Not Safe For Work:Trish Bendix on AfterEllen and the demise of Queer Women’s Media
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BROAD’s Sonja Hammer speaks on the phone to American editor in chief, or ex-editor as the case now be, of AfterEllen: Trish Bendix. AftrEllen of course the ‘prize’ of Queer Women’s Media and Lesbian pop culture online site,was effectively DE-Lesbianed and ‘shutdown’earlier last week by it’s owners Evolve Media, a white cis-gender straight all male company who ‘has decided to keep the site and its archives alive for now,with a promise of periodically publishing freelance pieces in the future’ (excerpt from Trish Bendix’s own tumblr account), however Trish and all her writing staff and freelancers have had their positions terminated (as of Friday September 23rd 2016) and now the site ‘will keep the site’s archives and forums on the internet. But Bendix confirms that there are no writers or editors left on full- or part-time staff, and the company has put forth no plan for how the site will continue to function’ (excerpt from Slate.com published Thursday 23rd Sept).
Sonja talks with Trish about what happened, and what are the implications of a site that claims it to be :
‘The pop culture site that plays for your Team’?
What happens when that team is no longer Female or Queer?
Above: Trish Bendix
Sonja also asks if Trish thinks this is a common trend now, and what is happening with Lesbian and Queer women spaces? The Attrition rate and What can Women do about it? What of the future for Trish and other writers who identify as Queer women and Lesbian and Bi sexual and Trans?
AfterEllen was more than just an entertainment site : ‘AfterEllen was wholly dedicated to gay, bisexual, and queer women. As such, little slipped past its gaze. There were painstaking updates on the whereabouts, career moves, and rumored love interests of minor queer celebrities like Clea Duvall, Hannah Hart, and Heather Matarazzo. For big guns like Kristen Stewart, Tegan and Sara, and the site’s namesake, there were entire verticals. The site’s writers reviewed queer artists’ music and books, made notes on queer representation in advertising, kept track of obscure queer web series we’d never find on our own. If there was a new lesbian character—or even a lesbian scene!—in a TV show or film, AfterEllen let us know so we could scramble to watch a clip. AfterEllen profiled the political power lesbians we wanted to drool over, shouted out the work of queer activists like Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza, and made sure stories of LBTQ women weren’t left out of the narrative of major events that affected the gays, like the June massacre at Pulse in Orlando. “I often joke that I’m the one asking ‘the lesbian questions’ in a room full of journalists or reporters or critics that aren’t looking for the answers that I am, that we as a community deserve,” wrote Bendix in Wednesday’s Tumblr post.
Read here more of what Autostraddle says about the AfterEllen”shutdown”. ‘Countless lesbian and bisexual women have discovered their sexuality because of AfterEllen, have come out because of AfterEllen, have found community through AfterEllen — and for a very, very long time, it was the only website that held pop culture accountable. Sarah Warn founded the website with the tagline “Visibility Matters,” and AfterEllen’s contribution to the visibility of queer women is frankly incalculable.’
We here at BROAD are very saddened by the changes now to AfterEllen and the ominous threat of it being totally shut down,to be nothing more but a ghostly online apparition of a once thriving and entertaining site for Women who love Women.
After 14 years can this really be the end?
BROAD and Sonja Hammer would like to thank Trish Bendix for taking time out to speak to us. We are honoured.
Kia Kaha.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:55 — 18.3MB)
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