Butch: Difference between revisions

A butch woman may be described as a "stone butch", "diesel dyke"<ref name="The Other Team">{{cite web|url=http://www.theotherteam.com/common-lesbian-slang-and-terminology/|archive-date=7 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207040105/http://www.theotherteam.com/common-lesbian-slang-and-terminology/|title=Common lesbian slang and terminology|publisher=The Other Team}}</ref> "bulldyke", "bull bitch" or "bulldagger"<ref name="haggerty">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvt8el4QtPwC&dq=Bulldyke&q=Bull%20bitch+%2Bbulldyker#v=onepage&q=Bulldagger%20Also%20bulldyke&f=false|title=Encyclopedia of Lesbian And Gay Histories and Cultures, Vol 1|last=Haggerty|first=George E.|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2000|isbn=978-0815333548}}</ref> or simply just as a "[[dyke]]". 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."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9709/|title=Where the Bois Are|last=Levy|first=Ariel|newspaper=New York News and Features|accessdate=November 29, 2016}}</ref> There is also an emerging usage of the terms soft butch "stem" (stud-femme), "futch" (feminine butch)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=JTpUfGcsATwC&dq=futch+lesbian|title=Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens|last=Belge|first=Kathy|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2011|isbn=9780547687322|pages=10}}</ref> or "chapstick lesbian" as terms for women who have characteristics of both butch and femme. Lesbians who are unisex and neither butch nor femme are called "androgynous" or "andros".<ref name="The Other Team" />

Another common term is "stud". A stud is a dominant lesbian, usually butch. They tend to be influenced by urban and hip-hop cultures and are often, but not always, Afro-American. In the New York City lesbian community, a butch may identify herself as AG (aggressive) or as a stud. In 2005, filmmaker Eric Daniel Peddle chronicled the lives of AGs in his documentary The Aggressives, following six women who went to lengths like [[binding|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's 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..."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-04-03/nyc-life/girls-to-men/|title=Girls to Men|last=Hilliard|first=Chloe|newspaper=The Village Voice}}</ref> The AG culture has also been represented on film by Black lesbian filmmaker Dee Rees' 2011 work, ''Pariah''.<ref>{{cite news|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|last=George|first=Nelson|date=December 23, 2011|newspaper=New York Times|accessdate=November 29, 2016}}</ref>