Butch: Difference between revisions

'''Butch''' is an [[LGBTQ|LGBTQ+]] [[masculine]] [[gender expression]] or [[gender identity]]. While many people who identify as butch use the term in reference to their gender expression, others claim it as a [[nonbinary]] identity in itself, notably [[Leslie Feinberg]], who defined butch as a gender neither male nor female. Butch is an identity that emerged in [[lesbian]] and bisexual culture in the 1940s, before there was a stark distinction in the community between types of women who were attracted to other women. Many lesbians have complicated relationships with gender, and may identify as simply butch. Butch is an identity that can be held by people of various queer sexual orientations and can belong to both cisgender and trans individuals. Traditionally, the identity and term butch has been used by individuals who are attracted to [[Femme|femmes]]. For some butches, this attraction to femmes represents a strong part of their own identity. Because of this, you will often see the dyadic term "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_and_femme butch/femme,"] or referrals to a butch/femme dynamic. However, some butches are attracted to other butches (this was already a topic in Leslie Feinberg's seminal novel [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Butch_Blues Stone Butch Blues]).  

Depending on the community in question, butch people may call themselves by different terms. In LGBT communities of people of color, there may be a preference for the words '''aggressive''' ('''ag''' for short) or '''stud''', with much the same meaning as butch.<ref name="GreenPeterson">{{cite web|title=LGBTTSQI Terminology|date=2006|last1=Green|first1=Eli R.|last2=Peterson|first2=Eric N.|url=http://www.trans-academics.org/lgbttsqiterminology.pdf|work=Trans-Academics.org}}</ref> White people should use "butch" rather than "stud".<ref>https://www.littlegaybook.com/what-it-means-to-be-butch/</ref>

"Butch" can be used as an adjective or a noun<ref name="Bergman 2006">{{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/?id=jmyfdmsWjiEC&dq=butch+is+a+noun}}</ref> to describe an individual's [[gender]] or gender performance. A masculine person of any gender can be described as butch, even though it is more common to use the term towards females with more masculine traits.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Christine A.|last2=Konik|first2=Julie A.|last3= Tuve|first3=Melanie V.|title=In Search of Looks, Status, or Something Else? Partner Preferences Among Butch and Femme Lesbians and Heterosexual Men and Women|date=2011|volume=64|issue=9–10|pages=658–668|journal=Sex Roles|doi=10.1007/s11199-010-9861-8|issn=0360-0025|accessdate=May 1, 2016|url=http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=2bc637f5-dab5-4003-a000-13cf76217d23%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d&preview=false#AN=60686417&db=a9h}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/our-work/nationalstudy/|title=2014 National Street Harassment Report - Stop Street Harassment|author=|date=|website=stopstreetharassment.org|accessdate=31 March 2018}}</ref> A 1990s survey of butches showed that 50% were primarily attracted to femmes, while 25% reported being usually attracted to other butches.<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=138|url=https://books.google.com/?id=IIHQH001Bc8C&dq=faggot+butch}}</ref>