Butch/Femme Research Guide
Atkins, D. (1998). Looking queer : body image and identity in lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender communities. New York : Haworth Press, c1998.
Atkins, the editor of this collection, is a bisexual, polyamorous, Wiccan feminist and journalist with an anthropology lens. This collection reflects a fairly diverse range of identities and perspectives on those identities, but has a central focus on LGBT presentation, aesthetic choices, and understandings of physical appearance within LGBT subcultures. To find material specifically about butches and femmes, flip to “Beauty Mandates and the Appearance Obsession,” “Lesbians and the (Re/De)Construction of the Female Body,” and “Flunking Basic Gender Training: Butches and Butch Style Today.” These essays have a personal element to them, and relate to the internal world of how lesbians see themselves and relate to the gay and straight cultures they exist within.
Cartier, Marie (2013). Baby, you are my religion: Women, gay bars, and theology before Stonewall. Stocksfield, UK: Acumen Press, 2013.
Cartier explores the 1940s-1980s lesbian bar culture, and their associated butch and femme identities, through the lens of profound subcultural meaning, placing within this context both political theory and religious ceremony. In a broader context where lesbians were shunned from most places of worship, many found spiritual and theological comfort within these spaces. This text argues that from these contexts arose both lesbian liberation movements and faith-based communities, and that lesbian bars should be viewed as historically sacred to the community. Cartier conducted over 100 interviews for this piece, and segments from many are included.
Eaklor, Vicki L. (2008). Queer America: A People’s GLBT history of the United States. New York: The New Press, 2008.
Eaklor’s book addresses a much broader history, with lesbian-specific experience only being a portion of the material covered. Pages relating to butch and femme identity are in primarily three sections: 65-69, 95-98, and 139-146. Within these sections, these roles are placed within the context of the straight culture that lesbians hid within. The book addresses ways lesbians found representation in “queer coded” butch presenting characters in film, the ways butches were targeted within military contexts, the working class butch-femme bar culture and its associated political organization and resistance, and the later shift away from these roles in the 1970s and 1980s during second-wave feminist movements.
Faderman, Lillian (1991). Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of lesbian life in twentieth-century America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Faderman’s discussion of butch and femme identity— beginning with early labels of female “inverts” with feminine partners in the 1890s and becoming more established as butch-femme by the mid 1900s– emphasizes class analysis, detailing how and why these identities (along with lesbian bar culture) were developed by working class lesbians, as well as exploring possible explanations to why wealthier lesbians tended to be more gender-conforming. The term “kikis” as applied to middle and upper class lesbians who conformed to gender roles is also discussed as a separate identity term along with butch and femme. Femme roles are discussed in terms of their rebellious and sexually liberated nature, arising in more blatant forms decades before heterosexual feminists’ reclaiming of female sexual pleasure. The hostile response towards working class butches from police officers, and straight men in general, is addressed, including some differences in experience of butches further marginalized through their race.
Kennedy, E. L., & Davis, M. D. (1993). Boots of leather, slippers of gold : the history of a lesbian community. New York : Routledge, 1993.
This text focuses on working-class butches and femmes in the mid 1900s bar culture in Buffalo, New York with a strong focus on the material forms of oppression which defined their existence. In the authors’ own words, “We document how working-class lesbians— African Americans, European Americans, and Native Americans— created a community whose members not only supported one another for survival in an extremely negative and punitive environment, but also boldly challenged and helped to change social life and morals in the U.S.” This book distinguishes itself from other resources in specifically addressing issues of race in poor lesbian communities, and explicitly describes the frequent police brutality faced by butches. The emphasis of this work is the political resistance and solidarity created and sustained by butches and femmes, and how their struggle against homophobia and class warfare contributed to later LGBT liberation.
White, Patricia (1999). Uninvited: classic Hollywood cinema and lesbian representation. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1999.
White’s work details the ways in which butch and femme identities and aesthetics were represented and used in “coding” characters as lesbians in early American film and television before explicit representation was possible. The division between two main methods of coding is emphasized— women could be shown to be butch in dress and behavior, but distinctly heterosexual in portrayed sexual behavior, or film hinted at lesbian romance through homosocial and close affectionate friendships among conventionally feminine women. Also included is mention of popular actresses among lesbian audiences for the symbolism inherent in portraying these roles, even if the actresses themselves were straight. Images of iconic scenes and roles are included amongst the text. The homophobia inherent in the psychoanalytic understanding of lesbian desire of the time, and in film’s treatment of butch coded characters is explored as well.
Faderman, L. (1992). The Return of Butch and Femme: A Phenomenon in Lesbian Sexuality of the 1980s and 1990s. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 2(4), 578-596.
Faderman discusses the history of feminism’s effects on lesbian culture in the 1970s, and how butch and femme roles were cast as “politically incorrect” or imitating heterosexuality. There was a prevalence of assuming that butches and femmes were fake or pretending to be something that was socially imposed and restraining. However, during this period, many Latina and black lesbians remained in butch and femme roles, as well as very poor lesbians and incarcerated lesbians of all races, as they were already alienated from mainstream feminism. Along with this, Faderman explores why these roles reemerged in the following decades, and how they had changed from previous conceptions of butch and femme identity, now no longer relegated to only working-class lesbians, but also taken up by middle-class lesbians.
Munt, Sally (1998). Butch/femme: Inside lesbian gender. London, Britain: A&C Black, 1998.
This book is a collection of writing that seeks to strike a balance between respecting the history of lesbians who hold these identities dear, but also avoiding the romanticization of butch and femme identity. It is simultaneously a history of the discourse surrounding these labels and positions of gender within lesbian communities and a intracommunity critique of them and what purpose they fulfill within lesbian culture. The text includes mostly academic articles and theory, but is peppered with personal essays, poetry, and artwork.
Nestle, Joan (1992). The Persistent desire: a femme-butch reader. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1992.
Nestle, the editor, brings together discussion on butch and femme roles and the controversy surrounding them, and questions why these roles have persisted despite the pushback from straight culture, feminism, and LGBT liberation activists, and even other lesbians. Her thesis argues that these identities are “a lesbian-specific way of deconstructing gender that radically reclaims women’s erotic energy” and the contributors themselves are almost entirely butches and femmes (14). This collection is not so much a critique of butch-femme identity as it is an exploration of the experience of being butch or femme when those identities are the focus of so much critique. Photos, interviews, personal essays, and poetry are all present and provide an intimate context to these perspectives.
Smith, E. A. (1989). Butches, Femmes, and Feminists: The Politics of Lesbian Sexuality. NWSA Journal, (3). 398.
This article details the history of the criticisms and, in some cases, destruction of butch-femme culture by both middle-class and wealthy lesbians and by feminists in the 1960s-1980s. Smith demonstrates through quotes from The Ladder the ways that wealthier lesbians viewed working class butches and femmes, and how their methods in overcoming oppression were inherently in opposition. While working class lesbians protested police brutality, wealthy lesbians thought they should strive for assimilation with the heterosexual middle class and that butches and femmes stood out too much and were too explicitly sexual. On the other side were feminists who criticized working-class lesbians for “imitating patriarchy” and sought to desexualize lesbianism, framing sexual desire as inherently existing within an oppressor/oppressed binary. Smith’s research gives perspective into the way lesbian feminism was developed in the 70s and 80s and its roots in classism.
CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING
Bergman, S. Bear (2006). Butch is a Noun. Vancouver, Canada: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010.
This book is described as a “purposely unsettling manifesto on what it means to be butch (and not)” and consists of personal essays by the author addressing her own understandings and experiences with being butch— which includes a great deal of uncertainty, confusion, and contradiction. This is an accessible read to women-loving women with some previous knowledge of lesbian culture terminology and discourse and makes this label with its long, complicated, and controversial history something fun, personal and approachable to explore. There is a self-deprecating and purposeful foot-in-mouth tone to any declaration of certainty through the text, and Bergman tends to meet sensitive topics by stumbling over them and then apologizing profusely. This book also deals directly with the widely debated boundaries between butch womanhood, trans manhood, nonbinary woman-aligned personhood, and related gender confusion. (Content warning for a lot of reclaimed slurs and frank discussions of butch sexuality.)
Coyote, Ivan (2010). A Butch Roadmap [poem]. Retrieved from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN-py8zojfk
This is a poem by a nonbinary butch lesbian on their identity, both in terms of how they understand themselves in a personal context and how the world treats them. The poem is significant in the contemporary understanding of butch identity because Coyote begins with addressing the prejudice faced by butches within LGBT communities, and the implication of many Queer Theorists have introduced that butches are, in some way, outdated or regressive.
Gibson, Michelle and Deborah T. Meem (2002). Femme/Butch: New considerations of the way we want to go. New York: Harrington Park Press, 2002.
This resource contains essays by a collection of authors and represents some degree of diversity in their conceptions on the historical context and contemporary meaning of butch and femme identity. This resource establishes itself from others in that it addresses these roles in a broader context than just lesbian culture in the United States, also delving into British, Chinese, and Bulgarian communities. However, the editors (both white lesbians) admit that essays thoroughly exploring the relationship between these identities and race are absent from this collection and identify this as a shortcoming of the work. Rare in most of these resources but present in this one is the discussion on butch motherhood and lesbian family roles. The pages include numerous photographs depicting women who live these roles, and the essays delve into the complexity inherent in identities which continue to be both deeply meaningful for many who exist within them and also widely contested, interrogated, and theoretically deconstructed from all sides.
Godoy, Esther (editor). (2016). Butch is not a dirty word: Issue#1. Retrieved from http://butchisnotadirtyword.com
This is a publication that celebrates and explores butch identity. It’s filled with photos of and personal essays by contemporary butches. All the writing in this publication is designed to empower and show appreciation for butch and gender nonconforming women, and exists as the journal-equivalent of a butch safe space. Butch is Not a Dirty Word is filled with positivity and pride, and is a good place to look for young butches trying to find their place in the world.
Lane-Steele, L. (2011). Studs and Protest-Hypermasculinity: The Tomboyism within Black Lesbian Female Masculinity. Journal Of Lesbian Studies, 15(4), 480-492.
This article focuses specifically on Black lesbians in South Carolina in 2009, and specifically the identity of Black studs. Lane-Steele argues that the performance of stud masculinity among Black lesbians, rather than an inherent understanding of gender, is a strategic tool to defend themselves against misogyny, homophobia, and racism, and that in embodying this specific identity, studs can sidestep or challenge some forms of oppression directed towards those at the intersections of their identity. It also places studs as tending to be at odds with Black feminism, instead pursuing power through taking on traits of masculinity. The research involves the broader history of white supremacy’s emasculation of Black men within the United States, and the cultural homophobia shaped within that context, and addresses the contemporary issues of masculinity within Black lesbian communities as rooted in this complex history.
Levitt, H. M., Gerrish, E. A., & Hiestand, K. R. (2003). The Misunderstood Gender: A Model of Modern Femme Identity. Sex Roles, 48(3-4), 99-113.
This interview-based study focuses specifically on femme identity. This study is descriptive and allows a number of femme identified lesbians to define the femme identity in the context of their lived experiences. The participants of the study were all from Northern Florida and the majority were white. This study provides an introductory view of femme identity and how it relates to butch-femme culture and lesbian political history in the States.
Swarr, A. L. (2012). Paradoxes of Butchness: Lesbian Masculinities and Sexual Violence in Contemporary South Africa. Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture & Society, 37(4), 961-988.
[Trigger Warning: Rape] This article addresses research conducted from 1997 to 2009 on a specific form of oppressive violence lesbians face in South Africa known as “corrective rape.” Lesbians are targeted specifically, with disproportionate rates of sexual violence and murder inflicted on gender nonconforming and butch lesbians. The article is based in conversations with lesbians in South Africa as well as their own research and analysis of the epidemic of corrective rape in their country. Swarr concludes that butches are targeted because they threaten heterosexuality, gender norms, and conceptions of sex. This article also explores the paradox of butch womanhood as a source of empowerment and strength but also as an aspect of character that makes them vulnerable to the most violent of hate crimes.
Wilson, Debra A. (Producer and Director). (2003). Butch Mystique. [Motion Picture]. United States: Moyo Entertainment, Inc.
Butch Mystique is a documentary that follows African American butches in the Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area in 2002. This film lets Black butch lesbians define themselves and their own experiences, and includes interviews with lesbians of all ages from teenagers to elderly. This film is intersectional, presenting a commonality of identity that is uniquely Black, woman, lesbian, and butch across generations, and addresses social and political context and struggle as well as childhood memories and conversations on romantic relationships. This is a great resource for exploring butch identity, but full understanding does require some background in lesbian culture, history, theory, and terminology.
dailybridgerton
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
kaledo-art
annaxmalina
areudirty
izzy806
snowghoul
romaincrisis
