As a child, I gravitated towards whatever connected with me on an emotional level. The first film I remember loving was High School Musical at around age nine. I only discovered the reputation the film had when I entered secondary school a few years later. At best, it was considered an embarrassing thing to like, …

Taking a break from kink gave me the time and space to work through some heavy stuff, learn to stand on my own two feet and come back a stronger individual.

I’ve long known that I view relationships differently when compared to most people. As a teenager, I regularly felt perplexed by the accepted practice of getting a boyfriend or girlfriend, entirely prioritising them, and moving friends to the sidelines. Why am I suddenly less important? I would wonder when close friends disappeared with their new …

We recently hosted our very first digital event, Archer’s Issue 14 Launch and Fundraiser! Our event was held in conjunction with GiveOUT Day, a national fundraising day for LGBTQIA+ organisations. We really appreciate GiveOUT, whose work helps support LGBTIQ+ projects, groups and not-for-profit organisations. Funding for LGBT+ organisations is often lacking, so having a day …

In the window between lockdowns, I go to a friend’s birthday. A bunch of touch-starved gays sit together on the same couch. We joke about what kind of Cottagecore, polyamorous transqueer commune we would hope to live on, once the rich were dead and climate apocalypse averted somehow. “In all likelihood,” someone says, “we’ll just …

I write about gender a lot. Usually I do it through fan fiction, stepping into the shoes of the few well-represented trans characters in the media to explore how they experience their gender. One such character lives in the far future, a gender utopia where nobody’s transition is questioned, and gender roles are a figment …

Ah, beauty norms, my least favourite oxymoron. There is nothing ‘normal’ about heteronormative beauty. What we’re told are ‘beautiful’ characteristics usually represent the outliers of the diverse toolbox of human features. And this thing – ‘beauty norms’ – seems to predominantly hang itself off those of us who identify as femme. It drapes itself over …

When I first came out to my parents, I couldn’t bring myself to use the term bisexual. There was something about it that felt so confirmed and definite. I knew that I had my own internalised stigma around the term that I hadn’t quite worked through yet. Labelling what I was feeling as anything legitimate …

Gender-affirming surgery occupies a strange place within the Australian medical system. It is ‘elective’, which simply means that it happens for non-life-saving reasons. Gender-affirming surgeries are often mired in the language of ‘choice’, involving judgement around what kinds of pain, disability, and dysfunction are urgent, which are necessary, and which are deserving of public funds. …

Coming out as polyamorous, in my experience, has been similar to the 14 years I spent coming out as vegetarian: some people are quick to tell me they are too, or would like to be. Others get defensive, as if I’m somehow criticising their life choices (I’m not), or say it makes no difference to …

As continuing lockdown conditions in Melbourne and other parts of Victoria impact heavily on marginalised communities, the CEO of drummond street services, Karen Field, spoke to Archer Magazine about the support they provide for those doing it tough. Drummond street are supporting vulnerable communities who are particularly affected by the pandemic, including sex workers, international students, …

Archer Magazine is hosting a DIGITAL LAUNCH PARTY for Issue 14: THE GROWING UP ISSUE this Friday night! GET TICKETS HERE!! Please join us and some of Melbourne’s finest queer artists to celebrate our 14th edition, AND to take part in GiveOUT Day, a national fundraising day for LGBTIQA+ organisations. The event will kick off …

Like many gay men, Christian and I became friends in a colourful way. I doubt we would have connected had we not been on the same flight travelling from Sydney to Los Angeles to attend the Cleveland, Ohio 2014 Gay Games, both of us part of the Sydney Silverback Wrestling Club. That trip established the …

I am non-binary but at my girls’ school I am a “she/her”. School makes me feel like I am trapped inside a caricature that only flaunts its femininity, forcing other parts of my identity to emerge in unhealthy ways. That is why I find relief in suburbs such as Fitzroy, where I get lost amongst …

I went this week to pick up a new script for my contraceptive pill, which I have to do every 12 months. I waited 30 minutes to be called in, have a script printed out, and then be sent on my way; all done in two minutes tops. It’s the same on every occasion, and …

My first couple years of practising self-love were soaked in orgasmic bliss. Touching myself felt so right, and it never occurred to me that later in life someone might vilify this practice in my mind. Image: Cris Trung   I started masturbating around the age of 11 or 12. At the time, I did not …

Bisexual Visibility Day, held annually on 23 September, is nominally about bi+ people being able to be seen. Bi+ advocates often note that the “B” in LGBTQIA+ is “silent” – listed within the acronym, but rarely attended to. Even though many surveys show that we are the largest slice of the LGBTQIA+ pie, there is …

Misty is a non-binary first-generation Australian of Anglo-Indian ethnicity. Duc is a Vietnamese-Australian who, as a toddler, arrived in Australia with her family under a refugee program. Both of us have lived experience of mental health problems. Therefore, as activists with multiple intersecting identities, we aim to interrogate white privilege, class discrimination, ableism and male …

I was twenty-two when my best friend asked me to promise I’d never love my boyfriend more than I loved her. It wasn’t hard to promise. I’d met this boyfriend while Sarah and I were fighting. I wouldn’t have gone on a second date if we’d been speaking. I would have favoured Sarah’s critical observations …

In those heady days, when I first shaved all my hair off, I remember feeling a jolt every time I caught the edge of my reflection. I looked so different that my brain would alert me that there was an imposter standing far too close. I also remember vacillating wildly between ebullient feelings of freedom …

I had a sex dream last November. Nothing unusual for me, but this one was about a workmate. A male workmate. As someone who has staunchly identified as having no interest in cis straight men for a long time, I was incredibly confused.

I started sugaring for the money. Living out of home and watching your bank account decrease with every bill is a tiring experience, and after a gut-wrenching and generally nauseating break-up, I decided it was time to change that.