Why Butch & Femme are not lesbian exclusive terms
Quick note: This is not including the term âstud,â as I found there is not enough research documenting its usage outside of black lesbian circles. That is not to be said it is lesbian exclusive necessarily, I just do not have an opinion.
Before writing this article, as a transgender lesbian myself, I was pretty on the fence about whether or not non-lesbians could use the terms femme/butch.Â
The terms âbutchâ and âfemmeâ are terms that describe an LGBT personâs relationship with their gender and/or presentation. Currently, it is a topic of heavy debate whether or not it is an exclusively lesbian term. I am here to show sources and evidence which suggest that it has been historically used to refer to any LGBT person, and not just lesbians.
âStone Butch Bluesâ is a book that people like to quote a lot, which is fair, because it is an amazing book! This book does seem to use the term âfemmeâ for both men and women, seen here. (pictures by @bisexualfemmeâ, Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, p. 32 & p. 300) Leslie Feinberg grew up during the Stonewall period, which makes hir a primary source.
The LGBTQ+ zine âFemmes Unite!â from 2007 shows more usage of the terms âfemmeâ and âbutchâ for non-lesbians, such as quotes like âMy new friend was a fabulously femme fag⌠I learned so much about the kind of person I wanted to be from him.â and the poem titled âfemmes love boys tooâ by Katrina Enyeart. It is also commonly used for LGBTQ+ ballroom terms, seen here, most notably the term âbutch queen.â It is also found in this book about ballroom culture in Detroit.
Numerous modern sources have used the term âfemmeâ to describe non-lesbians, such as this academic paper which states that ââŚfemme is an identity that transgresses gender and sexuality and is not limited solely to cis gender lesbian and bisexual women.â GLAAD also includes two-spirit and âmasculine peopleâ in their definition of butch seen here, and Queer Voices writes ââŚbutch-femme identities are very stereotyped to the lesbian community. However, this can be seen throughout the queer communityâ on this article about femme and butch identities.
One woman wrote about her experience being a lesbian in the 1970s here, writing âThrough my associating with lesbian feminists, I learned to regard bisexual womenâŚas âfence sitters,ââŚuntrustworthy because of their association with men.â
So why do most pages talking about butch and femme labels exclusively use it to mean lesbians? There are a few reasons for this, a big one being the lesbian separatist movement and political lesbianism, which later evolved into the TERF movement you see today. Taking an excerpt out of @star-aniseâs post here, ââLesbianâ used to be a word that simply meant a woman who loved other women. Lesbian groups turned against bisexual and pansexual women as a class in the 1970s and 80s, when radical feminists began to teach that to escape the Patriarchyâs evil influence, women needed to cut themselves off from men entirely.â
In summary, âbutchâ and âfemmeâ are terms that can be used to describe any member of the LGBTQ+ community, and the notion that they canât has ties to the lesbian separatist and TERF movements.