Femme: Difference between revisions

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 [[File:Butch Femme Society by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|The Butch/Femme Society marching at NYC Gay Pride Parade 2007.]]
-'''Femme''' is a term that refers to a queer person whose [[gender expression]] is considered to be [[feminine]]. It was originally used to distinguish feminine [[lesbian]] and [[bisexual]] women from [[butch]] women, and it is still one of the main uses of the term. It is common for trans and nonbinary individuals to use the term to refer to their identity or expression even if they do not identify as lesbian or bisexual women.<ref name="Tonic">{{Cite web |title=What Does Femme Mean? The Difference Between Being Femme & Being Feminine |last=Tonic |first=Gina |work=Bustle |date=24 August 2016 |access-date=28 April 2020 |url= https://www.bustle.com/articles/166081-what-does-femme-mean-the-difference-between-being-femme-being-feminine}}</ref> However, this last usage is has been gatekept by the lesbian community.<ref name=":0">[http://lesbiansovereverything.com/on-the-appropriation-of-femme/ On the appropriation of femme] on Lesbians over everything (lesbiansovereverything.com)</ref> A common definition of femme is someone who queers or subverts femininity, as opposed to a butch person, who rejects femininity. <ref name="Shewan">{{Cite web |title=Are you Femme? What Femme Isn’t and What it is. |last=Shewan |first=Briana |work=affirmativecouch.com |date=15 February 2019 |access-date=28 April 2020 |url= https://affirmativecouch.com/are-you-femme-what-femme-isnt-and-what-it-is/ |quote=Femmes may have any gender identity; some consider femme their gender identity, whileother femmes may have a different gender identity (such as transwoman, nonbinary, cis-woman, [[genderfluid]], [[agender]], etc.) and consider femme their gender expression}}</ref> Femme is also sometimes used as a gender in itself.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ain't No Girl…Femme! Queer Femme Identity and Art Making (master's thesis)|date=2016|first=Elyse|last=Schauer |url =https://www.academia.edu/28231820/Aint_No_Girl_Femme_Queer_Femme_Identity_and_Art_Making_Masters_Thesis_|quote=Although some may be aware of the terms ''butch'' and ''femme'', as applied to lesbian women, there is little awareness of femme outside of a lesbian context.  Femme can actually indicate a gender that is altogether separate from ''woman'', and people across gender presentations and sexualities may embrace femme in a queer context.}}</ref>
+'''Femme''' is a term that refers to a queer person whose [[gender expression]] is considered to be [[feminine]]. It was originally used to distinguish feminine [[lesbian]] and [[bisexual]] women from [[butch]] women, and it is still one of the main uses of the term. It is common for trans and nonbinary individuals to use the term to refer to their identity or expression even if they do not identify as lesbian or bisexual women.<ref name="Tonic">{{Cite web |title=What Does Femme Mean? The Difference Between Being Femme & Being Feminine |last=Tonic |first=Gina |work=Bustle |date=24 August 2016 |access-date=28 April 2020 |url= https://www.bustle.com/articles/166081-what-does-femme-mean-the-difference-between-being-femme-being-feminine}}</ref> However, this last usage is has been gatekept by the lesbian community.<ref name=":0">[http://lesbiansovereverything.com/on-the-appropriation-of-femme/ On the appropriation of femme] on Lesbians over everything (lesbiansovereverything.com)</ref> A common definition of femme is someone who queers or subverts femininity, as opposed to a butch person, who rejects femininity.<ref name="Shewan">{{Cite web |title=Are you Femme? What Femme Isn’t and What it is. |last=Shewan |first=Briana |work=affirmativecouch.com |date=15 February 2019 |access-date=28 April 2020 |url= https://affirmativecouch.com/are-you-femme-what-femme-isnt-and-what-it-is/ |quote=Femmes may have any gender identity; some consider femme their gender identity, whileother femmes may have a different gender identity (such as transwoman, nonbinary, cis-woman, [[genderfluid]], [[agender]], etc.) and consider femme their gender expression}}</ref> Femme is also sometimes used as a gender in itself.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ain't No Girl…Femme! Queer Femme Identity and Art Making (master's thesis)|date=2016|first=Elyse|last=Schauer |url =https://www.academia.edu/28231820/Aint_No_Girl_Femme_Queer_Femme_Identity_and_Art_Making_Masters_Thesis_|quote=Although some may be aware of the terms ''butch'' and ''femme'', as applied to lesbian women, there is little awareness of femme outside of a lesbian context.  Femme can actually indicate a gender that is altogether separate from ''woman'', and people across gender presentations and sexualities may embrace femme in a queer context.}}</ref>
 International Femme Appreciation Day is celebrated on the first Saturday of July.<ref name="Lapachet">{{Cite web |title=International Femme Appreciation Day |last=Lapachet |first=María |work=A Femme in NYC |date=3 July 2014 |access-date=22 June 2020 |url= https://afemmeinnyc.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/international-femme-appreciation-day-2/}}</ref><ref name="QE">{{Cite web |title=Lesbian Culture & Visibility |author= |work=QueerEvents.ca |date= |access-date=22 June 2020 |url= https://queerevents.ca/queer-culture/lesbian-visibility}}</ref>
 == Usage ==
-Some argue that the word ''femme'' <ref group="note"> Note that, in French, ''femme'' means ''woman.'' This article is about the English usage of this word.</ref> can only be used to describe people in the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and it can be a synonym of the expression ''lipstick lesbian'' in some cases. Because there are many stereotypes surrounding femininity, the term ''femme'' is often used to subvert cultural expectations about how a woman should look like. For this reason, many (but not all) people that identify as ''femme'' do not try to adhere to these stereotypes.<ref name="Tonic" /> This is similar to how the word ''queer'' was reclaimed by the LGBTQ community.
+Some argue that the word ''femme''<ref group="note"> Note that, in French, ''femme'' means ''woman.'' This article is about the English usage of this word.</ref> can only be used to describe people in the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and it can be a synonym of the expression ''lipstick lesbian'' in some cases. Because there are many stereotypes surrounding femininity, the term ''femme'' is often used to subvert cultural expectations about how a woman should look like. For this reason, many (but not all) people that identify as ''femme'' do not try to adhere to these stereotypes.<ref name="Tonic" /> This is similar to how the word ''queer'' was reclaimed by the LGBTQ community.
 Femme has been used for women as well as men<ref name="LOTB">{{Cite web |title=Glossary |author= |work=Life Outside The Binary: Nonbinary Transgender Information Centre |date= |access-date=11 November 2020 |url= https://lifeoutsidethebinary.com/glossary}}</ref><ref name="michelson">{{Cite web |title=This Is What Femme Looks Like |last=Michelson |first=Noah |work=HuffPost |date= |access-date=7 November 2020 |url= https://www.huffpost.com/entry/whatfemmelookslike_n_5890738}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=What Feminists Can Learn From The Lesbian Sex Radicals|last=Nichols|first=Margaret|journal=Conditions|date=1987|issue=14|page=161|quote=For some women, gender is less important than s/m identity; for others it is less important than some other aspect of personality. Still others are attracted only to butches or only to femmes—but they can be male or female butches or male or female femmes.|url=https://voices.revealdigital.org/cgi-bin/independentvoices?a=d&d=DCDCDIG19870101&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1}}</ref><ref name="Roseninterview">{{Cite web |title=‘I wanted to capture this idea that femme men are considered less than by the queer community’: TQ talks to Lev A.C. Rosen |author= |work=The Queerness |date=3 August 2020 |access-date=26 March 2021 |url= https://thequeerness.com/2020/08/03/i-wanted-to-capture-this-idea-that-femme-men-are-considered-less-than-by-the-queer-community-tq-talks-to-lev-a-c-rosen/}}</ref>, and also for people outside of the gender binary.<ref name="Shewan" /><ref name="Bashan">{{Cite web |title=What Does It Mean To Be Femme? |author=Bashan, Frankie |work=Little Gay Book |date=7 September 2020 |access-date=29 September 2020 |url= https://www.littlegaybook.com/what-it-means-to-be-femme/}}</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/search?q=%23FemmesCanBeThems&src=typed_query&f=live Twitter hashtag #FemmesCanBeThems]</ref> Nonbinary femmes struggle against the misconception that nonbinary people must have an [[Androgyny|androgynous]] expression, since their own expression is feminine.<ref name="smith">{{Cite web |title=Beyond the binary: Yes, nonbinary femmes exist |last=smith |first=s.e. |work=this ain't livin' |date=27 April 2015 |access-date=28 April 2020 |url= http://meloukhia.net/2015/04/beyond_the_binary_yes_nonbinary_femmes_exist/ }}</ref>