Butch: Difference between revisions

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    ==Attributes==
    ==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, queer theorist [[Jack Halberstam]] argues that [[Binary genders#Transgender_men|transgender men]] cannot be considered butch, since it constitutes a conflation of maleness with butchness. He further argues that butch–femme is uniquely geared to work in lesbian relationships.<ref>{{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/?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&dq=faggot+butch}}</ref> Stereotypes and definitions of butch and femme vary greatly, even within tight-knit [[LGBT]] communities.  On the other hand, the writer Jewelle Gomez muses that butch and femme women in the earlier twentieth century may have been expressing their closeted transgender identity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Munt|first=Sally|title=Butch/Femme: Inside Lesbian Gender|year=1998|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-0304339594|page=229|url=https://books.google.com/?id=1G5M13Xida0C&dq=jewelle+gomez+femme}}</ref><ref name=Coyote>{{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}}</ref> Antipathy toward female butches and male femmes has been interpreted by some commentators as [[transphobia]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=xBb55sOOIX4C&dq=Butch+femme+transphobia|title=Female Impersonation|last=Tyler|first=Carol-Ann|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-0-415-91688-2|pages=91}}</ref> although female butches and male femmes are not always [[transgender]], and indeed some heterosexuals of both genders display these attributes.<ref>{{cite web|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 - The Vagenda|author=|date=|website=vagendamagazine.com|accessdate=31 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thoughtcatalog.com/james-hunt/2015/05/confessions-of-a-feminine-straight-guy/|title=Confessions Of A Feminine Straight Guy|author=|date=14 May 2015|website=thoughtcatalog.com|accessdate=31 March 2018}}</ref>
    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, queer theorist [[Jack Halberstam]] argues that [[Binary genders#Transgender_men|transgender men]] cannot be considered butch, since it constitutes a conflation of maleness with butchness. He further argues that butch–femme is uniquely geared to work in lesbian relationships.<ref>{{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/?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&dq=faggot+butch}}</ref> Stereotypes and definitions of butch and femme vary greatly, even within tight-knit [[LGBT]] communities.  On the other hand, the writer Jewelle Gomez muses that butch and femme women in the earlier twentieth century may have been expressing their closeted transgender identity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Munt|first=Sally|title=Butch/Femme: Inside Lesbian Gender|year=1998|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-0304339594|page=229|url=https://books.google.com/?id=1G5M13Xida0C&dq=jewelle+gomez+femme}}</ref><ref name=Coyote>{{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}}</ref> Antipathy toward female butches and male femmes has been interpreted by some commentators as [[transphobia]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=xBb55sOOIX4C&dq=Butch+femme+transphobia|title=Female Impersonation|last=Tyler|first=Carol-Ann|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-0-415-91688-2|pages=91}}</ref> although female butches and male femmes are not always [[transgender]], and indeed some heterosexuals of both genders display these attributes.<ref>{{cite web|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/|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|last=O'Hara|first=Kate|date=7 January 2015|work=The Vagenda|archive-date=31 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thoughtcatalog.com/james-hunt/2015/05/confessions-of-a-feminine-straight-guy/|title=Confessions Of A Feminine Straight Guy |last=Hunt |first=James|date=14 May 2015|website=thoughtcatalog.com|accessdate=20 September 2020}}</ref>


    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 historian Joan Nestle argues that femme and butch may be seen as distinct genders in and of themselves.<ref>{{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/?id=3u9ZAAAAMAAJ&q=The+persistent+desire&dq=The+persistent+desire}}</ref>
    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 historian Joan Nestle argues that femme and butch may be seen as distinct genders in and of themselves.<ref>{{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/?id=3u9ZAAAAMAAJ&q=The+persistent+desire&dq=The+persistent+desire}}</ref>