butch and femme

{{short description|Masculine and feminine identities in lesbians}}

File:Butch Femme Society by David Shankbone.jpg (2007).]]

Butch and femme ({{IPAc-en|f|ɛ|m}}; {{IPA|fr|fam|lang}};{{cite Dictionary.com|femme}}{{cite web |title=How to say "Woman" in French (Femme) |url=https://speechling.com/how-to/how-to-say-woman-in-french-1834 |website=Speechling |access-date=September 9, 2021 |archive-date=September 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909131549/https://speechling.com/how-to/how-to-say-woman-in-french-1834 |url-status=live }} {{etymology|fr|{{wikt-lang|fr|femme}}|woman}}){{OEtymD|femme |access-date=September 9, 2021}} are masculine (butch) or feminine (femme) identities in the lesbian subculture{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Chloe O. |title=The Queens' English: The Young Readers' LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases |date=2024 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-6659-2686-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=255}} that have associated traits, behaviors, styles, self-perception, and so on.{{cite book|last=Hollibaugh|first=Amber L.|title=My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home|year=2000|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0822326199|pages=249|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41bNbaMuyPoC&q=transgender+butch+femme}}{{cite book|last=Boyd|first=Helen|title=My Husband Betty: Love, Sex and Life With a Cross-Dresser|year=2004|publisher=Sdal Press|isbn=978-1560255154|pages=64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vCT70HjI_a4C&q=en+femme}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} This concept has been called a "way to organize sexual relationships and gender and sexual identity".{{cite book|last=Kramararae|first=Chris|title=Rutledge International Encyclopaedia of Women|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415920896|pages=133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCKLHBXeyyYC&q=Butch+femme+organising+sex+1980s}} Butch–femme culture is not the sole form of a lesbian dyadic system, as there are many women in butch–butch and femme–femme relationships.{{cite book|last=Beeming|first=Brett|title=Queer Studies: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Anthology|year=1996|publisher=NYU press |isbn=978-0814712580|pages=23–27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rh1fdNCqGYC&q=assumption+butch+and+femme+dyad}}

Both the expression of individual lesbians of butch and femme identities and the relationship of the lesbian community in general to the notion of butch and femme as an organizing principle for sexual relations varied over the course of the 20th century.{{cite book|last=Harmon|first=Lori|title=Gender Identity, Minority Stress, And Substance Use Among Lesbians|year=2007|isbn=978-0549398059|pages=5–7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0KhKXJxitoC&q=butch-femme+70s}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Some lesbian feminists have argued that butch–femme is a replication of heterosexual relations, while other commentators argue that, while it resonates with heterosexual patterns of relating, butch–femme simultaneously challenges it.{{cite book|last=Sullivan|first=Nikki|title=Critical Introduction to Queer Theory|year=2003|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748615971|page=28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eB6meILZ4toC&q=Sheila+Jeffries+butch+femme+heterosexual|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094244/https://books.google.com/books?id=eB6meILZ4toC&q=Sheila+Jeffries+butch+femme+heterosexual|url-status=live}} Research in the 1990s in the United States showed that "95% of lesbians are familiar with butch/femme codes and can rate themselves or others in terms of those codes, and yet the same percentage feels that butch/femme was 'unimportant in their lives{{'"}}.{{cite book|last=Caramagno|first=Thomas C.|title=Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0275977115|page=138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fjdi-s463YC&q=loulan+95%25|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094244/https://books.google.com/books?id=1fjdi-s463YC&q=loulan+95%25|url-status=live}}

Etymology and symbology

The word femme is taken from the French word for woman. The word butch, meaning "masculine", may have been coined by abbreviating the word butcher, as first noted in George Cassidy's nickname, Butch Cassidy.{{Cite journal|last=Walker|first=Ja'nina|date=March 2012|title=Butch Bottom–Femme Top? An Exploration of Lesbian Stereotypes.|journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies|volume=16|issue=1|pages=90–107|doi=10.1080/10894160.2011.557646|pmid=22239455|s2cid=205753452}} However, the exact origin of the word is still unknown.

File:Butch-femme symbol.png

Butch artist Daddy Rhon Drinkwater created a symbol of a black triangle intersecting a red circle to represent butch/femme "passion and love".{{cite book|editor-last1=O'Keefe|editor-first1=Tracie|editor-last2=Fox|editor-first2=Katrina|title=Trans People in Love|year=2008|edition=1st|page=31|chapter=To Fight, Live, and Love at the Gender Border, by Isaac Lindstrom|publisher=Routledge|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0-7890-3571-4|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPYHJSJ3IBEC&q=butch-femme+symbol+black+triangle+red+circle&pg=PA31|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094245/https://books.google.com/books?id=TPYHJSJ3IBEC&q=butch-femme+symbol+black+triangle+red+circle&pg=PA31#v=snippet&q=butch-femme%20symbol%20black%20triangle%20red%20circle&f=false|url-status=live}}

Attributes

There is debate about to whom the terms butch and femme can apply, and particularly whether transgender individuals can be identified in this way. For example, Jack Halberstam argues that transgender men cannot be considered butch, since it constitutes a conflation of maleness with butchness. Halberstam further argues that butch–femme is uniquely geared to work in lesbian relationships.{{cite book|last=Caramagno|first=Thomas C.|title=Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate|year=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0275977214|pages=137–8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&q=faggot+butch|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094245/https://books.google.com/books?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&q=faggot+butch|url-status=live}} Stereotypes and definitions of butch and femme vary greatly, even within tight-knit LGBTQ communities. Jewelle Gomez mused that butch and femme women in the earlier twentieth century may have been expressing their closeted transgender identity.{{cite book|editor1-last=Munt|editor1-first=Sally R.|title=Butch/Femme: Inside Lesbian Gender|date=1998|page=229|edition=1st|publisher=Cassell|isbn=030433958X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1G5M13Xida0C&q=editions:-ZHT9j_Xw0QC|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094246/https://books.google.com/books?id=1G5M13Xida0C&q=editions:-ZHT9j_Xw0QC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Coyote|editor1-first=Ivan E.|editor2-last=Sharman|editor2-first=Zena|title=Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme|date=2011|pages=67–78|chapter=Femme Butch Feminist, by Jewelle Gomez|publisher=Arsenal Pulp Press|location=Vancouver, B.C., Canada|isbn=978-1551523972}} Antipathy toward female butches and male femmes has been interpreted by some commentators as transphobia,{{cite book|last=Tyler|first=Carol-Ann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xBb55sOOIX4C&q=Butch+femme+transphobia|title=Female Impersonation|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-0-415-91688-2|pages=91|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094246/https://books.google.com/books?id=xBb55sOOIX4C&q=Butch+femme+transphobia|url-status=live}} although female butches and male femmes are not always transgender, and indeed some heterosexuals of both genders display these attributes.{{cite web|last1=O'Hara|first1=Kate|url=http://vagendamagazine.com/2015/01/theres-no-other-georgy-deep-inside-coming-out-as-a-butch-straight-woman/|title=There's No Other Georgy Deep Inside – Coming Out As A Butch Straight Woman|website=The Vagenda|date=January 7, 2015|access-date=March 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731093617/http://vagendamagazine.com/2015/01/theres-no-other-georgy-deep-inside-coming-out-as-a-butch-straight-woman/|archive-date=July 31, 2019|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last1=Hunt|first1=James|url=https://thoughtcatalog.com/james-hunt/2015/05/confessions-of-a-feminine-straight-guy/|title=Confessions Of A Feminine Straight Guy|website=Thought Catalog|date=May 14, 2015|access-date=March 31, 2018|archive-date=May 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501061159/https://thoughtcatalog.com/james-hunt/2015/05/confessions-of-a-feminine-straight-guy/|url-status=dead}}

Scholars such as Judith Butler and Anne Fausto-Sterling suggest that butch and femme are not attempts to take up "traditional" gender roles. Instead, they argue that gender is socially and historically constructed, rather than essential, "natural", or biological. The femme lesbian historian Joan Nestle argues that femme and butch may be seen as distinct genders in and of themselves.{{cite book|last=Nestle|first=Joan|title=The Persistent Desire: A Femme–Butch Reader|year=1992|publisher=Alyson Publications|isbn=978-1555831905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3u9ZAAAAMAAJ&q=The+persistent+desire|access-date=July 2, 2015|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094247/https://books.google.com/books?id=3u9ZAAAAMAAJ&q=The+persistent+desire|url-status=live}}

=Butch=

"Butch" can be used as an adjective or a noun{{cite book|last=Bergman|first=S. Bear|title=Butch is a noun|year=2006|publisher=Suspect Thoughts Press|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0-9771582-5-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmyfdmsWjiEC&q=butch+is+a+noun|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094247/https://books.google.com/books?id=jmyfdmsWjiEC&q=butch+is+a+noun#v=snippet&q=butch%20is%20a%20noun&f=false|url-status=live}} to describe an individual's gender performance.{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Christine A. |last2=Konik |first2=Julie A. |last3=Tuve |first3=Melanie V. |date=2011 |title=In Search of Looks, Status, or Something Else? Partner Preferences Among Butch and Femme Lesbians and Heterosexual Men and Women |journal=Sex Roles |volume=64 |issue=9–10 |pages=658–668 |doi=10.1007/s11199-010-9861-8 |issn=0360-0025 |s2cid=144447493}} The term butch tends to denote a degree of masculinity displayed by a female individual beyond what would be considered typical of a tomboy. It is not uncommon for women with a butch appearance to face harassment or violence.{{cite web|title=2014 National Street Harassment Study|url=http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/?s=2014|website=Stop Street Harassment|date=2014|access-date=March 31, 2018|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225090651/http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/?s=2014|url-status=live}} A 1990s survey of butches showed that 50% were primarily attracted to femmes, while 25% reported being usually attracted to other butches.{{cite book|last=Caramagno|first=Thomas C.|title=Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate|year=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0275977214|page=138|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&q=faggot+butch|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094245/https://books.google.com/books?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&q=faggot+butch|url-status=live}} Feminist scholar Sally Rowena Munt described butches as "the recognizable public form of lesbianism" and an outlaw figure within lesbian culture.{{cite book|last1=Munt|first1=Sally R.|title=Heroic Desire: Lesbian Identity and Cultural Space|date=1998|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=978-0814756065 |edition=1st}} In the novel Stone Butch Blues, author Leslie Feinberg explored the working-class roots in America and the concept of transmasculine and stone butches.{{Cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=June |title=Stone Butch Blues Author Leslie Feinberg Has Died |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/leslie-feinberg-stone-butch-blues-author-transgender-pioneer-has-died.html |website=Slate |date=November 18, 2014 |access-date=November 18, 2022 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126235130/https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/leslie-feinberg-stone-butch-blues-author-transgender-pioneer-has-died.html |url-status=live }} A stone butch is a "top" who does not want to be touched during sex.{{Cite web |last1=Livingstone |first1=Josephine |title=Everyone—Not Just Queers—Should Read Stone Butch Blues |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/leslie-feinberg-s-stone-butch-blues-is-a-great-novel-everyone-not-just-queers-should-read.html |website=Slate |date=November 24, 2014 |access-date=November 18, 2022 |archive-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218123004/https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/leslie-feinberg-s-stone-butch-blues-is-a-great-novel-everyone-not-just-queers-should-read.html |url-status=live }}

BUTCH Voices, a national conference for "individuals who are masculine of center," including gender variant, was founded in 2008.{{cite web|title=About|url=https://www.butchvoices.com/about/|website=BUTCH Voices|date=April 9, 2009|access-date=September 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219140900/http://www.butchvoices.com/about/|archive-date=December 19, 2018}}{{cite web|title=BUTCH Voices Conference Makes Masculine Of Center Womyn Heard|url=http://www.curvemag.com/Events/BUTCH-Voices-Conference-Makes-Masculine-Of-Center-Womyn-Heard-1874/|website=Curve|date=May 8, 2017|access-date=September 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207040101/http://www.curvemag.com/Events/BUTCH-Voices-Conference-Makes-Masculine-Of-Center-Womyn-Heard-1874/|archive-date=February 7, 2020|url-status=dead}}

=Femme=

Like the term "butch," femme can be used as an adjective or a noun. Femmes are not "read" as lesbians unless they are with a butch partner, because they conform to traditional standards of femininity. Because they do not express masculine qualities, femmes were particularly vexing to sexologists and psychoanalysts who wanted to argue that all lesbians wished to be men.{{cite book|last1=Faderman|first1=Lilian|title=Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America|date=1991|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York, New York|oclc=22906565|isbn=978-0231074889|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpBdCl-I_oUC&q=odd+girls+and+twilight+lovers|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094749/https://books.google.com/books?id=tpBdCl-I_oUC&q=odd+girls+and+twilight+lovers#v=snippet&q=odd%20girls%20and%20twilight%20lovers&f=false|url-status=live}} p. 61 Traditionally, the femme in a butch–femme couple was expected to act as a stereotypical feminine woman and provide emotional support for her butch partner. In the first half of the twentieth century, when butch–femme gender roles were constrained to the underground bar scene, femmes were considered invisible without a butch partner{{snd}}that is, they could pass as straight because of their gender conformity.{{cite book|last1=Stein|first1=Arlene|title=Sex and Sensibility: Stories of a Lesbian Generation|date=1997|publisher=University of California Press|pages=17–18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOxzdjIYL7wC&q=sex+and+sensibility|isbn=9780520918313|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094749/https://books.google.com/books?id=SOxzdjIYL7wC&q=sex+and+sensibility#v=snippet&q=sex%20and%20sensibility&f=false|url-status=live}} However, Joan Nestle asserts that femmes in a butch–femme couple make both the butch and the femme exceedingly visible. By daring to be publicly attracted to butch women, femmes reflected their own sexual difference and made the butch a known subject of desire.{{cite book|last1=Vance|first1=Carol S.|title=Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality|date=1984|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul|isbn=0710099746|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTjBQgAACAAJ&q=pleasure+and+danger+exploring+female+sexuality|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094926/https://books.google.com/books?id=DTjBQgAACAAJ&q=pleasure+and+danger+exploring+female+sexuality|url-status=live}}

File:Just married (9178119295).jpg

The separatist feminist movement of the late 1960s and 1970s forced butches and femmes underground, as radical lesbian feminists found lesbian gender roles to be a disappointing and oppressive replication of heterosexual lifestyle.{{cite book|last1=Faderman|first1=Lilian|title=Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America|date=1991|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York, New York|oclc=22906565|isbn=978-0231074889|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpBdCl-I_oUC&q=odd+girls+and+twilight+lovers|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094749/https://books.google.com/books?id=tpBdCl-I_oUC&q=odd+girls+and+twilight+lovers#v=snippet&q=odd%20girls%20and%20twilight%20lovers&f=false|url-status=live}} p.210 However, the 1980s saw a resurgence of butch and femme gender roles. In this new configuration of butch and femme, it was acceptable, even desirable, to have femme–femme sexual and romantic pairings. Femmes gained value as their own lesbian gender, making it possible to exist separately from butches. For example, Susie Bright, the founder of On Our Backs, the first lesbian sex periodical of its kind, identifies as femme.{{cite web|last1=Bright|first1=Susie|title=How A Teenage Femme Snuck Her Way Into the Mineshaft— NY's Legendary Men's S/M Club|url=http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/2012/03/the-meatpacking-district-in-new-york-city-was-once-ironic-shorthand-for-the-patch-of-west-village-blocks-centered-roughly-at.html|website=Susie Bright Journal|date=March 12, 2012|access-date=April 13, 2015|archive-date=September 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909184900/http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/2012/03/the-meatpacking-district-in-new-york-city-was-once-ironic-shorthand-for-the-patch-of-west-village-blocks-centered-roughly-at.html|url-status=dead}} Beyond depictions in pornography, the neo-butch and neo-femme aesthetic in day-to-day life helped add a sense of visual identity to lesbians who had abandoned these roles in the name of political correctness.{{Cite journal|last1=Faderman|first1=Lillian|title=The Return of Butch and Femme: A Phenomenon in Lesbian Sexuality of the 1980s and 1990s|year=1992|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|volume=2|issue=4|pages=578–596|issn=1043-4070|jstor=3704264}}

In "Negotiating Dyke Femininity," lesbian scholar Wendy Somerson explains that women in the lesbian community who are more feminine and do not fit into the "butch" stereotype can pass as straight. She believes the link between appearance and gender performance and one's sexuality should be disrupted, because the way someone looks should not define their sexuality. In her article, Somerson also clearly talks about how within the lesbian community some are considered more masculine than others.{{cite book|last1=Weir|first1=Sara|last2=Faulkner|first2=Constance|title=Voices of a New Generation: A Feminist Anthology|date=2004|page=59|chapter=On the Complications of Negotiating Dyke Femininity, by Wendy Somerson|publisher=Pearson|location=Boston, Massachusetts|oclc=52410222|isbn=978-0205344147}}

Femmes still combat the invisibility their presentation creates and assert their sexuality through their femininity.{{cite book|last1=Rose|first1=Chloë Brushwood|last2=Camilleri|first2=Anna|title=Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity|date=2002|publisher=Arsenal Pulp Press|isbn=978-1551521268|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3gfAQAAIAAJ|access-date=May 27, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094835/https://books.google.com/books?id=R3gfAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}} The dismissal of femmes as illegitimate or invisible also happens within the LGBT community itself, which creates the push for femmes to self-advocate as an empowered identity not inherently tied to butches.{{cite book|last=Lowrey|first=Sassafras|title=Visible: A Femmethology, Vol 1|year=2009|publisher=Homofactus Press|isbn=978-0978597344|page=162|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5850VM21VIC&q=butch+femme+erotica+community|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094934/https://books.google.com/books?id=J5850VM21VIC&q=butch+femme+erotica+community#v=snippet&q=butch%20femme%20erotica%20community&f=false|url-status=live}}

=Other terms=

The term "kiki" came into existence in the 1940s to describe a lesbian who did not identify as either butch or femme, and was used disparagingly.{{cite book|last1=Green|first1=Jonathon|title=Green's Dictionary of Slang (vol.2)|date=2010|publisher=Chambers|location=Edinburgh, Scotland|isbn=978-0550104403|url=https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/5mhmdsq|access-date=March 15, 2020|archive-date=March 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313151335/https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/5mhmdsq|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Zimmerman|editor1-first=Bonnie|title=Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia|date=2000|edition=1st|volume=1 (Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures)|page=140|publisher=Garland Publishing|isbn=0-8153-1920-7|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/140}}{{cite web|last1=Scott|first1=Rebecca|title=Definitions: K|url=http://lesbianhandbook.net/|website=Lesbian Handbook|access-date=March 15, 2020|date=1997|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094758/http://lesbianhandbook.net/|url-status=live}}

Labels have been tailored to be more descriptive of an individual's characteristics, such as "hard butch," "gym queen," "tomboy femme," and "soft stud." "Lipstick lesbians" are feminine lesbians. A butch woman may be described as a "dyke," "stone butch," "diesel dyke,"{{cite book|title=The Complete Guide To The Lesbian Lifestyle|chapter=3: Lesbian Name Game (Common Lesbian Slang and Terminology)|date=2011|publisher=The Other Team|access-date=November 29, 2016|url=http://www.theotherteam.com/common-lesbian-slang-and-terminology/|archive-date=February 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207040105/http://www.theotherteam.com/common-lesbian-slang-and-terminology/|url-status=live}} "bulldyke," "bull bitch," or "bulldagger."{{cite book|editor1-last=Zimmerman|editor1-first=Bonnie|title=Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia|date=2000|edition=1st|page=136|volume=1 (Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures)|publisher=Garland Publishing|isbn=0-8153-1920-7|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle00bzim/page/136}} A woman who likes to receive and not give sexually is called a "pillow queen," or a "pillow princess."{{cite book|editor-last1=McAuliffe|editor-first1=Mary|editor-last2=Tiernan|editor-first2=Sonja|title=Tribades, Tommies and Transgressives; History of Sexualities: Volume 1|year=2008|page=273|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1847185921|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvhWAAAAYAAJ&q=Pillow+queen+lesbian|access-date=July 2, 2015|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822094758/https://books.google.com/books?id=dvhWAAAAYAAJ&q=Pillow+queen+lesbian|url-status=live}}

A "stud" is a dominant lesbian in the LGBT community. The term originated with construction and animal breeding, before being associated with promiscuous or attractive men.{{cite book|last1=Forby|first1=Jonathon|title=A Glossary of Words Used in East Anglia|date=1895|publisher=English Dialect Society|location=East Anglia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j3IKAAAAIAAJ|access-date=September 5, 2024}} The word made its way into AAVE through jive in the 1940s.{{cite magazine |last=Hamm |first=Theodore |date=2008 |title=Dan Burley's Original Handbook of Harlem Jive (1944) |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2008/12/express/dan-burleys-original-handbook-of-harlem-jive-1944/ |magazine=The Brooklyn Rail |location=Brooklyn, New York |publisher=The Brooklyn Rail |access-date=September 5, 2024}}{{cite book |last=Shelly |first=Lou |date=1945 |title=Hepcats Jive Talk Dictionary |location=Derby, Connecticut |publisher=Charlton Publication |url=https://archive.org/details/hepcats-jive-talk-dictionary-1945.-t.-w.-o.-charles-d-m-ia/mode/2up?q=Stud+Hoss}} The African-American lesbian community then adopted the word, meaning "masculine African-American lesbian."{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=Bianca D.M.|title=Black Lesbian Gender and Sexual Culture: Celebration and Resistance|journal=Culture, Health & Sexuality|date=2009|volume=11|issue=3|pages=297–313|doi=10.1080/13691050802676876|jstor=27784444 |pmid=19296308|s2cid=41180169|issn=1369-1058}}{{cite journal|last1=Lane-Steele|first1=Laura|title=Studs and Protest-Hypermasculinity: The Tomboyism within Black Lesbian Female Masculinity|journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies|date=2011|volume=15|issue=4|pages=480–492|doi=10.1080/10894160.2011.532033|pmid=21973068|s2cid=5198734|issn=1089-4160}} Studs tend to be influenced by urban and hip-hop cultures.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} In the New York City lesbian community, a butch may identify herself as AG (aggressive) or as a stud.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} In 2005, filmmaker Daniel Peddle chronicled the lives of AGs in his documentary The Aggressives, following six women who went to lengths like binding their breasts to pass as men. But Peddle says that today, very young lesbians of color in New York are creating a new, insular scene that is largely cut off from the rest of the gay and lesbian community: "A lot of it has to do with this kind of pressure to articulate and express your masculinity within the confines of the hip-hop paradigm."{{cite news|last=Hilliard|first=Chloe A.|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-04-03/nyc-life/girls-to-men/|title=Girls to Men|work=The Village Voice|date=April 3, 2007|access-date=September 7, 2008|archive-date=January 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116041019/http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-04-03/nyc-life/girls-to-men/|url-status=dead}} Black lesbian filmmaker Dee Rees represented the AG culture in her 2011 film Pariah.{{cite news|last1=George|first1=Nelson|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/movies/pariah-reveals-another-side-of-being-black-in-the-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=New Directors Flesh Out Black America, All Of It|work=The New York Times|date=December 23, 2011|access-date=November 29, 2016|archive-date=April 30, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430211238/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/movies/pariah-reveals-another-side-of-being-black-in-the-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|url-status=live}}

There is also an emerging usage of the terms soft butch, "stem" (stud-femme), "futch" (feminine butch),{{cite book|last=Belge|first=Kathy|year=2011|pages=10|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=9780547687322|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTpUfGcsATwC&q=futch+lesbian|title=Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822095333/https://books.google.com/books?id=JTpUfGcsATwC&q=futch+lesbian|url-status=live}} or "chapstick lesbian" as terms for women who have characteristics of both butch and femme. Lesbians who are neither butch nor femme are called "androgynous" or "andros." The term boi is typically used by younger LGBT women. Defining the difference between a butch and a boi, one boi told a reporter: "that sense of play – that's a big difference from being a butch. To me, butch is like an adult...You're the man of the house."{{cite magazine|last1=Levy|first1=Ariel|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9709/|title=Where the Bois Are|magazine=New York|date=January 2, 2004|access-date=November 29, 2016|archive-date=April 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425035826/http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9709/|url-status=live}} Comedian Elvira Kurt contributed the term "fellagirly" as a description for LGBT women who are not strictly either femme or butch, but a combination.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

History

File:WellBuiltForIt1903.JPG

Prior to the middle of the 20th century in Western culture, homosexual societies were mostly underground or secret, making it difficult to determine how long butch and femme roles have been practiced by women.

=Early 20th century=

It is known that butch–femme dress codes date back at least to the beginning of the 20th century as photographs from 1900–1920 exist of butch–femme couples in the United States;{{cite web|last1=North|first1=Alexandria|url=http://www.sappho.com/vintage/index_photos.html|title=Vintage Photographs: Butch-Femme Couples|website=Isle of Lesbos|date=1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021014224506/http://www.sappho.com/vintage/photos/butchfemme.html|archive-date=October 14, 2002}} they were at the time called "transvestites". However, according to the Routledge International Encyclopaedia of Women, although upper-class women like Radclyffe Hall and her lover Una Troubridge lived together in unions that resembled butch–femme relationships, "The term butch/femme would have been categorically inconsequential, however, and incomprehensible to these women."{{cite book|last=Kramarae|first=Cheris|title=Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women|year=2000|page=132|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415920896|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCKLHBXeyyYC&q=Lesbian+relations+can+not+be+accurately+described+in+these+terms+butch+femme|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822095323/https://books.google.com/books?id=YCKLHBXeyyYC&q=Lesbian+relations+can+not+be+accurately+described+in+these+terms+butch+femme|url-status=live}}

=Mid- to late 20th century=

Butch and femme lesbian labels were only starting to become apparent in the 1940s, since it started to become common to allow women to enter bars without men.{{Cite journal|last=Levitt|first=Heidi|date=February 2003|title=The Misunderstood Gender: A Model of Modern Femme Identity|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225274019|journal=Sex Roles|volume=48|issue=3/4|pages=99–113|doi=10.1023/A:1022453304384|s2cid=141709782|access-date=May 2, 2016|archive-date=April 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425035825/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225274019|url-status=live}} In the 1940s in the U.S., most butch women had to wear conventionally feminine dress in order to hold down jobs, donning their starched shirts and ties only on weekends to go to bars or parties as "Saturday night" butches. Butches had to take a subtle approach to butchness in order to exist in society.Genter, Alix. "Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Butch-Femme Fashion and Queer Legibility in New York City, 1945–1969." Feminist Studies, vol. 42, no. 3, 2016, p. 604., doi:10.15767/feministstudies.42.3.0604. They created outfits that were outwardly accepted by society, but allowed those who were butch to still present as more masculine than the norm- Alix Genter states that "butches wore long, pleated skirts with their man-tailored shirts, sometimes with a vest or coat on top" at Bay Ridge High school.Newton, Esther. "The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 9, no. 4, 1984, pp. 557–575., doi:10.1086/494087.

The 1950s saw the rise of a new generation of butches who refused to live double lives and wore butch attire full-time, or as close to full-time as possible. This usually limited them to a few jobs, such as factory work and cab driving, that had no dress codes for women.{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Elizabeth Lapovsky|author2=Madeline D. Davis|title=Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community|year=1993|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0-415-90293-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/82 82–86]|url=https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/82}} Their increased visibility, combined with the anti-gay politics of the McCarthy era, led to an increase in violent attacks, while at the same time the increasingly strong and defiant bar culture became more willing to respond with force. Although femmes also fought back, it became primarily the role of butches to defend against attacks and hold the bars as gay women's space.{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Elizabeth Lapovsky|author2=Madeline D. Davis|title=Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community|year=1993|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0-415-90293-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/90 90–93]|url=https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/90}} While in the '40s, the prevailing butch image was severe but gentle, it became increasingly tough and aggressive as violent confrontation became a fact of life.{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Elizabeth Lapovsky|author2=Madeline D. Davis|title=Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community|year=1993 |publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0-415-90293-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/153 153–157]|url=https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/153}} In 1992, a "groundbreaking" anthology about the butch–femme socialization that took place in working class bars of the 40s and 50s was published—The Persistent Desire: A Femme–Butch Reader, edited by femme Joan Nestle.{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Leonard J.|title=The Disability Studies Reader|year=2013|page=325|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415630528|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oor7avo2iDkC&q=325+%2BNestle|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822095302/https://books.google.com/books?id=Oor7avo2iDkC&q=325+%2BNestle#v=snippet&q=325%20%2BNestle&f=false|url-status=live}}

Although butch–femme was not the only organizing principle among lesbians in the mid-20th century, it was particularly prominent in the working-class lesbian bar culture of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, where butch–femme was the norm, while butch–butch and femme–femme relationships were taboo.{{cite web|last1=Theophano|first1=Teresa|title=Butch-Femme|url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/butch_femme_ssh_S.pdf|website=glbtq.com|date=2004|access-date=January 25, 2007|archive-date=April 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416044724/http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/butch_femme_ssh_S.pdf|url-status=live}} Those who switched roles were called ki-ki, a pejorative term, and they were often the butt of jokes.{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Elizabeth Lapovsky|author2=Madeline D. Davis|title=Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community|year=1993|publisher=Routledge|location=New York |isbn=0-415-90293-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/212 212–213] |url=https://archive.org/details/bootsofleathersl00kenn_0/page/212}} In the 1950s, in an early piece of lesbian studies, the gay rights campaigning organisation ONE, Inc. assigned Stella Rush to study "the butch/femme phenomenon" in gay bars. Rush reported that women held strong opinions, that "role distinctions needed to be sharply drawn," and that not being one or the other earned strong disapproval from both groups.{{cite book|last=Bullough|first=Vern|title=Before Stonewall: Activists in lesbian and gay rights in historical context|year=2002|publisher=Harrington Park Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-56023-192-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781560231936/page/139 139]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781560231936/page/139}} It has been noted that, at least in part, kiki women were unwelcome where lesbians gathered because their apparent lack of understanding of the butch–femme dress code might indicate that they were policewomen.{{cite book|last=Atkins|first=Dawn|title=Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0789004635|pages=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rd31TPHaxdEC&q=Butch/butch|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=April 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425040351/https://books.google.com/books?id=Rd31TPHaxdEC&q=Butch/butch|url-status=live}}

In contrast to ONE, Inc. studies, more conservative homophile organizations of the 1950s, such as the Daughters of Bilitis, discouraged butch–femme roles and identities. This was especially true in relation to the butch identity, as the organization held the belief that assimilation into heterosexual society was the goal of the homophile movement. Gender expressions outside of the norm prevented assimilation.{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=Elizabeth A.|title=Butches, Femmes, and Feminists: The Politics Of Lesbian Sexuality|journal=NWSA Journal|date=1989|volume=1|issue=3|page=398|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=8652739&site=ehost-live|access-date=September 21, 2016|archive-date=August 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822095432/https://login.ebsco.com/?requestIdentifier=1e8d0247-e158-4c2d-b9ad-c21814848fb7&acrValues=uid&ui_locales&redirect_uri=https://logon.ebsco.zone/api/dispatcher/continue/prompted?state=NGIzYTA1OWRkMTU2NDRhZmE1MTNjMDcyZmJhODU4OTc=&authRequest=eyJraWQiOiIxNjg2MTQ5MjEzNjMxIiwiYWxnIjoiUlMyNTYifQ.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.g6tKMWtvg9bQoTWuXsmtxxqHtWkXe0UfY97RTNkkHPg9JuIvQC4frqoFvQDDsU4OooNKXD7efdpdxN0ljTwbn5M07OatrWrtOeaMXBgXLpJXqeSrvZjEQlxNQGUeKYD6tXi9MS0E2k-nRgI3-u4uMDladqaa_AKWuDRc02KKwfGQKY4gy0Pp_0qDhQuXc6OV9og8ErUd4Ywv75sflsp_tq8Atfd_8nXOuLue7atWApRwZd_-7xsXaegGf6jsaD4RDk8ORuCPjbioiEFn2JfIlS80Fgru3t7LUbHk1VZ3bM0znNqBeqlS1h8Z2jI_FJLs46bEBFECnTCDUCUPbgrE3w|url-status=live}}

In the 1970s, the development of lesbian feminism pushed butch–femme roles out of popularity. Lesbian separatists such as Sheila Jeffreys argued that all forms of masculinity, including masculine butch women, were negative and harmful to women.{{Cite book|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Sheila|title=Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective|year=2003|publisher=Polity Press|isbn=978-0745628370|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/unpackingqueerpo00jeff}} The group of radical lesbians often credited with sparking lesbian feminism, Radicalesbians, called butch culture "male-identified role-playing among lesbians".{{cite book|editor1-last=Nardi|editor1-first=Peter M.|editor2-last=Schneider|editor2-first=Beth E.|title=Social Perspectives in Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Reader|date=1998|page=246|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0415167086|chapter=The Social Construction of Identity and its Meanings within the Lesbian Subculture, by Barbara Ponse (1978)}} This encouraged the emergence of androgyny in lesbian feminist circles, with many women wearing clothing like T-shirts, jeans, flannels, and boots. This dress was very similar to butch dress, weakening a key identifier of butch lesbians.

While butch–femme roles had previously been the primary way of identifying lesbians and quantifying lesbian relationships in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, lesbian feminist ideology had turned these roles into a "perversion of lesbian identity".{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=Elizabeth|year=1989|title=Butches, Femmes, And Feminists: The Politics Of Lesbian Sexuality|journal=NWSA Journal|volume=1|issue=3}} Lesbian feminism was publicly represented though white feminism, and often excluded and alienated working class lesbians and lesbians of color. In these excluded communities, butch–femme roles persisted and grew throughout the 1970s. Despite the criticism from both middle-class lesbians and lesbian feminists, butch and femme roles reemerged in the 1980s and 1990s, but were no longer relegated to only working-class lesbians.

=21st century=

File:Damesliefde-20090803-1.jpg

In the 21st century, some writers and commentators began to describe a phenomenon in the lesbian community called "The Disappearing Butch". Some felt butches were disappearing because it had become easier for masculine women who might have previously identified as butch to have sex reassignment surgery and live as men.{{Cite web|title=The disappearing Butch?|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/may-27-2013-1.2909886/the-disappearing-butch-1.2909889|website=CBC Radio|date=May 27, 2013|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=February 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224160747/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/may-27-2013-1.2909886/the-disappearing-butch-1.2909889|url-status=live}} Others claimed the Disappearing Butch was the result of lesbian 'commodification' in the media, influenced by the viewing public's desire to see lesbians as "reproductions of Hollywood straight women".{{Cite thesis|last1=Moody|first1=Cara Dawn|title=The disappearing butch: discursively disciplining queer subjectivities.|url=https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/3471/Moody_Cara_MSW_2011.pdf|date=2011|type=MSW|institution=University of Victoria|access-date=November 26, 2019|archive-date=February 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224153957/https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/3471/Moody_Cara_MSW_2011.pdf|url-status=live}} One writer noted that in the increased drive for LGBT 'normalization' and political acceptance, butch lesbians and effeminate gay men seemed to be disappearing.{{Cite web|last1=Wilchins|first1=Riki|url=http://www.advocate.com/commentary/riki-wilchins/2013/01/14/where-have-all-butches-gone|title=Where Have All the Butches Gone|website=The Advocate|date=January 14, 2013|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025101908/https://www.advocate.com/commentary/riki-wilchins/2013/01/14/where-have-all-butches-gone|url-status=live}} In the 21st century, some younger people were also beginning to eschew labels like 'butch' or even 'lesbian' and identify instead as queer.'{{Cite news|last1=Vitello|first1=Paul|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/fashion/20gender.html|title=The Trouble When Jane Becomes Jack|work=The New York Times|date=August 20, 2006|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025101844/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/fashion/20gender.html|url-status=live}}

However, others noted that butch women have gained increased visibility in the media, mentioning Ellen DeGeneres, frequently referred to as 'a soft butch', political commentator Rachel Maddow, once described as a 'butch fatale' and the character Big Boo in Orange Is the New Black, played by butch comic and actress Lea de Laria.{{Cite work|last1=Baird|first1=Julia|url=https://www.newsweek.com/rachel-maddow-comes-out-top-85007|title=Rachel Maddow Comes Out on Top|work=Newsweek|date=November 21, 2008|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025031313/https://www.newsweek.com/rachel-maddow-comes-out-top-85007|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|author=Staff|url=https://www.afterellen.com/tv/18826-the-top-15-hottest-butch-women/2|title=The Top 15 Hottest Butch Women|website=AfterEllen|date=July 15, 2007|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224220153/https://www.afterellen.com/tv/18826-the-top-15-hottest-butch-women/2|archive-date=December 24, 2014}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.them.us/story/inqueery-butch|title=InQueery: The REAL Meaning of the Word "Butch"|website=them.|date=August 21, 2018|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=August 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831234221/https://www.them.us/story/inqueery-butch|url-status=live}}

The 21st century also saw a re-examination of the meaning of 'femme', with the term being used in a broader and more politically charged way, particularly by women of color, and some critics challenging what is seen as its appropriation by heteronormative culture.{{Cite web|last1=Barrett-Ibarria|first1=Sofia|url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xw4dyq/who-gets-to-identify-as-femme|title=Who Gets to Identify as 'Femme'|website=Vice|date=December 20, 2017|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025034542/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xw4dyq/who-gets-to-identify-as-femme|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|author=Cecelia|title=What We Mean When We Say "Femme": A Roundtable|url=https://www.autostraddle.com/what-we-mean-when-we-say-femme-a-roundtable-341842/|website=Autostraddle|date=July 18, 2016|access-date=October 25, 2019|archive-date=May 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528162620/https://www.autostraddle.com/what-we-mean-when-we-say-femme-a-roundtable-341842/|url-status=live}}