Type of site | Blog, news |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | For Them |
Founder(s) | Riese Bernard Alexandra Vega |
Editor | Carmen Phillips |
URL | www |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | March 2009 |
Current status | Active |
Autostraddle is a queer and trans-owned [1] online magazine and social network for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women (cis and trans), as well as non-binary people and trans people of all genders. The website is a "politically progressive queer feminist media source" that features content covering LGBT and feminist news, politics, opinion, culture, arts and entertainment as well as lifestyle content such as DIY crafting, sex, relationships, fashion, food and technology. [2]
Autostraddle was founded in 2009 by Riese Bernard, the current CEO and CFO, and former Design Director Alexandra Vega. In June 2020, Kamala Puligandla succeeded Bernard as editor-in-chief. [3] In June 2021, Carmen Phillips was named the new editor-in-chief. [4] In August of 2023, Autostraddle was acquired by For Them, [5] with Kylo Freeman as CEO.
The site received 400,000 unique visitors and 2 million views per month in 2012. In 2016 these numbers had risen to one million unique visitors and 3.5 million views per month. In 2023, the site received 2.5 million unique views per month. The website received GLAAD's Outstanding Blog Award in 2015, and was nominated in 2013, 2014, and 2018. [6] [7] [8] [9]
Riese Bernard founded Autostraddle in March 2009 with Alexandra Vega, the website's former Design Director. She wanted to create a website for queer women that was unlike other sites that existed at the time. [9] The senior team currently consists of Riese Bernard, Laneia Jones, Carmen Philips, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Nico Hall, and Drew Burnett Gregory. [10]
In a 2016 article for Nylon Magazine , founder Riese Bernard discussed Autostraddle's alternative revenue strategies in the context of the rapid disintegration of queer women-oriented publications and online spaces. [11] She has noted that advertisers largely do not buy ad space on the website. [11] Autostraddle's funding model relies heavily on memberships, merchandise, and community fundraising. [9]
In May 2023, Bernard announced that a decline in advertising revenue that began in 2020 had forced Autostraddle to reduce spending by cutting expenses and concluding some independent contractor roles. The independent contractors whose contracts were terminated were given three months of paid notice and invited to remain as team freelance writers. [12] [13]
In August 2023, Autostraddle was acquired by For Them, a company founded in 2021 that designs and manufactures chest binders, and the website was rebranded as "Autostraddle by For Them". [14] [15] [16]
Autostraddle publishes content on relationship dynamics, radical queer politics, economic injustice, among other things. [17] In 2019, Riese Bernard and Buffering the Vampire Slayer's Kristin Russo started To L and Back, a podcast recapping every single episode of The L Word in order, one by one. [18] Filmmaker Carly Usdin took over for Russo as co-host starting in season 2, and the show began featuring regular special guests. [19] [20]
As part of their travel section, Autostraddle began publishing Queer Girl City Guides in 2012. Queer Girl City Guides are user-created, Autostraddle-approved guides to cities in the United States and abroad for queer women moving to or traveling to a new city. The guides discuss places to dance, eat, drink, be entertained, party, play sports, get an "alternative lifestyle haircut" or tattoo, celebrate pride, purchase LGBTQ books and publications, participate in activism, and more. The guides also provide insight on local colleges, gayborhoods and neighborhoods or places to avoid. Some guides also include sections on trans culture. [21] [22]
Starting in September 2018, Autostraddle has held the Autostraddle TV Awards (formerly the "Gay Emmys" and "Queer TV Awards"), in which readers and contributors annually vote for their favorite LGBT-inclusive television broadcasts. [23]
Autostraddle hosts in-person events such as "Holigay Meet-Ups" [24] and its Pride Meet-Up Month, [25] which are organized by users with Autostraddle's support and promotion. Autostraddle also offers ideas, tips, and resources for hosting a meet-up. [26]
In April 2012, the first A-Camp [27] was held as a pilot at Alpine Meadows Retreat Center in Angelus Oaks, California, where 163 queer campers and 35 staff members attended. A-Camps include various panels, workshops, discussion groups, classes, entertainment and other activities. [28] Subsequent A-Camps have been larger, with between 300–400 campers in attendance per camp, including staff, and have taken place in the same location in California in September 2012, [29] May 2013, [30] October 2013, [31] May 2014, [32] May 2015 [33] and June 2016. A-Camp took place in Wisconsin in October 2016 and May 2017, [34] and the event moved to Ojai, California in May 2018. [35] As of July 2022, A-Camp has been put on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [36]
Special guests at A-Camp have included Mary Lambert, Cameron Esposito, River Butcher, Julie Goldman, Brandy Howard, Be Steadwell, Mara Wilson, Gabe Dunn, DeAnne Smith, Hannah Hart, Somer Bingham, Lex Kennedy, Megan Benton, Mal Blum, Dan Owens-Reid, Kristin Russo, Jasika Nicole, Jenny Owen Youngs, Julia Nunes, Brittani Nichols, Mollie Thomas, Haviland Stillwell, Ashley Reed, and Sarah Croce. WNYC's podcast Nancy featured A-Camp in the episode "Kathy Goes to Camp". [37]
In the 2012 Weblog Awards, Autostraddle was awarded Best Weblog of The Year, Best Group/Community Weblog and Best Entertainment Weblog. [38] Autostraddle was nominated for GLAAD's Outstanding Blog Award in 2013, [39] 2014, [39] and 2018, [40] and won in 2015. [41] One of their articles,"105 Trans Women On American TV: A History and Analysis" by Riese Bernard, was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in the category of Outstanding Digital Journalism in 2017. [42]
Daniel Sea is an American filmmaker, actor and musician. They rose to prominence through their role as Max Sweeney on Showtime's drama series The L Word. Sea (he/they) is a trans non-binary actor, musician and artist who has worked in film, theater, TV, and the fine arts. They played the first recurring transmasculine role on television, appearing from 2006-2009 as Max in Showtime's The L Word. In 2022, they reprised the role as Max for the current iteration of the L Word: Generation Q. They acted in films such as John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus, and Barbara Albert's film The Dead and the Living.
Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985, he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.
Julie Goldman is an American comedian, actress, and podcaster. She is best known for her work on Bravo’s The People’s Couch, and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2016, she started a podcast with her comedy partner Brandy Howard, called Dumb Gay Politics, which recaps politics and reality TV.
Kortney Ryan Ziegler is an American entrepreneur, filmmaker, visual artist, blogger, writer, and scholar based in Oakland, California. His artistic and academic work focuses on queer/trans issues, body image, racialized sexualities, gender, performance and black queer theory.
Kristin Russo is an American speaker, personality, and LGBTQ activist. She is CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Everyone Is Gay and My Kid Is Gay, organizations that provide advice, guidance, and education to LGBT youth and their families, and is the co-author of This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids.
Raquel Willis is an African American writer, editor, and transgender rights activist. She is a former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center and the former executive editor of Out magazine. In 2020, Willis won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Magazine Article. Her memoir, The Risk It Takes To Bloom, was published in November 2023.
Gabby Rivera is an American writer and storyteller. She is the author of the 2016 young adult novel Juliet Takes a Breath, and wrote the 2017–2018 Marvel comic book America, about superhero America Chavez. Her work often addresses issues of identity and representation for people of color and the queer community, within American popular culture. Rivera is Puerto Rican and from the Bronx.
Brittani Nichols is an American producer, actress, comedian, and writer. In 2016, Nichols wrote, produced, and starred in the film Suicide Kale, which won the Audience Award for Best U.S. Dramatic Feature at 2016 Outfest. She has written for the television programs A Black Lady Sketch Show, Take My Wife, Strangers, and Drop the Mic. Nichols is a writer and producer for Abbott Elementary and won the Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series award at the 54th NAACP Image Awards for the episode "Student Transfer". As part of the producing team of Abbott Elementary, Nichols was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2023.
Marie Lyn Bernard, known professionally as Riese Bernard, is an American writer and digital media executive. She is best known as the CEO and co-founder of the lesbian and queer women's interest website Autostraddle. Bernard received a 2017 GLAAD Media Award nomination for her article, “105 Trans Women On American TV: A History and Analysis”.
Queery is an American podcast created and hosted by comedian Cameron Esposito. As the name suggests, the podcast is centered around queerness—the facets of the LGBTQ experience—and self-identifying queer guests. Guests range from widely known public figures such as Olympic figure-skater Adam Rippon, and musician sisters Tegan & Sara, to more niche-group individuals such as Irish singer-songwriter SOAK, animator and Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar, and comedian-writer Travon Free.
LGBTQ&A is a podcast hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine in partnership with GLAAD. It features interviews with notable LGBTQ figures such as Pete Buttigieg, Laverne Cox, Janelle Monáe, Brandi Carlile, and Roxane Gay. It was launched in 2016 and as of July 2022 has conducted over 250 interviews. The series features a range of LGBTQ guests including activists, politicians, and members of the entertainment industry.
Cartoon Network, an American TV channel which launched in 1992, and Adult Swim, its adult-oriented nighttime programming block which launched in 2001, has regularly featured lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) characters in its programming.
Rebekah Bruesehoff is an American LGBTQ rights activist, social media influencer, and author. As a child, Bruesehoff began attending protests with her mother; she became involved as a prominent supporter of transgender youth when the Donald Trump administration denied rights to trans students.