. I thought somehow the inside would get a memo from my outside and get into shape. It didn’t, but my hair is the first way I was able to gain autonomy over my body.”
The Terrifying Part of the ACA Repeal That’s Already Affecting Trans and Pregnant People
A lot of terrible, overwhelming things are happening for our community, right now. Let’s hold one another and try to understand what’s going on.
We Are One In the Same: Experts Explain What Self-Care and Community Care Really Look Like
We all know self-care is important, but what does that actually mean? I talked to four experts in mental and social health care to find out more about the nuts and bolts of what self-care and community care look like for queer communities.
Blame Conservatives and Their Austerity Measures for Why LGBTQ Healthcare Sucks in the UK
Seven years of cuts have left the NHS on its knees, and we’re all suffering.
A Recounting of the Morning I Spent Digging Garlic Out of My Vagina
My vagina and I get along most of the time. We know our routines, the things each of us like (orgasms and panty-free nights) and the things we don’t (periods and hard fingering meant to be pleasure inducing) but occasionally one of us fails each other.
Autostraddle’s Staff Shares Their Stories About Why We Need to #SaveTheACA
“Obamacare turned me from a liability into a full citizen worth protecting, and to see it roll backward instead of march forward would be a stain on our national history and an immediate threat to countless people.”
Republicans Forge Ahead with ACA Repeal, Promise to Definitely Figure Out Replacement Later
Republicans haven’t been able to figure out what they think should replace the Affordable Care Act since it was introduced in 2010, and repealing it now will leave millions of Americans uninsured, but they’re not letting that stop them! They say they’re going to try to move forward on a repeal by the end of the week.