Hello!

I’m Ro, Autostraddle’s brand-spanking-new Sex & Dating Editor. I started writing for Autostraddle in 2019. So far, I’ve covered everything from squirting to farting to cops. For the past few months, I’ve also been editing S L I C K, an A+ series that brings you your bi-weekly dose of erotica, and I’ve been sending out “More, Please!” (subscribe here), Autostraddle’s free sex & dating newsletter. Here are more fun facts about me:

• I was born and raised in Indiana, the state that brought you Mike Pence (sorry), but I’ve spent my adult life in Chicago, IL, the city that brought you Lena Waithe and the Wachowskis (that’s better).
• I’ve been openly queer in some capacity for eighteen years, so my queer identity is officially old enough to go to a strip club.
• Before I started writing and editing full-time, I spent seven years working as a professional performance artist at Chicago’s Neo-Futurist Theater. During that time in my life, I was paid real American dollars to do things like: balance precariously over a hand-made bed of nails, pull a rolled up piece of paper out of my vagina and read from it, piss on a transphobic op-ed that was published in our local newspaper and perform Iggy Pop’s “Search and Destroy” shirtless with a live band while simultaneously crowd surfing and covering myself in homemade sunflower seed butter. I bring this same down-for-whatever energy to everything I do. And that includes this editing job.
• I’m an Aries Sun/ Sagittarius Moon/ Scorpio Rising. But you could’ve guessed that, right?
• Every professional performance artist needs a side hustle, so from 2014 – 2020, I worked as a Dong Dealer aka I worked in sex toy stores. During those years, I learned a LOT about relationships and human sexuality. I also trained as a sex educator and started teaching sex ed workshops for adults of all ages and orientations. That’s how I developed my passion for writing about sex & dating, and I’m thrilled to bring my knowledge and enthusiasm to my new position.

Here Are My Big Dreams as Autostraddle’s Sex & Dating Editor

Autostraddle has already been bringing you cutting-edge sex & dating content in the form of relationship advice, personal essays, sex toy reviews, “how to” sex guides, online workshops and more. I’m going to keep up the good stuff we’ve been delivering with an emphasis on the sex & dating lives that don’t get enough attention on our platform and others. I want to see more content on sex, dating and disability. I want to publish more work about T4T sex. I want to curate a whole series of sex guides specifically by and for fat folks. I want share work about dating in the asexual community. I want to publish essays about navigating dating as a sex worker. And across the board, I want to center and prioritize the knowledge and experiences of QTPOC writers and sex educators.

I’m also invested in helping Autostraddle grow with our readers. Like Carmen said, “Learning how to be your best, full self doesn’t end in your 20s.” I want to publish work about sex after menopause. I want to see pieces about navigating polyamory as a queer parent. I want to highlight stories of queer marriage, long-term relationships and divorce. And I want to continue putting out content for young people and newly-out folks who need answers to questions like, “How do I know if that cute bike mechanic is hitting on me?”

And finally, as a self-identified kinky top-who-is-quietly-actually-a-switch perv, I want to get weird! Do you want to pitch an article about orgies? Golden showers? Alien roleplay? Try me. I want to honor and celebrate every niche in this wildly expansive community. We all deserve to see ourselves reflected in the media we consume, and if you find sex & dating content on our website that speaks to you, then I’ll know I’ve done my job.

Thanks for joining me on this journey!

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