A roll call of the major players in lesbian print media include GO NYC (local), Curve, Girlfriends, and a few others that for the most, part mimic hetero publications. Are queer women forced to read magazines like Curve despite the cliché, pre-digested nonsense like their most recent “Get Sexy” for Valentine’s Day bit because it’s one of the few lesbian glossies. What are media savvy readers to do? Slop through the countless layers of chewed media cud and look for alternative media outlets.

Unfortunately, this search leads to some frightening iterations of common stereotypes, such as Maitri Libellule’s:http://www.dragonflycottage.com/ site with swirls of purple and silver stars as the wallpaper, the site (which is a link provided under “Lesbian Interests” in _Advocate_’s website, mind you), is partly devoted to “Wabi-Sabi Fiber Art.” Needless to say, there is something to be desired in alternative media for queers. But there are a few publications and sites that stand out.

Slit, (yes, it has some nudity) is an Australian quarterly that features avant-garde artists, burlesque performers, fiction and lesbian creators of all kinds who range in gender presentation. Another new quarterly, Girls Like Us, is written in English but produced in the Netherlands. The first and only issue so far has a photo spread titled “Stereodykes: Styledancing Competition at EuroGames Spring 2005,” with lesbian dance partners with matching snazzy spandex outfits at the EuroGames. Hilarious. LTTR (Lesbians to the Rescue), though printed only sporadically, contains multi-media art projects, fiction, poetry, essays, and is basically a hodgepodge of DIY ventures worth collecting. Velvet Park seems to be the happy medium between alternative and pop culture, leaving in some of the fluffy L Word features, but inclusive of some more in-depth analysis of dyke culture and issues. There are a handful of other publications that cater to lesbians, but many of them are hard to find and have limited circulation.

Online, some queer media have created an interactive format that best speaks to the needs of those seeking alternative entertainment and culture. Queer Kit covers a wide range of queer art, performance and writing with a mission of doing so without incorporating commercialism and “lifestylism.” They do all of this interntaionally, and incorporate postings and profiles of site visitors. The Post Queer Project invites people to send a postcard with stories about your gender/queer identity so that the postcards will be exhibited in the future. There are probably a few similar ventures, or at least I like to imagine so to give me peace of mind.