The women of AfterEllen.com count down the top 25 women of The 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100!

Learn why Gloria Bigelow thinks Mary-Louise Parker is really empathetic; what Jackie Jones loved about Bad Santa; why Bridget McManus forgives Ellen Page; the first time Dee fell under Mandy Musgrave's spell; why Trish and Jamie loved Sara Ramirez from her "Got Milk" commercials; and how Ellen DeGeneres played a role in Tracy and Angela's relationship.

Plus: Lindy Zucker's poem to Renee O'Connor, and Jill Bennett's open letter to Tina Fey.

Watch the first three installments of the countdown here!

Comedian Jackie Jones joins other AE vloggers to tell you why women like Rachel Shelley, Olivia Wilde, Angie Harmon, Salma Hayek, and Lauren Graham are hot, as our video countdown of The 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100 continues.

Plus: a special appearance by Kate McKinnon...

You can watch other installments of the countdown here, including the women who ranked at the top of the list!

Continuing their commentary on the results of the 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100, the stars of AfterEllen.com's video blogs and web series tackle those women who ranked between 75 and 51 in this installment of the 2008 Hot 100 Countdown.

This time, AfterEllen.com vloggers Dee and Cathy DeBuono join in the discussion of women like Cat Cora, Alicia Keys, and Emily Deschanel. (and if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out Liz Feldman's interview with Emily about being No. 69 on the Hot 100).

Watch more installments of the countdown here!

Now that we know the results of the 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100, I asked the stars of AfterEllen.com's video blogs and web series to give us their take on why these women deserved to be on the list. Some took a funny approach, others a more serious one, but all are entertaining.

And unlike most TV countdown shows, this one is very, very gay.

To keep the video manageable, I've broken it into four parts. The first one is below, and the next three will be rolled out each day this week through Thursday. Not all the vloggers appear in every segment — Dee and Cathy DeBuono, for example, are in the next three, but not this one; and Liz Feldman was too swamped with working on the (awesome) upcoming episode of her show to participate at all — but you should find at least a few of your personal favorites represented in each video, talking about women they think are hot. (Does it get much better than that?)

First up! The women who ranked on the list between 100 to 76, which includes P!nk, Cat Cora, and Naomi Watts, plus a few of the vloggers themselves. Enjoy!

Watch the 75 - 51 countdown, and check out the entire list of women on the 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100. … continue reading

After you voted Leisha Hailey No. 1 on our Hot 100 list, we passed the news onto Ms. Hailey herself, and she was gracious enough to let us know how it made her feel. Here's her response to topping the list:

Wow, I don't even know what to say. I hope Angelina's not mad at me. I have to say this really makes up for the time I was on the Homecoming Court in High school with my boyfriend (yes I had one) and he won and I didn't. So thanks to everyone. I'll try and keep up my hottness.

All my love, Leisha

Let's commemorate this special moment by taking a brief trip down memory lane. Remember when Leisha was in The Murmurs? Here she is back then:

… continue reading

As you might have noticed from the deluge of traffic slowing down the site this week, the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List is a big hit — both with lesbian/bisexual women, and the rest of the world. People have been coming from miles around to see who the lesbians think are hot, and for the most part, the reception's been pretty positive, even though almost no one agrees with all the women on the list. I for one would only have put one of these three women on the list — can you guess which one? (Here's a hint: her name rhymes with "Sarah Shahi.")

There was a negative comment made by a straight guy named Jeff on our list, and AfterEllen.com reader ysubassoon posted a very funny reply entitled "We are under no obligation to cater to you" (her title alone made me laugh) that started off with this paragraph:

Jeff, you're obviously new here, so perhaps there are some things about this site that you just haven't realized yet.  This is a site by and for lesbian and bisexual women.; it is not by straight men for straight men, about lesbian and bisexual women. It is one of the few places on the Internet that is under no obligation to make sure that you (i.e. heterosexual males) are pleased with its content.  If you aren't happy with what you see here, take your insults and your complaints to another site where they are wanted.  We will flourish here with or without you. 

Ysubassoon is right, of course — while we welcome straight readers on AfterEllen.com, we care primarily about what lesbian and bi women think — but nonetheless, I've found it interesting to watch the reception the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List has been getting outside of the AfterEllen.com community. It's been heartening to discover that quite a lot of straight men agree with the women you all chose, and often even prefer them over the women on Maxim's list.

I've kept track of some of the more interesting, encouraging, and amusing comments made by straight men (they're straight men as far as I can tell, anyway) about our list, and I'm providing them here for your amusement, complete with original spelling mistakes: … continue reading