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read the power issue >

online dating

Sex + Relationships

Sex, Love, and Roleplay: Using Online Roleplay to Connect to Your Partner

How I found my queer identity online, romantically connected with my partner, and how you can too in six easy steps!

By Brie|November 6, 2019|3 Comments
Sex + Relationships

10 Queers on What’s Made Them Go for the Second Date

“It didn’t work out, even on that second time, but she was really fun and I thought the haiku was inspired.”

By the team|April 4, 2019|15 Comments
Sex + Relationships

Traveling to Meet Your Long-Distance Online Crush: A Gentle Guide

It’s 2019 and the world is our hot gay oyster! But… how do you actually go about planning a trip to meet the faraway queer of your dreams? 

By Vanessa|March 26, 2019|7 Comments
Sex + Relationships

10 Queers Get Honest About Ghosting

Communication is hard, especially when you have to tell someone something they might not want to hear, which is why sometimes we… just don’t do it!

By the team|March 7, 2019|50 Comments
Sex + Relationships

How to Choose Dating App Photos That’ll Have Babes Swiping Hell Yes

You want to look like your best self: fun, hot, interesting, and lez be real, it doesn’t hurt if you look like you might actually send the first message.

By Vanessa|March 5, 2019|27 Comments
Sex + Relationships

11 Queers Share the Best and Worst Lines They’ve Gotten on Dating Apps

“’Look a little crazy huh’ with no punctuation.”

By the team|February 21, 2019|39 Comments
Sex + Relationships

How to Successfully Flirt With the Babe of Your Dreams on Instagram

As with so many things in life, the trick to successfully doing this is a combination of confidence, openness, and a willingness to fail or get rejected sometimes — and maybe, if you’re up for it, being the picture of a great butt you want to see in the world.

By Rachel|September 11, 2018|8 Comments
Herstory

PERSONALS App Brings an Old School Dyke Dating Format Into a Hot New Future, Thanks Instagram

Your favorite queer Instagram dating account has changed its name to be more inclusive, is creating an app just for you, and is hosting a party in NYC to kickoff its crowdfunding efforts Wednesday night, June 13! Read our interview with creator Kelly Rakowski for all the hot details!

By Alexis|June 12, 2018|5 Comments
Sex + Relationships

How to Write a Non-Monogamous Dating Profile

Here’s how to fly your consensually non-monogamous, polyamorous, consensually open relationship or whatever else flag in your dating profile so you get the best possible interactions from it.

By Andre|February 27, 2018|17 Comments
Sex + Relationships

Your Guide to Writing the Perfect Gay Personals Ad and Finding Lesbian Love, Thanks to Herstory Personals

We asked Kelly Rakowski of Herstory Personals for some of the tips and tricks she’s gleaned about writing a good personals ad from playing matchmaker to the queer lonely hearts Instagram crowd, and she was happy to oblige.

By Vanessa|February 13, 2018|4 Comments
Sex + Relationships

Back in the Saddle of Lesbian Online Dating with the Zoe App

“It really is a brave new world for single queer people, especially those of us in rural areas, because we can find one another as easily as being able to remember the password you need to download a new app.”

By Molly Priddy|February 7, 2018|25 Comments
Two women pushing ice-cream cones on each other's noses and laughing, background is a pattern of various beverages
Sex + Relationships

How to Go on a First Date That Doesn’t Suck

Be who you are just as hard as you can. Also, be on time.

By Carolyn Yates|January 16, 2018|33 Comments
First Person

The Day My Students Found My HER Profile

“I was terrified that I was going to receive a bunch of angry phone calls from parents or a visit from the overly religious principal as a result of word getting out that I didn’t fit the heteronormative cookie cutter mold that all of the other teachers at the school did.”

By Aila Alvina Boyd|October 31, 2017|15 Comments
Advice Sex + Relationships

Everybody Publicly and Shamelessly Flirt With Each Other Right Now

Literally why not.

By Erin|September 19, 2017|90 Comments
Fake News Sex + Relationships

5 New Dating Apps For Queer Women That Will Change Your Life

Take a look at these five new super queer-friendly dating apps and download the one that most floats your boat.

By Kai|April 1, 2017|40 Comments
Sex + Relationships

A Very Sensible, Queer Guide To Sending the First Message On Tinder

14 opening lines that will have you burning up Tinder (with queer pop culture references!).

By Kayla|January 27, 2017|55 Comments
A+

If You Show Me Yours I’ll Show You Mine: Autostraddle Staffers’ Tinder Profiles

In my opinion, a good Tinder profile is more important than good hygiene.

By Mey|January 18, 2017|45 Comments
Society + Culture

Public Personals: A Peek Inside the Queer Instagram Dating Experiment

An homage to all the unique ways queer women have marked themselves and dog-whistled each other throughout the decades, the witch bitch switches and the techno hippie hyperdykes from the queer classifieds of the 80s, only this time it’ll be instant and without the anonymity.

By Erin|October 20, 2016|11 Comments
Sex + Relationships

Every Way To Find A Date, Ranked By A Shane

“First comes Twitter, then comes Snapchat, then comes texting nudes to a complete and total stranger.” Patty-cake to that one, kiddos.

By Cecelia|August 18, 2016|45 Comments
Society + Culture

Be Your Best Self, With or Without Filters, and Make Instagram Your New Favorite Dating App

Figuring out how to use digital spaces is as powerful as living your best queer life, with certainty.

By Cecelia|March 4, 2016|70 Comments
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From the Archives

  • Me, Piper Chapman, the Psych Ward, and the Incarcerated 2.2 Million

    Me, Piper Chapman, the Psych Ward, and the Incarcerated 2.2 Million

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    Who The Hell Are You? – What The Autostraddle Reader Survey Told Us About You

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    Evil Disney Queens Are Doing It For Themselves

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Featured Posts

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    On Netflix’s “Unbelievable” and the Culture of Serial Rapists

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    Pop Culture Fix: The L Word’s Back and Everyone Sure Does Have an Opinion About It

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